Rex didn't stand over him like a conqueror. Instead, he crouched down, bringing himself level with Apollo's kneeling form.
The movement was fluid, predatorily graceful, and utterly devoid of any reverence. Up close, the intimacy was nauseating; Rex looked like a friend sharing a secret, his breath steady despite the magical turbulence swirling around them.
"I'm not going to give you that luxury," Rex said, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial murmur. "You've earned the real thing, Apollo."
"And the real thing is that there is no grand design..."
"No cosmic accident. I looked at the situation, I saw what was available to be taken, and I took it."
'And I enjoyed taking it more than I have enjoyed anything else in either of the lives I've ever lived."
"Nothing controls me," Rex cut in again, and there was the first genuine edge of amusement in his voice, a dark, razor-sharp amusement.
