Page 119 of Raising Hell
“I quenched my thirst at her hand, drinking every drop of what she offered. She smiled.” Another shudder ran through him. “When she stripped herself bare, I held a small hope that we would both finally find peace. But she dressed again and lay on the bed.”
“‘Know this,’ she said. ‘I will die slowly, and you will watch every agonized breath I take as I wither. And in my pain, I will know joy, for I will never again be yours.’”
He finally looked at the skeleton on the bed.
“She died smiling.” He lifted his hands to look at them. “I died too. I felt it. I welcomed it.”
He looked so broken, staring down at his hands, and I hurt for him. I’d worried he would blame me and hate me when he discovered his wife’s fate, but there was only grief so deep that I could feel him drowning in it.
He surprised me when he rose fluidly and faced me. His tortured gaze swept over my face, and the floor rumbled ever so slightly under my feet before it quieted, reminding me that, grief-stricken or not, he was still a powerful god.
“I was nothing. No more. Then you entered the room, filling the space with her familiar scent. Your breath gave me breath. Your existence gave me existence. The odd clothing you wore mattered little. You were her, and I saw nothing else.”
“Were?” I asked around the lump in my throat.
“You have proven your humanity, Ashlyn, and I would give anything to undo that,” he said in an angry, tormented voice. “But I cannot, and we are now bound by the consequences.”
Zotera’s arms tightened around me, and his expression turned more anguished as his gaze flicked between Zotera and me.
“Tell me you no longer wish to leave,” he said to me. “Agree to stay with me.”
He wanted me to stay? Pure joy filled me before I remembered what Zotera had said in the hallway.
“You can’t go back on your word,” I said. “If I stay, then wouldn’t Zotera have to suffer?”
“Then remove the contract. Prevent her suffering.”
“Removing the contract and staying doesn’t change anything,” I said, acknowledging the painful truth. “Do you remember Thanatos? Do you know why he’s trying to kill me?”
His frustrated growl answered me.
“Staying won’t help answer any of that.”
“Neither will leaving,” he raged.
The ground trembled lightly, a reminder of why I needed to return to Earth.
“You are mine. I will not lose you again.”
The words cut through me.
“Who am I?” I asked.
“Mine,” he repeated stubbornly.
How many times had he stubbornly refused the truth right in front of his face? Too many.
“Do you still think I’m her?” I asked, glancing at the bones on the bed.
He didn’t look.
“Human? Goddess? It matters not. You are mine and always will be, Ashlyn.”
Although he used the right name, his answer still shattered my heart. I looked down as I shook my head.
“We both know I don’t belong here. I need to go back.”
“With your own words, you’ve admitted that you don’t belong there either.”
