Of course, the reason the rehabilitation went so smoothly was that Apollo's trust in his own sister was naturally at its absolute maximum.
All Lorne had to do was apply a little artistic framing to what Artemis had actually done and label it as acting out of deep and selfless love for her brother.
Apollo would then arrive at those conclusions on his own.
His sister did all of this with his best interests at heart.
Even using his best friend as leverage was for his own good.
Every mistake was his.
By contrast, if Lorne had tried to rehabilitate himself as the primary subject, convincing that stubborn mule Apollo would have been harder than climbing to heaven.
After all, this brother-in-law of his held strong wariness and hostility toward him specifically.
Any kind words said in his own favor would be met with suspicion and examined from every angle before being believed.
So trying to sell himself directly was never going to work.
But once Artemis was firmly established as righteous and selfless, Lorne, as the one carrying out her will, was indirectly cleared of suspicion as well, his motives and actions along with hers.
"Listen. I was lucky enough to protect Asclepios, but this is no small matter. The fewer people involved the better, especially your sister. I do not want her drawn into this. So from here on I will take full responsibility for Asclepios's safety."
"Mm."
Apollo gave a small nod, then turned to look at the face he once found so intensely irritating and off-putting.
He hesitated for a long moment and finally forced the words out through gritted teeth.
"Thank... thank you."
Once said, it was as though the god of light broke through some internal barrier.
The heaviness pressing on him lifted considerably, and the figure before him, which had always made his skin crawl, seemed somehow a good deal less objectionable.
Someone who treated his sister this well, who was willing to take risks again and again on a single word from her, who did not even shrink from defying Zeus's authority.
How bad a person could someone like that really be?
He had probably misjudged him before.
In the face of Apollo's gratitude, Lorne remained as unbothered as ever.
"I did not do it for you. Only for Lady Artemis. She has helped me a great deal. And Asclepios himself is someone I find genuinely agreeable."
"I know. Different things are different things." Apollo gave a quiet nod, his expression unchanged on the surface, but the look in his eyes as he regarded Lorne had grown considerably warmer.
Looking at him properly now, this person was actually fairly straightforward and honest.
Perhaps not so disagreeable after all.
Without quite noticing it, Apollo's view of a certain someone had begun to shift.
"All right. That is all I came to say. Serve out your sentence properly.
Don't do anything rash before the labor in Thessaly is finished."
Lorne rose from the ground and made as if to leave.
But before he had taken more than a few steps, a wave of dizziness swept over him, and he nearly went down.
Apollo reached out instinctively, grabbed Lorne's arm, and steadied him.
The moment their hands made contact, the god of light's expression changed.
"Your body..."
"It is nothing. When you take something back from that divine king, you pay a price for it."
Lorne answered lightly, then gently moved Apollo's hand aside.
The god of light looked at the person before him, once the target of his intense hatred, and his gaze grew more complicated still.
His divine nature was sharply depleted.
His divine blood was nearly exhausted.
The life force inside him flickered like a candle in the wind.
Clearly, rescuing Asclepios's soul from Zeus's grasp had cost him dearly.
This was something even Apollo himself at full strength could not have been certain of managing.
For someone who was merely an attendant god to have pulled it off, the losses must have been severe.
"What is it? Are you worried that I cannot protect Asclepios properly?"
Lorne caught the shifting expression on Apollo's face and made his promise with complete sincerity.
"Don't worry. Anything I have promised Artemis, I will see through as long as I still breathe."
Then he set off on unsteady feet toward the mountain path in the distance.
Well ...this time he really wasn't faking it.
After all, first he resurrected Echidna in the Arima cavern, then took a sprint to the scene of Asclepios's death to pour out massive quantities of divine blood and divine nature to give Asclepios's soul a body to inhabit.
Two resurrection rituals one after another, each one more demanding than the last.
Even with the healing power of the Crown, Lorne was running on empty.
Making it all the way to Thessaly without collapsing was already a testament to unusual willpower.
But high risk meant high reward.
"Wait." Hearing the call from behind, Lorne let a quiet smile touch the corner of his mouth.
Right on time.
The one picking up the bill had arrived.
He turned around.
