Eros stood up as well, his eyes narrowing as the devouring darkness took over.
“I will not repeat my request again,” he uttered, this time his voice even deeper as his eyes blackened.
The goddess looked at him with worry across her face, the dark circles around her eyes betraying all the effort she had made to keep their world in balance. Though her exhaustion was clearly visible, Eros appeared unconcerned. The only thing that mattered to him was getting Charisma back.
“Cease this immediately. The equilibrium must not be further disrupted,” she said as she continued to fight with the wind. “I am weary of managing this alone, and I know I will be unable to prevail without your aid, Eros.”
He stared at her, and instead of feeling even a flicker of unease for the goddess, who held the world together in the absence of the love he gave to the world, he felt a low, simmering heat coiling tighter within his chest at every heartbeat.
Make her obey. You need your bonded back.
The voice’s command caused him to approach Hestia, with a small part of him still trying to resist the impulse to destroy her home.
“I do not care if you are not going to prevail,” he said between gritted teeth as he walked even closer to her. “The only thing I care about is?—”
Suddenly, Artemis’s faint and fragile voice cried out, “I’m so sorry,” cutting him off.
The next thing he was aware of was a piercing pain in the middle of his back.
As the forceful howling of the wind subsided, the feeling of cold began to dissipate. Hestia spun around, positioning herself to face him and covering her mouth. Her eyes met his.
The realization came with the widening of his eyes and the racing of his heart upon seeing the woman standing in front of him.
“The only thing I care about is . . .”
He tried to continue, but the words that escaped his lips were now laced with false affection. Artemis had struck him with his own arrow.
With the heavy toll that the loss of Charisma had taken on Eros, Artemis had made the difficult decision to use one of Eros’s own love arrows on him. The arrow had created a deceptive allure that he would not have felt for Hestia otherwise.
The powerful attraction he felt in that instant nearly caused him to conclude his sentence with the word “you,” but he resisted, using the final sliver of grief that he had to hold onto. His arrow’s magic slowly eroded the magic of their bond, causing the eternal pain to dissipate into nothingness.
The emotions you are experiencing are not genuine.
Remember her laughter, the way she furrowed her brows at you, and her penchant for twisting your words.
Remember your bonded.
A moment passed with his lips almost opening to speak but then he appeared to reconsider. He pressed his lips together in a firm line. Although the fury and sorrow he felt inside of him began to lessen, he realized that it was all because of the effect of his own arrow that had been used against him.
Once again, his best friend, Artemis, had committed an act of betrayal against him, and unfortunately, this instance proved to be the most damaging of them all.
He longed for the sharp sting, but Artemis’s choice was to provide relief from his suffering.
He longed for the pain of the unreversed bond’s magic, but Artemis refused to allow it.
Even though he fully grasped the reasoning behind her actions, he found himself unable to envision a situation where he would extend his forgiveness to her.
He moved slowly and steadily as he drew the arrow out of his back, turning his eyes to look at it. His fingers closed tightly around the object until it disintegrated. He watched the remnants hit the floor, then turned around and moved urgently to leave the house.
Although Artemis’s cries would usually have stirred him, he was indifferent to her this time. When he walked by, her lips moved as if she were about to apologize once again, but he fixed her with a look so harsh and unwavering that it felt like the very end of their friendship.
His eyes locked onto hers, and in that instant, she understood that forgiveness was about to be a word he had forever forgotten.
Chapter 43
Shadow
ONE DAY AFTER SHADOW’S LIBERATION
