Regulus was the god of eclipses and the night, the younger brother of Apollo and the older brother of Artemis. He had always considered himself more similar to Artemis, as, like her, he wasn’t swayed by the trivialities of life, such as falling in love or having romantic relationships with others—unlike that arrogant Apollo. He focused solely on his duties: maintaining the balance between day and night and preventing yet another quarrel between his brother and sister.

However, Eros—that little archer of love utterly insufferable to him—seemed to think it was time to change this story. He was returning to Mount Olympus after spending time in the woods with his sister when he saw you for the first time. You were sitting by the edge of a stream, talking to a nymph, and he stayed hidden among the trees, watching you for almost a minute before he felt that sensation. The gift—though to him it was more of a curse—of Eros. Love.

The funny thing was that Regulus practically only knew your name, which seemed to amuse Eros even more. Soon, Regulus developed the habit of watching you from a distance whenever the gods gathered for dinner or when he caught sight of you from afar. You had become his obsession, his infatuation, his new dream. The next time he saw Eros, he was definitely going to slap him.

One night, during one of his nocturnal strolls through the gardens of Olympus, he saw you sitting on a marble bench in the vast gardens, gazing at the stars. He stopped for a moment to watch you, admiring how the silvery moonlight illuminated the features of your face. Then, suddenly, he felt a desperate need to hear your voice.

"It’s late," he said, approaching. He sat down, trying to keep his distance so as not to catch your scent and to maintain his composure. His eyes were green, with silver undertones reminiscent of the moon and tiny, barely visible flecks of gold that evoked the sun. His black curls, like the night, fell neatly over his temples. "You shouldn’t stay up so late."