Page 95 of Captured By the Cupid

“The balance in Purgatory has been disrupted,” Hades states while my throat tightens at the obvious. “It is dangerous bringing a mortal here. A mortal’s energy housing a Goddess is even more precarious. It is why Psyche’s body woke and why it responded with such violence to Aradia’s presence.” He indicates a hand to my wife…her mortal crust. “She needs fulfillment. As does Purgatory. Without that fulfillment, the boundaries of your realm will continue to strain and dissolveuntil all souls in Limbo escape to other worlds, potentially other universes and dimensions.”

I clench Psyche’s hips, harden my jaw, and lock eyes with him. “What must be done to restore Psyche’s soul to her body?”

Hades deadpans. An inner conflict within him creases his serious brow. “Eros, if you wish to restore Psyche’s soul to her own Goddess form, you have one choice. You must kill her host.”

My heartbeat turns into a raging monster. I snap. For love is a jealous beast, and I cannot fathom a world in which neither woman exists. Sweeping out of the chair and setting Psyche on the floor, I shift into the gargoyle and spit fury.

“Give me another way!” I demand with red painting my vision.

Hades sighs, not once disturbed by the feral spittle landing on his cheek. “Likewise, Eros, if you wish to restore Aradia’s soul, fractured or otherwise, you must burn Psyche’s Goddess body. In this matter, I am sorry, old friend, you cannot have your cake and eat it, too.”

“Then, I’ll put the little Butterfly back into the mortal realm where she belongs,” I say through gritted teeth, balling my hand into an obsidian fist.

Hades rises, slowly and ominously. “You may do so if you wish, Eros. But it would only be a temporary adhesive on the overarching wound of internal bleeding. Aradia has existed too long in Purgatory while housing Psyche’s soul. Psyche’s energy, her essence has bled from Aradia and drifted to the furthest corners of Purgatory.”

Gods, a storm tears through my blood because I am responsible for this. I took her everywhere, a full tour—a feast for her mortal senses, but I was spreading a curse.

“Eros…” Aradia’s whimpering voice catches my attention, and when I flick my head to the girl, at her mystical teal eyesstaring back at me, I cross the three steps and sweep her into my arms.

“Bloody Valentine, Aradia, this is all my fault.” I seize the back of her head, gripping her curls and bringing my mouth to the side of her neck. “I’ll find a way to fix this, to keep you both.”

“The longer she remains in your realm with Psyche’s soul inside of her…”—Hades interjects, and I throw him a daggered glare—“the more Purgatory will crack. More souls will slip beyond its broken confines. You must burn Psyche’s body…or Aradia’s. It’s your only choice to free their souls and restore one in full.”

“Eros.” Aradia’s voice cracks from emotion as I kiss along her jaw. “I heard everything. She shared everything. You can’t.Wecan’t. You must let me go. I don’t…belong here. She does.”

The essence of Purgatory shakes me to my core until it feels like I’m lost in Limbo.

History repeats itself. I remember Psyche’s plight, her failed final test. And my need for more time.

All I know is history cannot repeat again. I cannot bring Aradia to Mount Olympus and plead my case to Zeus while bearing her unconscious form. With her mortal soul already fractured from hosting the essence of a Goddess, if I were to take her to the dwelling of the gods, it would be too much for her. Her mortal flesh would not withstand such divinity.

I need more time!

35

“If you truly love me, you’ll end it now. Let my life have meaning, the greatest meaning.”

ARADIA/EROS

“Eros, where are you taking me?” I shiver in his arms as he soars over the Gates, flying beyond the refugee tent cities.

I cover my ears, but the ache in my chest grows at the sounds of wailing, screaming, crying…the souls fading and breaking below us.

He says nothing. And I’m in too much pain to press him. At least the physical pain helps with the crushing emotional pain. He wasn’t fucking me earlier. He was loving his wife. I didn’t see, but I felt his desperate need. His transcendent love for her.

How could I stand in the way of that? Especially when I’ve lived a thousand lives with him during my brief time in Purgatory.

I have tasted and felt the deepest, sweetest, and darkest embodiment of love ever!

No existence, no end could be more meaningful than to lay down one’s life for another. Especially when that other is a Goddess. By my mortal flesh and human heart, I have no right to demand that he keep me instead of her. It eclipses all understanding.

I am the write-off to her soul. As Hades said, I should not exist. My soul is too broken to survive in Purgatory. The multiple times Eros has saved me from imminent death is proof. But before he kills me, burns my body, and restores Psyche’s soul to her body, I will ask him for only one thing.

It takes all my willpower to form the request. By the time I manage, he’s flown us past the cemetery where he chased me before I surrendered. Why are we here? Is this where…oh, yes, that makes sense.

The gravity of the realization invades my chest, weighs me down.

He wouldn’t want to taint any sacred places with my death. Better to do the deed where he first found me. Full circle. Nothing else makes sense.

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