Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning #4)(91)

"She is Hecate's Empousa?" Cronos said.

"Yes."

"Then her salvation will be only temporary."

"She has not lived her allotted time. It is not yet Beltane," Asterius said.

"What did this to her?" the Titan asked.

"The leader of the Dream Stealers, Hatred. I would not have her die from that creature's touch."

Cronos shifted his attention to his son. "Hatred has killed her, and you want love to save her?"

Asterius's jaw tightened, but he nodded. "I do."

"Love . . ." Cronos chuckled. "I am surprised by your weakness, Guardian."

"I have learned that love is only weak when it is selfish," he said, a clear challenge in his voice.

Surprise flashed over the Titan's face. "You remind me of your mother."

"That is probably because she, too, understood the weakness of those who love selfishly."

Cronos frowned. "I am not accustomed to being insulted when my aid has been asked."

"I meant no insult. I only spoke the truth," Asterius said quickly.

"Regardless, I grow weary of this conversation."

"Cronos! Forgive me. I did not - "

"Silence!" The flame flickered madly, and the floor of the goddess's temple shook. "I have not finished. I grant your request. You may share a piece of the immortality that lives in your spirit with the priestess. A very small piece, mind you. It will steal her from Hades' realm only this once. But know that there is a price for the spark of immortality you share with her. Even after she dies, she will carry that piece of your spirit. You will only feel whole when she is beside you, and your spirit is whole. When she no longer walks this realm, your heart will be empty and your days filled with loneliness. Think carefully before you make this choice."

"I have already made my choice. The cost is something I knew I would pay if I allowed myself to love her. I accepted it then. I do not mind accepting it again for her life."

"Very well then, it is your birthright to ask a boon of me, but do not trouble me again. You chose Hecate, and it is the goddess you must beseech in the future." Without another word, the Titan disappeared from the flame.

Asterius looked down at Mikado. His father had granted him the ability to save her, but how? He had to give her a piece of his immortality - a piece of his spirit. And then he knew. Slowly, he bent forward and touched his lips to hers. As he kissed her, he willed her to live - to share what he offered her and to accept him all over again.

Mikado stirred and sighed softly against his mouth and then she opened her lips and their kiss deepened. When Asterius finally pulled away, her eyes were open and she was smiling up at him.

"She lives!" Gii cried.

And then the handmaidens were laughing and crying together as they closed the circle and rushed to their Empousa's side. Mikki sat up and blinked in confusion, not sure where she was or why Asterius knelt beside her and was holding her hand right in front of the Elementals. She looked around. They were in Hecate's Temple? That wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be here, she was supposed to be checking the rose wall to make sure that -

And it all came rushing back to her.

"The Dream Stealers!" she gasped, trying to get to her feet but finding that she was so light-headed that any abrupt movement made the temple pitch and roll sickeningly around her.

"Shhh," Asterius reassured her. "All is well. The Dream Stealers have been banished from the realm."

"I'm so sorry." She looked frantically from Asterius to the handmaidens.

"Empousa, you need not apologize. Dream Stealers are masters of manipulation. We should have prepared you better," Gii said, crouching to take her other hand.

"Yes!" Nera nodded her head a little frantically, as if that could convince her Empousa. "How were you to know the cunning games they play?"

"But I let them in. They told me that - oh, God! The things they made me think and feel! It was horrible."

Aeras smiled through the tears that washed her cheeks and touched Mikki's hair reverently. "You were very brave, Empousa. You took the blow Hatred planned for me."

Mikki had forgotten all about that. She frantically looked down at herself. She was covered with blood. How could anyone lose so much blood and live? She remembered the pain in her shoulder, but when she looked, she saw nothing but bloody skin. And there had been something else . . . something much worse . . .

Her eyes widened, and she felt a wave of dizziness. He'd slit her throat. She had been dying. But now she was very much alive. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to meet her lover's.

"It's over now," Asterius said.

"I was dying," she whispered.

"No. I could not let that happen," he said.

"He saved you," Gii said with a little sobbing hiccup.

"He saved all of us," Aeras said, wiping her face.

"We will never forget it," Floga said.

"Never," said Nera.

Mikki smiled at the Elementals. "He did what any honorable man would do to protect his home and those he loves." Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered into his ear, "Take me home."

Chapter Thirty-Two

A STERIUS carried her through the garden. Mikki wouldn't normally like being carried around as if she was a child, but she wasn't sure she could walk on her own. Her insides felt weak and sick. And she needed to be in his arms. She needed to feel his heartbeat against her own to reassure herself that she really was alive.