Chapter 201: Not Worthy Of Worship
He met her gaze without flinching. "That’s why she’s not worthy of worship."
Her voice trembled, but her eyes stayed locked on his. "I always felt there was something... tragic about you. I just didn’t know it was this."
Ryder said nothing. He only watched her. He could see the disbelief in her eyes—the way she still couldn’t accept she had once been his, across lifetimes. But he wouldn’t force it. Maybe it was her doing. That cursed goddess. Maybe she was the reason Reana couldn’t remember.
She drew a slow breath, her voice steadier now. "So this goddess... if she loved you, why give you a mate at all? Why not make you mateless?"
His jaw clenched, pain flickering in his eyes like a storm barely held at bay. "Maybe... maybe she was jealous of how much I loved you. I loved you more than I feared the gods. Maybe she wanted that kind of devotion for herself."
Reana exhaled shakily. "And you’ve been carrying this alone... for lifetimes."
"I had no choice."
She leaned in and kissed him—a long, deep kiss—her palm flattening over his heart like a brand. When she pulled back, her voice was soft, fierce. "But you do now."
His eyes flickered with disbelief, as if he didn’t dare hope.
"I don’t care about some ancient prophecy or a curse whispered by a jealous goddess," she said, voice trembling with defiant conviction. "You’re not a monster, Ryder. You’re a man who’s been drowning in pain with no one to throw you a rope."
Tears shimmered in her eyes. "Maybe I can’t break the curse. But I can stand beside you through it. And if your love truly is a poison, then let it kill me slowly... because I’d rather suffer with you than live a life where I never knew you at all."