There was nothing he could say to her, then, that would be more painful than that simple fact: he got to come back, and her lover didn't.
Well, he could explain the difference between an ancient, glorious god and a dumbass mortal who'd followed the wrong one, but he could see how that would go: he'd get a fork in the hand, Much would try and step in, he'd have to take them both out, and Athena would get pissy about it all. (And she had the godsdamned nerve to say he lacked foresight!)
"Yeah," Apollo said brightly, looking back at them over his shoulder as he turned to leave. "I did, didn't I?"
Much slowly rose to his feet as Apollo left, his hand hovering near Marcie's back, not sure if he was going to need to grab her to stop her lunging after Apollo's unprotected back or if she was going to collapse the second he was out of sight, and need to be caught.