It seems like he's listening, and paying attention, and that's good, Aphrodite hopes. She's not going to let him slip away into hopelessness, not as long as she can still reach him. She reached him when he was in that sarcophagus, she reached him when his memory was gone, and she hopes she can reach him now.

"I'm here," she says, her eyes never leaving his. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm here and I'm real and I love you."