“Language.” She tuts. She doesn’t look at me, flipping through a notebook left on the dresser. “Keep looking. If this is the only room we can get into this afternoon, then we need to ensure we search it fully.” She carefully sets the notebook back down exactly where she found it.
“Minos doesn’t seem to be the most forward-thinking feminist individual in existence,” I finally say. “It’s not entirely surprising that his daughter and her friend don’t have useful information in their rooms.”
“I suppose.” She plants her hands on her hips and looks around the room. “We’re missing something. I’m certain of it.” Cassandra walks to the bookshelf tucked against the wall next to the closet and starts tugging on the books.
I recognize what she’s up to immediately. “You really think that there are secret passageways in this house, don’t you?”
“It’s all but guaranteed, considering.” She narrows her eyes at the full-length mirror, positioned against the opposite wall, and circles the bed to come and stand before it. “It would be really convenient to be able to find one of those right about now.”
She’s not wrong, but we haven’t been lucky to date, and I don’t expect that to start now. “There’s little convenient about reality, Cassandra. You know that as well as anyone.”
“Yeah, I suppose I do.” She presses her hands around the ornate gilded frame that surrounds the mirror. I find myself holding my breath, even though I know better. As she said earlier, some things occur far more often in fiction than in reality. This is not the part of the story where the frame clicks and gives way. Yet I half expect it to happen. When it doesn’t, we both let out a sound of disappointment.
I drag my hand through my hair. “Damn. I thought that might actually work.”
“Me too.” She sighs and tucks her hair behind her ears. “How embarrassing.”
21
Cassandra
I hadn’t honestly expected the mirror to contain secrets. It’s too obvious. I bet Hermes put this mirror in here specifically to make people think that there might be something hidden behind it. It’s exactly the kind of joke she’d find so amusing. I’m not entirely sure she’s wrong, because we’re the fools standing here, pawing at the mirror frame and hoping for a miracle.
I turn to Apollo, disappointment taking root. He’s right. This was a dead end, a wasted opportunity. When I first agreed to Zeus’s bargain, a week felt like an eternity. Now, I’m worried it won’t be long enough. “Well, it was worth a shot.”
For the first time, I wish I actually had learned to pick locks. Hermes offered to teach me once long ago, a fun little game while she distracted me, but she was far too good at distraction for me to get close to picking up the skill. I should have asked her to teach me properly. She would have said yes. It would have amused her greatly to do it. But I didn’t. It honestly didn’t even occur to me at the time. Lock picking is something out of thrillers and spy movies. It’s fiction. When would I ever need that in real life?
Now is the answer.
I need it now.
I couldn’t have anticipated that I’d be failing Apollo by not having this skill set. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t consider me failing, but it stings nonetheless. “I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” He turns slowly, dark eyes narrowed. “This entire situation is less than ideal, and we’re doing the best we can with the information we have.” Apollo glances at me, expression going soft. “You’re doing wonderfully, Cassandra.”
His tone rings with sincerity and the praise warms me right down to my cold, shriveled heart. I drop my gaze, unable to look him directly in the face when I know I’m blushing furiously. “I haven’t helped at all.”
“On the contrary, you’ve done quite a bit. You just being here has shone the light on certain things, and I doubt Minos would have bothered to pull me aside without your presence pushing him to action.” He huffs out a breath. “I can be rather dense about those sorts of things.”
I snort. I can’t help it. “Yeah, well, you didn’t notice me making eyes at you for five years so I guess that statement checks out.”
A choked sound has me glancing at him. His eyes have gone wide and his mouth is moving but no sound comes out. I jolt. “Apollo, are you okay?”
“What did you say?”
There’s absolutely no reason to blush. I’ve had sex with this man. He’s seen every bit of me. There is no reason that admitting I’ve had a thing for him should make me feel more vulnerable than that. Even if he’s looking at me like I just hit him in the head with my purse.
I lick my lips. “Apollo, you have access to a mirror. You know that you’re one of the most painfully attractive people in this damned city.”
He surprises me—he always surprises me—with his response. “Don’t do that.” He shakes his head slowly. “Don’t act like you would let something as simple as lust turn your head.”
“There is nothing simple about lust.” When he just waits, I relent. “Okay, fine. I like you. I’ve thought you were attractive since I took the job, but working with you so closely only added to that. You’re a legitimately good guy. I…like you.”
He drags his hand over his face. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“I thought you didn’t want me.” I don’t mean for the words to come out almost small. “I don’t know if it would have mattered, but…I honestly thought you weren’t attracted to me.”
Heat and frustration flare in his dark eyes. “Cassandra, after five years of working with me, I would hope that you’d understand that I would never put you in a position where you felt uncomfortable. The more I got to know you, the more I was attracted to you, which just made me more determined to ensure you didn’t feel obligated to…” He motions between us almost helplessly. “Anything.”
“If you know me as well as you say, then you’d know I wouldn’t feel obligated to do shit.”
He shrugs. “I wasn’t going to make your life harder just because I wanted you.”
Last night, we definitely crossed a whole bunch of lines, and I won’t pretend it’s because we’re fake dating. We were both pretty damn clear that we were on the same page about wanting each other. Still, it can’t hurt to make things even more explicitly clear. “Apollo.”
“Yes?”
I can’t tell if he looks hopeful or if I’m just imagining things. It doesn’t matter; I’ve come too far to back out now. I swallow hard. “I would like to have my filthy way with you again the first opportunity that presents itself, and also as often as can be managed before this thing between us ends.”
The tips of his ears go a bit pink, but he sharpens in the same way he did last night. “Consider it a promise.”
“Great. Good. Perfect.” I’m stammering, but I kind of like that he flusters me because I know he won’t use that flustered feeling against me. He seems to enjoy it, too, his attention snagging on my cheeks and lips before coasting down my body in a slow drag I can almost feel.