Page 130 of Lost and Stolen Gods
“Leela! Help!” Joe said. “Help me!”
My nani’s face filled my mind, her eyes dark pools of regret. “You can’t have him!” The creature pulled harder, and I dug in my heels, using every iota of my demigod strength to fight back. “Let go of him, you bastard!”
Hands circled my waist. “I have you,” Pashim said against my ear. “Keep hold of him, and I’ll pull you both free.”
Oh thank fuck. “Okay. Okay, I’ve got him.”
Pashim pressed his lips to my ear. “What I needed to tell you is in my mattress.”
“What?” I looked up at him in confusion, and my stomach pinched at what I read in his eyes. “Why are you telling me that?”
Stark regret painted his features. “I love you, Leela, and I would have continued to love you with every fiber of my being.”
Icy fingers gripped my nape as the rest of Guru Chandra’s words came back to me.
Only a god can kill a pishacha, and in the absence of a god, the consumption of a soul can temper it, giving others an opportunity to escape.
“Goodbye, Leela,” Pashim said softly.
He threw me with such force that the creature’s hold on Joe snapped.
“No!”
Pashim looked back, his beautiful face breaking into a smile. Then he stepped into darkness and into the heart of the beast.
Chapter 43
AN OATH CAN SET US FREE
Iscreamed, thrashing as Araz gathered me into his arms, fighting to be free. To go back to the bridge as he carried me away from it. “Pashim! Pashim!”
“He’s gone. Leela. He’s gone.”
The world was a blur, Araz’s words distant beneath the roar of blood in my head. My pain was one long scream that threatened to shatter the world.
Pashim was gone. Just like Nani. Taken by a pishacha. No. Not taken. He’d given himself. Given his soul to save me because he’d known I’d never let go of Joe. He’d fucking known, and he’d saved me from making that choice, and he was gone. He was fucking gone.
I love you, Leela, and I would have continued to love you with every fiber of my being.
My screams gave way to chest-quaking sobs that threatened to break me.
“Leela. Leela, please.” Araz cradled me, holding me together as I shook with a force of grief so large it threatened to fracture me.
“Knock her out,” someone said.
I felt a hand on my neck, then blessed darkness.
I wokewith a rock on my chest and the thick residue of grief lodged in my throat, and for a moment I couldn’t understand why. I was in my room at the barracks, tucked into bed so…Recollection punched me in the gut, and a multicolor slideshow of memories filled my head.
An aching sob rolled up my throat and spilled from my lips, bringing a hot wave of tears.
“Leela…” Araz wrapped his arms around me and pulled my back to his chest. “Oh, Leela.”
I cried for the male who’d gone from being a friend to finding a place in my heart. I cried for what might have been and what was, and I cried for the loss of him, beautiful, wonderful him with a heart so warm and caring that I’d never felt alone.
Araz said nothing as he held me, allowing me to grieve, and I was grateful for it. When my tearssubsided, he rolled me toward him and wiped my face dry with his hands.
He held me as my pulse settled into a regular rhythm and my hiccups subsided. When he spoke, his voice was a low, soothing rumble washing over me.
