Page 66 of The Little Shop of Grand Curiosities

“To Curiosity Shops,” he echoed. “So I got myself together, learned to listen to my good sense when I couldn’t trust my impulses, and started looking for it. I traveled day and night, East to West. Seven years. Occasionally, I returned home to see my family. But it was too hard. For all of us. My parents…” He closed his eyes for a moment, and every muscle on his face and neck tautened. “They are good and generous, and two of the proudest people I know. The proudest people, and I humiliated them.”

“You didn’t,” I argued, stepping in front of him. I caged him between the counter and my body. I felt bold and assured, and a little overwhelmed, not having fully processed everything yet. But before I could talk myself out of it, I slid a hand across his broad, hard chest, and pressed my palm on that spot where his heart once pulsed. “You were young and in pain. You made a mistake.”

He opened his eyes, and they were only pupils, wide and dark, as he straightened himself over me. I began retreating, but he curled an arm around my shoulders and nudged me closer, clamping me to his body. To anyone else, it would look as though we were preparing to dance when, in reality, we were just spellbound on each other. Every time we touched, it was like this—a drizzle of sensation, then a cataclysm.

“I was weak,” he said. “And careless. I messed up. Ikeepmessing up. I hurt you too, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t hurt me,” I countered, breathless and flushed. “This journey has been good for me, Apollo.”

“I destroyed your Shop.”

“I’ll fix the Shop.”

“You fell from the sky.”

“And learned that swallowing stardust makes you quite resilient.”

“You got tormented by evil fairies.”

“Now I know not to romanticize magic.”

He scowled. “You caught dragonfly fever.”

“It will make a good story one day.”

“Ibityou.”

I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh. “I kind of liked it.”

I expected him to tease me about it, but his face turned jaded stone, and his arm around me tightened like a vise. “That bastard put his hands on you tonight.”

“Good thing you owe me fighting lessons.”

“Darling,” he sighed.

“What? I’m a fast learner. Next time we go through the Dragonfly, you’ll be hiding under my skirts, I’m telling you.”

Finally, a roguish little smirk tugged up the corner of his mouth. “Next time?”

A rush of heat went through me, my body’s visceral response to him. I was too exhausted to resist it this time. Instead, I pressed closer, aligning my hips with his. “Next time.”

His hands settled on the curve of my waist. My hands slipped on the counter behind him. We stayed like this, teetering on the verge of…something. Something new and nameless and dangerously exciting. I didn’t move closer. He didn’t pull back. We simply let ourselves wallow in each other’s tactility.

“What you heard Isa say,” Apollo ventured, his voice quiet and rough, “it’s only just a theory. I approached Walder a few years ago, hoping he’d have a cure for me or at least be able to point me in the right direction. But Walder said that there wasn’t much he could do as long as I didn’t have my heart. He tried to conjure it, but nothing came out of it. If I find my heart, though, he will be able to put it back.”

“And what about the other thing?” I whispered, hating to repeat Isa’s words about him using me to break the curse.

“Love has a long history of breaking curses, Nepheli. I’m sure you already know that.”

My brows rose in understanding. “Walder believes the curse will break if someone falls in love with you.”

Apollo met my eyes. “Walder believes the curse will break if someone makesmefall in love withthem.”

21

Nepheli

Ijerked out of his arms, staggering through a wave of confusion. “But Isa said—”

---