"Yeah, but only when it comes from you."
She returned his smile with one that left him weak in his knees. "I summoned the police a second ago. They'll be here in a few minutes."
"Cool." At least that was his thought until he realized something. "What happens to you now that Dolor's gone?"
"I have to leave."
His stomach shrank as a sick feeling went through him. "Leave?"
She glanced away as if unable to meet his gaze. "I'm a goddess, Aidan. I can't stay in the human realm. I don't belong here."
He wanted to beg her to stay with him, but he couldn't. She'd already told him why she couldn't stay. All begging would do was make her feel bad for something neither of them could help.
As she said, she was a goddess.
Maybe she could become mortal. But he didn't want that. She would grow old and die.
How could he ask that of someone who was forever young and beautiful? It would be selfish. "I'm going to miss you."
Leta swallowed at the pain she heard in his voice. He was trying so hard to be strong, but inside he was shattered. She could feel it.
Fear marked his brow. "Will Dolor be there, waiting for you?"
"No. When he failed to kill you and his human body disintegrated, he was rendered powerless. He's back in stasis now. It'll take another human sacrifice to reawaken him." At least that was what she believed had happened to him. The truth was, she didn't know and wouldn't know for sure until she returned home.
Aidan scowled. "Why does he have to have a human sacrifice to appear as a human when you don't?"
"With the help of Hades, I cursed him to it. My thought was that no one would be vicious enough to kill someone they loved in order to set him free. I thought I'd found a way to lock him out of the human world for all eternity."
Aidan looked to his brother, who was still unconscious on the floor. "I guess we both overestimated Donnie's humanity."
"Perhaps, but remember, not everyone else in the world is as sick as he is."
"But you're not really in this world, are you?"
"Aidan-"
He silenced her words by placing one finger over her lips. "Don't prolong the hurt, Leta. Just rip the Band-Aid off my skin and let the burn remind me that for one day, I had something more than misery. I told you earlier that I'd rather have one moment of incredible bliss than a lifetime of nothing." He placed a tender kiss to her forehead. "Now go. Just leave."
The problem was, she didn't want to leave him. She wanted to stay, but there was no way she could. Her temporary body wouldn't last in this plane of existence. "I'll visit you in your dreams."
"No," he said, his voice catching. "That would only make it worse. I couldn't stand seeing you there, knowing that I'm not really touching you. Let the wound heal. Let me be able to think back on this day and remember the woman who saved my life."
He was right, and it was killing her to admit it. "I won't forget you, Aidan."
Aidan didn't respond verbally, but the tormented light in those green eyes said more than words ever could.
He would remember her too.
The sound of police sirens pierced the air.
"Go, Leta."
She stepped back with her heart in her throat. All she wanted was to be with him. If only it could be. But the gods had decreed a different fate for them. There was no need to fight a battle they couldn't win.
"I love you, Aidan," she said before she flashed herself back to the Vanishing Isle.
Aidan stood there in the center of his cabin, staring at the space where Leta had been. It was only then that he let the tears he felt surface. The pain of them burned in his chest and choked him.
Eventually she would have betrayed you too. Everyone betrays you.
Perhaps, but he no longer believed that. Leta had taught him better.
He heard the thunder of the police running onto his porch. "Put your hands behind your head! Get down on your knees!"