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“Why should I do that for you?” He shrugs. “Thisiswhat he wanted. He set the terms of his oblivion whether or not he won the bet.”
I bite my lip. Hypnos is right. It was what Eros wanted when he made the bet. “But Eros said he didn’t think there was pure love anymore. That’s why he wanted to fade away.”
“You think what you have qualifies as pure love?” Hypnos scoffs. “Just a week ago, you desired to be with someone else.Now, after Carl tells you he doesn’t want you, you want me to go against Eros’s wishes?”
“Crap, that sounds bad when you say it like that,” I say mostly to myself, then I shake off my own fears that I’m not as pure of heart as they think I am. “Can you give him achanceto change his mind about fading away?”
“For you?” Hypnos frowns.
“Not for me, but for him and the world. I don’t really deserve these powers. We need to give them back.”
“If you give them back to him, you will die with the act,” Hypnos warns, his voice serious, so I know this isn’t a joke. “The powers haven’t settled and changed your mortal body into a full-fledged god yet. You are at a fragile stage during the transition.”
“I understand the risk, and I love him. I loved him before the arrow. I don’t think I can handle going on knowing I might have been able to save and didn’t try. He sacrificed himself for me. He was willing to play the part of the love of my life so I wouldn’t have to go with the other gods.”
“Hmm.” Hypnos rubs his chin. “I suppose he seemed like he had a change of heart at the end.”
“Go ahead. Do what you have to do to give him back his powers.” I recline back on the bed, my head propped up on a pillow, and ready myself for death. Will I end up in oblivion or with Thanatos after all? I call out, “But please, can you tell him I really did love himbeforethe arrow?”
“Oh, I know,” Hypnos says with a smirk. “But I needed to know you knew.”
Before I can ask how he figured it out, my body spasms, and I arch with the pain of being shredded to tiny bits. Getting the powers wasn’t as excruciating as losing them, but I don’t recommend either process.
“Are you sure about sacrificing yourself?” Hypnos asks me. “I can still stop.”
Since I can’t talk through the pain, I nod my head. Wave after wave of ripping sensations crash over me, seeming to last forever, and I feel my life force being pulled from my bones.
Then, I feel another presence in the room.
Eros.
“What are you doing to her?” Eros screams. “You’re supposed to give her my powers.”
“She’s giving them you back to you—returning your life force,” Hypnos explains. “Otherwise, you can’t exist.”
“Stop it!” Eros knocks Hypnos backward. “You’re killing her.”
“Dee doesn’t want me to stop,” Hypnos argues. “She’d rather you live.”
“I don’t care. Dee doesn’t know what she wants. The arrow is making?—”
“The arrowisn’twhy she is sacrificing her life,” Hypnos explains calmly.
Eros glares at him from the foot of the dream god’s bed, looking ready to attack him again.
I want to say something to soothe Eros, but the pain is too much for me to get a word out. It takes all my effort to follow their conversation.
Eros crawls onto the bed next to me, looking like he’s afraid to touch me, as if he might make it worse. He reaches out and pulls back several times. “Sweetheart, I’d rather die than have you go through this pain. I’mnotabout to let you sacrifice yourself for me.” He narrows his eyes on Hypnos as if plotting to take him out.
I grab Eros’s arm now that he’s so close. “Can’t. Let. You. Die,” I pant out.
“It was supposed to be me who fades away…”
“Brother, why don’t you want this woman to die?” Hypnos prompts.
Eros cradles my face with his large, warm hand and some of the pain I feel eases, or at least maybe I’m distracted from it.
“I wanted to be the love of your life,” Eros says softly.
