What was the point of any of it without Cin though? Vibrant, ferocious Cin, who'd he'd promised he'd do anything for, and all she'd demanded was that he stay away from her.
Apollo wasn't very good at staying away from women who asked him to say away from them, but Cin was different. He'd promised Cin first. He wasn't going to break his word, not to her.
So for the last two weeks, he'd been alone. The Muses had looked after him, and he'd spent a lot of time with his head in Erato's lap especially, commiserating and having his hair stroked. She knew what it was like to have a broken heart.
When Clifford called up to say she was here, though, Apollo could have burst into song! Cin!? Here!? Cin! He raced into his room to change his shirt, frantically fixing up his hair before she banged on his door and he swung it open to reveal her.
She wasn't dressed like a queen, but she still carried herself like one. That regal hair, that divine-right-to-rule power in her eyes, that stately, solitary bare shoulder. "Cin," he said, in undisguised relief, stepping aside to allow her entrance. "Come in, please."