CHAPTER NINE
Aidan staggered yet remained standing even as his entire body was shoved backward. He looked down, expecting to see blood from Zeus's attack. But there was no wound. In fact, there was no pain.
Confused, he glanced around until he saw Leta lying on the floor a few feet from him. "Oh, my God," he breathed, scrambling to reach her. She must have thrown herself in front of him to protect him.
He knelt on the floor and rolled her over, to see her struggling to breathe as blood coated her entire body.
"Leta?"
She coughed up blood before she spoke in a raspy tone. "I couldn't let you die, Aidan. I'm sorry."
Sorry? Why was she apologizing to him for saving his life? It didn't even make sense.
Zeus turned on M'Adoc. "I thought you said she was incapable of caring?"
M'Adoc maintained his stoicism. "She must have gone Skoti without our knowing."
Fury darkened Zeus's brow. He held his hand up and M'Adoc was instantly drawn forward into his grasp. "You don't make those kinds of mistakes."
Hades made a sound of extreme boredom. "You're wasting your time, Zeus. You stripped their emotions so if you're trying to make him afraid now-"
"Shut up," Zeus snapped at Hades before he shoved M'Adoc away from him. He stiffened before he gave M'Adoc a dire warning. "You better keep a wary eye on your brethren. I'm holding you personally responsible. You fail to corral them and it'll be your blood I bathe in."
Aidan saw the fury and fear flash in M'Adoc's eyes before he straightened and faced Zeus. Then his face was as blank as it'd been before Zeus attacked him. "I understand, my lord. Your will be done."
"You're damn right my will be done." Zeus glared at all of them. "Now get that human out of here and clean up this mess." With those words spoken, he dissolved into a light bronze dust and evaporated.
Still on the floor, Aidan held Leta close to him as she struggled to breathe. "You're going to heal again, right?"
"No," Hades said as he stepped forward. "She was hit with a god bolt from Zeus himself. There's no coming back from that."
Aidan frowned. "I don't understand."
"She's dying," Hades said in a tone that was devoid of all feeling.
It took several seconds for those words to permeate the fog in Aidan's head. "She can't die. She's an immortal goddess."
"Who was just assaulted by the king of the gods." Hades said in the tone of a teacher talking to a dense student. "Yes, she can die."
Aidan couldn't breathe as he looked down at her. "Why? Why would you have done this?"
"I love you, Aidan," she said as her eyes teared up. "I couldn't let Zeus kill you. I could never watch someone else I love die in front of me." She lifted her hand to lay it gently to his cheek. "It was why I had to kill Dolor. I knew Donnie would only summon him again and I didn't want him to hurt you anymore. I couldn't chance it."
His own tears swelled at her words. He crushed her against him before he looked up at Hades and M'Adoc. "We have to save her. Tell me what to do."
Hades let out a tired breath. "Thunder-Bluster wants her dead. There's nothing we can do. We heal her and he will rain down on her all kinds of pain. The kindest thing you can do is let her go."
"No! Save her!"
But the god wasn't listening. Hades stepped back and looked at M'Adoc. "Let's give them privacy to say goodbye."
Aidan saw the sympathy in M'Adoc's eyes before he faded away. Hades followed suit.
Alone now, he breathed in the scent of Leta's hair.
"I wish I'd been born human," she breathed against his neck.
"I would have changed nothing about you."
He felt her smiling as she tightened her grip in his hair. An instant later, she expelled her last breath and fell limp in his arms.
For three full heartbeats, Aidan didn't move. He couldn't. It took that long for reality to set in.
Leta was dead. She'd given her life to save his.
He refused to believe it. Pulling back, he looked at her. Her eyes were partially open, her face grayish. There was no life in her eyes. Blood coated both of them.