Ash couldn't speak as he saw her there with her outstretched hand. He shouldn't be here and he knew it. Yet that was what had made him seek her out when he would never have sought out anyone else. She wouldn't hurt him or mock him. She would help. The only other person he allowed to tend him when he was weak was Liza. But not even Liza had ever seen him when he was this vulnerable.
He damn sure didn't want Alexion or Urian to know.
Taking her hand, he allowed her to pull him up. He ground his teeth as another wave of pain ripped through him. She wrapped his arm over her shoulders and carefully placed her arm around his hips where he wasn't hurting so much.
Together, they walked him to the bed and helped him to lie down.
"Don't tell Simi," he whispered. "I don't want her upset."
Tory nodded as she watched him pass out. Angry and aching for what had been done to him, she very carefully cut his shirt from his back. And with every inch of bleeding skin she uncovered, her fury mounted at the horrific mutilation. This was unbelievable.
She didn't care how much Artemis was unloved. If she had the bitch here right now, she'd tear every strand of red hair out of her selfish head!
"This is going to stop," she whispered to him. "One way or another, Ash, I'm going to find a way to put that goddess in her place."
Ash came awake to the odd sensation of something cold on his back. For a moment, he thought himself at Artemis's temple until he opened his eyes and saw Tory in a chair a few feet away from him, reading.
Everything came flooding back and when he took a deep breath, the pain in his back reminded him of how real his visit with Artemis had been.
Tory immediately set the book aside. "Try not to move."
"Believe me I am."
She knelt on the floor in front of him. "I put one of my Aunt Del's concoctions on your back. It's aloe, cucumbers and potatoes mixed with Vaseline and lanolin. I know it sounds gross, but it's really good to take the sting out of cuts and burns."
"Thank you."
She smiled as she rested her chin on the hand she had on his mattress. "I've got you covered with a sheet and I told Simi that you were sleeping. She went downstairs to eat so she has no idea that you're hurt. No one does."
He took her hand in his and kissed her fingers. "Thank you."
"Anytime, sweetie."
He treasured that endearment. Most of all, he treasured her.
She cocked her head while she toyed with his fingers. "Can you not use your god powers to heal yourself?"
"I could, but I promised not to."
"Why?"
Because I'm an idiot. No, he'd done it to protect her and if this was the price for her safety, so be it. "I'd rather not say."
She patted his hand. "Then I'll keep running cover with you and Simi-who was asleep when I tended your back. And speaking of, I think I finally met someone who eats more than I do. Geary would be impressed."
How did she do that? He was lying here with a ravaged back and she was blithely ignoring it and treating him like he was recovering from nothing more than a common cold. How was she able to take things like this in stride and not make him feel like a freak over it? "You're not going to ask me anything more than that?"
She shook her head. "I trust you, Ash. Completely." She held the book up. "You've trusted me with a lot of your secrets already. If you want to keep a few to yourself, I understand and I won't pry."
"You're too good to be real."
She smiled. "Not really. Remember, I'm the one who tried to hammer you."
He laughed, then grimaced at the pain.
She scowled in sympathy before she brushed his hair back from his cheek. "Is there anything I can get for you?"
Make me human, like you . . . But that was a stupid thought. "Please don't tell anyone I'm down. I should be better in a couple of hours. I just need a little more rest."
She rubbed his jawbone with the pad of her thumb. "You got it. By the way, your backpack is right here." She took his hand and led it to where it was set on the floor by the bed. "I haven't touched it except to put it there."
"Thank you."
"No problem." She stood up slowly. "Are you hungry or thirsty?"
He was starving, but there was nothing here that would satiate him. "I'm fine."
Tory cocked her head as he closed his eyes and let out one long breath. Even with his ravaged cheek and the bruise on his lip, he was still one of the most handsome men she'd ever seen. The fact that he'd have any interest in her at all amazed her. Honestly, she was no Artemis. The goddess was stunningly beautiful.
What human could compare to that?
Yet Ash was here with her. He trusted her when he trusted no one else. That alone touched her heart. And the more she read about his past, the more she wished she could wrap her arms around him and just hold him until all the bad memories were wiped away.
She looked down at the journal in her hand. There was so much sadness in it. Not only with Acheron, but with his sister too. Ryssa had tried so hard to help him while Apollo had been every bit as cruel to her as Artemis was to Ash.
And while she was fascinated by the history and glimpses of daily life she'd seen through Ryssa's words, she'd read enough. Ash's past was tragic and it said a lot for him that he could have any compassion at all.
She was through spying on him.
Tucking the journal into his backpack, she made sure it was completely zipped before she went downstairs to check on Simi.
Ash felt Tory's absence like an ache in his soul. There was something about her presence that lifted his spirits and made him happy just to be near her, which, given how much pain he was in, said much.
You should leave her.
He'd bought her a reprieve from Artemis's wrath, but for how long? The longer he stayed with Tory, the greater the danger to her. Not to mention Artemis wasn't the only one he had to deal with.
Stryker would kill Tory in an instant and by now Nick had most likely told the Daimon overlord about her. She was a human who didn't fit into his world of viciousness. Of beings who held no regard for anyone or anything.
But the mere thought of not seeing her was enough to bring him to his knees. Why couldn't he have something for himself?
You're a worthless whore. You deserve nothing but scorn and ridicule.
How could anyone ever love him?
Simi was blind to his faults because he'd raised her. He'd protected her. His mother loved him, but again, it was a parent-child bond. And Katra . . .
They were still learning each other.
"Stop it," he growled at himself. He wasn't a child. He wasn't the same pathetic creature who'd begged his father for a mercy that had never come to him.
He was a god.
She was human.
It was that simple and that impossible. He'd survived for eleven thousand years alone. By comparison, she was an embryo. What did she know about life? How to survive in the world he knew?
This would have to end. He was old enough to know better. There was no way for a happy ending for him. He'd willingly sold himself to Artemis when he'd been nothing more than a boy and there was no way out. His existence was too complicated. Once he healed, he'd end this and send her on her way. It was the best for all of them.
Tory laughed as she watched Simi pour hot sauce over her ice cream. More than that, she was grateful she didn't have to eat it-even if Simi did keep taunting her "wimpy" tastebuds. Better that than the stomach ache she was sure the demon would have later.
She was just about to tease Simi over that when there was a sudden rush of air around her.
Not sure what the sensation was, she stopped speaking mid-sentence and saw the color fade from Aimee's face as she stared in horror of what was behind Tory's back.
Dev and Katherine rushed forward.
Tory turned to see a group of extremely tall, handsome men there. The leader had eyes as black as space . . . and just as vast and empty.
He laughed at the bear clan before he seized her and everything went dark.