Apollo bit down on whatever pride remained, reached into his robe, pulled out a bronze token, and tossed it over.
"Take it."
The weight of it settled into Lorne's hand, and he looked at it with genuine surprise.
"What is this?"
"Something that might save your life."
Apollo turned his head away and answered in a clipped, hard tone.
Lorne lowered his eyes to the token.
On its surface, powerful horses pulled a great bronze chariot, and above the chariot hung the Sun.
He felt the scorching heat contained within it and understood at once.
The sun chariot of Helios, the sun god.
After Phaethon, son of Helios, lost control of it and caused disaster, authority over the Sun was stripped from Helios and passed to Apollo, the god of light.
At the time, Apollo had not yet had the opportunity to fully absorb that power before the death of Pan led to his sentence in Thessaly.
After that, Artemis took charge of the temple of light and maintained Apollo's basic divine functions in his absence, which meant the sun chariot passed into the hunting goddess's keeping.
As for why it had found its way back to Apollo, Lorne suspected it was most likely that after the Gigantes uprising, Artemis worried that Apollo, freshly separated from the nine Muses, might run into trouble.
So when she came to Thessaly to deal with her brother, she also returned the sun chariot to its rightful owner as a precaution.
Lorne shook his head and declined with firm principles.
"This belongs to you. I cannot take it."
"From this moment it belongs to you." Apollo gave a cold snort and added without any shift in expression,
"You already took risks to save Asclepios. I will not leave you in a difficult position because of it, and I have no desire to owe you more than this."
Then the god of light explained in a measured tone. "Beyond its destructive power, the Sun carries the nature of illuminating all things beneath it. It can draw out the vitality of everything it touches. Absorbing this divine power may help fill what your divine nature and life force have lost and get you back on your feet sooner."
Lorne showed a trace of concern at the right moment.
"What about you?"
"The sun overlaps too much with my light. I have no use for it right now. And my service in Thessaly is almost finished. Who would dare touch me?
I have not fallen so far that I need an attendant god worrying on my behalf."
Apollo waved a dismissive hand.
"Just take it. From this point forward we are even."
Looking at that resolute and proud figure, Lorne gave a nod and accepted the terms of this fair and principled exchange, then made his promise once more with complete conviction.
"Do not worry. I will keep Asclepios safe."
"Why are you still standing there? Admetos's reinforcements will be here any moment."
Apollo glanced at Lorne, still rooted to the spot, raised an eyebrow, and pointed at the cloud of dust rising in the distance.
Not wanting to make things more complicated, Lorne turned and headed up the mountain path.
As his figure was about to disappear into the deep shade of the forest, he seemed to remember something.
He stopped, turned, and looked back at Apollo standing motionless in the field with an entirely earnest expression.
"One last thing I need to make clear. That Gigantes uprising had nothing to do with me. Truly."
"Mm. I get it."
Apollo gave a single nod, his voice carrying no particular inflection, and watched Lorne's figure disappear quietly into the dense trees.
Then, with a sound like rolling thunder, the hoofbeats of many horses arrived.
King Admetos of Thessaly came galloping in at the head of his divine-blood guard, scanning the area with a look primed for violence.
"Where is he? Where did that person go?"
"I am fine. That person is not an enemy. It was simply a misunderstanding between us."
Apollo raised a hand slightly and calmed the friend beside him who was already looking for someone to chase down.
Relieved it was a false alarm,
Admetos let out a slow breath.
"Good. Come then. Back to the city.
No more unpleasant thoughts today. We're going to drink until we cannot stand."
Apollo nodded, then his gaze shifted slightly with what appeared to be a casual afterthought.
"By the way, it has been some time since I last saw my uncle.
Would it be possible to invite him as well?"
"Of course, my friend!"
The warm and generous king of Thessaly swept his hand, and several of the divine-blood guard stepped forward at once, taking the order and going to extend an invitation to the middle-aged slave named Neptune who was currently fishing by the shore.
Watching the messengers vanish from sight, Apollo lowered his head.
In his eyes, something cold and deep and sharply dangerous surfaced.
Since the father showed so little feeling for the son, the son could hardly be blamed for showing filial devotion in his own particular way.
(End of Chapter)