Eldon opens up about his feelings, but Gloria's response is heartbreaking. The group rushes to rescue Shelly, Jessica, and Becky, but will it be enough to face the total might of the Paladonic Knights?
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Chapter 11
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False Starts
"Damn it!" Eldon cursed as his fist connected with the very solid brick wall of the waiting room. It hurt, but the pain receded almost immediately. Thanks to Areth's sacrifice, his body was locked into its current state of health. He avoided looking at the statue still clutched in his father's white-knuckled grip.
Could this week get any worse? It started with them getting attacked by a group of Paladonic Knights pretending to be magical creatures, where he was injured in a nasty blast. His girlfriend, Gloria, had healed him, but the things he'd done with his dad and sister in the car with them bothered him. Then he had to save the President of the United States from her own Secret Service. Just when he thought they were safe and flying away in a helicopter, it was shot down. He was hurt beyond anything Gloria could do to heal him this time. It took him a whole week to recover enough to even wake up. His step-mom had sacrificed her life for his health, which weighed heavily on him. Now his sister was kidnapped and in the hands of the Paladonic Knights.
"I know you're angry, Son, but that's no reason to use such language," Lyden disapproved. Despite his words, Eldon knew his father's heart wasn't in the rebuke. His heart was shattered at losing his fairy lover.
Does he hate me for that? Eldon feared. It's my fault she's dead. I should have died in that crash. Then she wouldn't have had to sacrifice herself. He had no idea what would make the normally self-centered pixie give up everything for him. He knew she loved his dad, but himself...? Now he had to live with the guilt that her death was his fault. If Mandy were still in the room, he feared what his father might say. What truths hid behind his grief? How much did he blame Eldon?
"No," Gloria whispered as she folded him in her arms. Part of him wanted to push her away. He was supposed to be a man and be strong. He shouldn't need to be comforted. But a larger part of him welcomed the loving touch. "It wasn't your fault. The Knights attacked us. It was their fault for what happened. Areth had more heart in her than any other fairy I've ever known. She was one of a kind, but her death wasn't your fault. Your father doesn't blame you."
"But—" he started to respond to her quiet words, but his dad cut him off, having heard Gloria somehow.
"No, Son. Areth—" he paused to swallow. Eldon could see a fresh set of tears well up in his father's eyes. "Areth did what she did out of love for me. Gloria is right, that she was one of a kind. She's also right about this not being your fault. I don't blame you." Lyden's voice hardened into something tougher than diamond. "The Knights will pay for this. They took Lisa from me, now Areth, and they've kidnapped my daughter and wife. I won't accept their presence in this world anymore."
Eldon almost shook at the amount of conviction and hatred in his father's voice.
"I'll be at your side, Dad," Eldon promised. "They need to pay—"
"Do you hear yourselves?" Brooke interrupted. There was shock in her voice as she confronted them. "I agree that they need to pay for what they did, but you're talking about genocide."
"It's them or us," Lyden replied. He held Areth's golden statue against his chest as he faced his wife. "I don't understand why you're against this? They tortured you the last time they had you and want to kill all of us."
"I hate them for what they did, but killing them all isn't the answer," Brooke stood her ground. "They're not all evil. Remember Emmet?"
They locked eyes and Eldon grew uncomfortable watching them. He hugged Gloria tighter to him, glad that she wasn't arguing with him. He looked into her blue eyes and felt lighter. She was always there for him, supporting him when he needed it. She was all powerful, but she didn't try to intimidate him. She didn't lord her power over him, and let him be his own person. She could control him if she chose, but she didn't. She— He stopped as something occurred to him.
"I love you," he told her in a soft voice.
Her eyes widened in shock. He didn't think he could surprise her, as she was always privy to his thoughts, but then he realized that he hadn't thought those words before speaking. He'd reacted to his emotions.
She released him and stepped back, covering her mouth. "Eldon, I... I care for you, I do, but... You have to understand, I—"
The week could get worse, it seemed.
"Don't," he told her, feeling his heart break. "Just don't. I shouldn't have said it. I don't know why I did. It was stupid, so just forget it, okay?"
"You don't understand," Gloria said and stepped back up to him. "I was once the Goddess of Love. I had thousands that fawned over me. They all loved me, but—"
"But how could I compare to them?" he asked, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. He turned away and walked out of the room before she could see the tears forming in his eyes, leaving behind his arguing parents. He kept his mind blank so she wouldn't see anything from that either.
"Eldon, stop," he heard Gloria say, but he continued walking down the hallway of the hospital. He felt like he needed to act. He didn't want to be here in this hospital. He didn't know what the wait was for, but it rankled. "Eldon, please listen to me."
He stopped to face her. "Why? You don't love me. I can accept that. I'm not worthy of your love. I get it. How could my heart match up to the thousands that once fawned over you? There's nothing for you to explain."
She slapped him. Her hand moved so fast, he didn't see it coming until his head snapped to the side. He knew she was strong, but that slap hurt! He wondered if his neck would have snapped if not for Areth's sacrifice. No, probably not, but by the Pillars, it hurt! The pain took only a few seconds to recede, but it was longer than his fist had hurt from punching the wall.
"That's not it at all," Gloria seethed at him. "I care for you more than I've cared about a mortal in millennia. You're strong, optimistic, caring, and so much more than any one woman deserves. Though your current attitude could use some adjusting. I don't like seeing you as a whiny little snot." She held up her hand as he tried to interrupt her, and he closed his mouth.
I'll let her speak, he thought. I was a fool to think she would ever love me. What can she say? I'll listen to her, and then do everything in my power to forget I ever uttered those stupid words.
"I didn't bring up what I used to be to make you feel inferior. None of them could compare to you. Thousands of adoring mortals, and combined they meant nothing to me compared to you, but I need you to understand something." She paused to take a deep breath and looked into his eyes. "There is always that fear in me that people love me for what I am, not who I am. When I was Aphrodite, people fell in love with me because I was the Goddess of Love. My mere presence made men leave their wives, and fathers abandon their children. For a long time, I enjoyed that attention. Sometimes I would make them do terrible things. They would do it too, not because I forced them to with my power, but because they loved me that much. I was a terrible person. I won't make excuses for who I was then, though I was better as Aphrodite than I was as Lilith."
"So you can't love me because you were evil once?" Eldon asked, confused. What was she getting at?
"No," Gloria shook her head. "I could love you, Eldon. It would be so easy for me to let myself fall for you."
"But you won't." Eldon shook his head. She wasn't making any sense. She could love him, but wouldn't? He knew who she had been, and knew many of the stories about her, but that wasn't who she was now. He loved the woman before him, and didn't care about her past.
"You're not letting me finish," she chided him, but there was no anger in her tone. If anything, her voice had softened. "How do I know you love me for who I am, and it's not my powers making you love me? Hephaestus was a great man and powerful god, but even he fell under my power after Zeus forced me to marry him. He was a god who could create beauty with his bare hands, but he fell under the spell of my presence."
"So, because I'm not a god..." he knew that wasn't what she was driving at, but she was taking too long to get to her point.
She sighed before answering. "You're better than any god I've ever met. Eldon, the reason I stop myself is because I'm afraid. What if the only reason you love me is because I was a love goddess? What might I do, if I allow myself to love you? Would I twist your love into something evil, just because I can? Will I go back to the woman I once was? I don't want that. You mean a great deal to me, and I don't want to change who you are."