Page 67 of The Little Shop of Grand Curiosities

“Isa has seen me at my worst, so I really don’t blame her for thinking I was trying to trick you. Even Eiran considered it. Walder was worried too in the beginning. He was afraid that I wasn’t being genuine with you and that I was stringing you along just to see what would happen. But after I explained to him how we met, he got hopeful and started pushing it by inviting us to stay and the dancing and talking you into coming up to my room…” he sighed, shaking his head. “I want you to know that he didn’t mean to hurt you. Walder cares about me—don’t ask me why, he’s probably insane. But he really wasn’t trying to manipulate you. He just wants to see me happy.”

“It’s kind of reassuring if you think about it,” I considered. “Even spirits do selfish things for the people they love.”

“Only you would find the silver lining to being an inconsiderate wanker, Little Butterfly,” Apollo teased, flicking my nose.

Without realizing it, we moved closer again, as though our bodies were drawn to an unseen gravitational field that only existed when we touched. My next words left me with a shuddering breath, “Do you believe it will work? Love?”

“No,” he said immediately, not sparing the notion a second thought. The disappointment must have been glaring in my face because he quickly added, “I’m sorry, Little Butterfly. But my heart won’t return to me because oflove. And I refuse to hurt someone just to try. Walder is an eternal being who lives a life of endless possibility, but we both know that this is not the case with us humans. Heartless men don’t fall in love and spells don’t break with kisses. There is a reason we call certain stories fairytales.”

I couldn’t disagree with that. Love was the greatest cure in every fairytale, but in reality, it took a lot more to heal a person. It took patience and kindness and determination. It took failure and setbacks too. So I had to believe that Apollo’s story wasn’t over just yet. “It doesn’t matter,” I said, clutching his shoulders to hearten him. “Nothing’s lost. You can still find your heart.”

He shook his head. “I’ve already searched everywhere.”

“You’ve searched for a box. You don’t know if the box had something else inside it, though.”

Apollo frowned, considering it. “Wouldn’t I be able to feel it somehow? Let’s say I had already stumbled upon it.”

I chewed at the corner of my lip. “I don’t know. I’ll have to do some research when I return to the Shop. I can write you if you want.”

He smiled that dangerous, sharp-witted smile of his. “Is it going to be a love letter, darling?”

I slapped his arm. “You’re impossible.”

He caught my wrist and guided my hand flat over the counter behind him, making my body his prison as he cocked his head to the side and watched me through dark, drowsy eyes.

My whole body sparked up in anticipation.What is he going to do? Gods, what am I going to let him do?

But Apollo only asked quietly, almost pleadingly,“Will you forgive me for what I said at Walder’s? For the way I’ve been acting?”

I pretended to think about it. “I don’t know.DoI forgive you?”

“I thought you said keeping a grudge gives you wrinkles, Little Butterfly,” he drawled.

“Yes, but this might be a wrinkle-worthy offense,” I said ruefully.

His eyes fell on my mouth. I hated it when he did that. I hated that he had the power to make my whole body pulse with the mere possibility of a kiss. “Do you want me to grovel, darling? Is that it?”

“Depends,” I said, swallowing. “Are you as good at groveling as you are at pushing me away?”

Apollo bit into his smile, some obscene recollection dancing recklessly on the grey-blue floors of his eyes. “You know Ihad topush you away that night, right? I still should.”

I ignored this last assertion and asked instead, “Why are you smiling like that?”

“Just thinking about you in that dress, on that bed.” He brushed my hair off my shoulder and leaned down to whisper in my ear, “I would have done terrible things to you that night. And you would have loved them all.”

A hot shiver went through me. Was it really so wrong that I wanted to feel his hands on me now? Surely, I could let myself indulge just this once. Even if it was a little reckless, a little foolish. I knew about his curse now. And I wasn’t stupid enough to fall in love with a heartless man. So why shouldn’t I let myself experience this unbelievable attraction? What was the worst that could happen anyway?

I took a deep breath, trying to give myself some courage. “You can still do them.”

“Nepheli,” Apollo warned, but he didn’t push me away.

“I’m not talking about love. I know it’s impossible for you. Unless…” I hesitated, feeling star-bright and as weightless as air. “Unless a part of you still wants to see if Walder is right.”

“Allowing ourselves to get close just to see if my curse will break is the most unromantic thing in the world,” Apollo grumbled.

I mocked him with a little laugh. “I didn’t know you cared so much about romance, Apollo.”

He glared at me. “I don’t care about romance. I care about—”

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