Chapter 3

Brynn gripped Cassia's arm like a vise.

"Lady Cassia! Please give the Griffon to Aiden! He's been poisoned with Hydra venom! He's dying!"

"Impossible." Cassia frowned deeply. "The Griffon only fits two. I have to get Adonis back to HQ first. It's too dangerous for him here. Besides, the High Priest said he was stable. He's out of danger."

"Danger?!" Brynn roared in despair. "Aiden has barely got a breath left in him! He is your husband!"

Seeing this, Adonis immediately shrank behind Cassia.

"Cassia, Aiden is just jealous. He doesn't want you to leave with me. You should take him. Leave me here. Even if the monsters eat me, I'll accept it..."

It was a pathetic lie, but it struck Cassia's blind spot perfectly.

"Enough, Brynn." Cassia sneered from her high horse. "I saw him receive the healing magic with my own eyes. He's perfectly stable. You'd tell such a massive lie just to help him win my favor?"

"A lie?! Are you blind!" Brynn roared, breaking down.

Bang! Cassia unleashed her divine aura, crushing Brynn to his knees.

"I don't have time for his tantrums!" Her face was a mask of ice as she glided toward my stretcher.

The venom had paralyzed my vocal cords. All I could do was stare with unfocused eyes at the woman I had loved for years.

Despair froze my heart, inch by inch.

Cassia leaned in. Her warm breath brushed my ear.

"Aiden, be reasonable. This jealousy is beneath you."

But Cassia, I wasn't jealous.

I was really dying.

Lying on the stretcher, I was in too much pain to speak. I felt the energy draining from my body. My mind was blurring.

"Give me six hours." She reached out, trying to stroke my festering cheek. "I swear, this is the last time. After this, it's just you and me."

I found one last ounce of strength. Just enough to turn my head and avoid her touch.

Her hand froze in mid-air. A flash of hurt and impatience crossed her face.

"Don't throw a fit with me. When this is over," she said, like handing out charity, "I'll take you to see the moonlight in the Silverleaf Forest. You've always wanted to go, right?"

I closed my eyes. I refused to look at her again.

Cassia bit her lip, scoffed coldly, and turned around. She pulled Adonis up and mounted the Griffon without looking back.

Giant wings blocked out the sky.

Lying on the freezing stretcher, I watched her take the enemy who stole everything from me and disappear into the clouds.

In that moment, watching her fly away with him, the last ember of my love for her turned to ash.

"Aiden! Hold on!" Brynn threw himself beside me, tears smashing onto the ground. "You can't die!"

I couldn't hold on.

The Hydra venom had already burned right through my heart.

Shaking, I used my ultimate strength to pull two things from my pocket and shove them into Brynn's hand.

A memory crystal. And an obsidian ring. The wedding ring I carved myself after taking that fatal strike for her.

"Take this crystal... to the Council..." I choked out black blood with every breath. "It has Adonis's confession. Don't let that bastard... steal our squad's glory."

Brynn gripped the crystal tight, sobbing violently. "I swear it! But you have to live and do it yourself!"

"Too late..." I gave a tragic smile, my eyes shifting to the ring. "Give this... to Cassia."

Staring at the gray sky, I gathered the strength of my very soul to leave my final words.

"Tell her... we are even. And tell her I will never forgive her. Not in this life. Not in the next. Not for all eternity."

"Brother!!"

"Burn my body." My voice grew fainter, ready to scatter in the wind. "Scatter the ashes. Don't leave them for her... The thought of it sickens me."

With my last word, my eyes shut completely.

The pain faded. I was finally free.

——

Cassia's POV

A thousand miles away, in a side hall of Mount Olympus.

I stood before the communication array. Adonis stood obediently behind me.

"My Lord Divine Official," I said with absolute, proud certainty. "The hero who slayed the Minotaur... was the chosen one, Adonis."

Adonis tugged at my sleeve, playing innocent. "Will Aiden hate me even more for this?"

"Ignore him." I pushed down a sudden, inexplicable panic in my chest and spoke coldly. "His injuries were stable ages ago. He actually played dead just to fight for my attention. Think of this glory as his compensation for terrifying you. Once this is done, I'll go apologize to him."

Across the array, the official picked up the Quill of Fate, ready to record the deed.

In that very second, the Oracle scroll at my waist broke free from its bindings and flew into the air.

Divine laws condensed into glaring, blood-red words:

[ORACLE MAXIMUM ALERT]

[THE CHILD OF PROPHECY, AIDEN, HAS FALLEN.]

[FATE HAS CHOSEN A NEW FAVORITE: ADONIS.]

My mind went entirely blank.

Smack. The Oracle scroll slipped from my hands and hit the floor.