killed him."
She leaned against his arm, wanting to comfort him. "I'm so sorry, Aidan."
"Don't be. I should have known. Scrooge was right. You can't let people know anything about you. You
can't give freely to them, because it's never enough. They always want more of you than any human being
can give. If you let them, they'll suck your soul right out of your body. The golden rule really is if you give
an inch, they take a mile." He shook his head bitterly. "There was a movie last year that I was in called
300 . It was about the ancient battle of Thermopylae—"
She frowned as he finally mentioned a reference she completely understood. "Where King Leonidas and
his band of three hundred warriors held off the Persian army?"
He looked shocked by her question. "You know the story?"
She gave him a chiding smile. "I'm a Greek god, Aidan. Of course I know the story."
There was a light in his eyes that said he still had a hard time accepting who and what she was. "Yeah…
anyway, I was curious about the history of the battle, and unlike you, I wasn't fortunate enough to be an
eyewitness to it. When I looked it up, I learned that they were betrayed by a fellow Spartan soldier."
"Ephialtes."
Aidan nodded. "He wanted money, so for that, he sold out his own countrymen and fellow soldiers and
told the Persians about the small goat path that allowed them to slaughter all of Leonidas's men. Men
who had protected his back in battle. Men with families to feed. Men who fought to protect his own
homeland and his own family and son that he'd left behind with theirs. A family that would suffer under
Persian occupation. But none of that mattered to the greedy, selfish bastard. All he wanted was more and
the rest of the world be damned. It appalled me when I found out about that. I didn't understand then and
I still don't understand how someone could do such a thing."
Unfortunately, she understood. She'd seen people do it time and again over the course of history.
"Simple. There's always some sorry human being who wants what other people have and they don't want
to have to work to earn it."
"Exactly, and the part that kills me is the lengths to which they're willing to go and how they feel so
justified in their theft. If they'd apply half the effort to earning the money that they spent trying to steal it,
they'd be far richer than me."
Leta couldn't agree more. Such people had always angered her too. "Familiarity breeds contempt. By
bringing them in close, they realize that you're just as human as they are. That's when the madness sets in.
They can't understand why you have more than they do when you're just a regular human being the same
as them. Then they hate you for it."
"Yeah, but why?"
Leta sighed. "I truly don't know. Humans are capable of so much creativity and goodness and at the
same time they are destructive and cruel. It's as if your kind needs adversity in order to achieve."
"No, we don't. That's just a lie people tell themselves to feel better about all the people who kick them in
their teeth when it's just as easy to help a man up as it is to knock him to the ground. That's why I've
withdrawn from this world. I don't want to have to watch my back all the time and I'm tired of trying to
figure out if the loyalty someone professes is real and true, or just another lie that will crumble the instant
they taste jealousy."
"I'm incapable of being jealous."
"Are you?"
She cupped his chin and forced him to meet her gaze. "Seriously, Aidan. In my world, jealousy is a man,
Phthonos. He walks in the court of Aphrodite and he has never taken root in my heart. He never will.
Even when I had all my emotions, I never let him in."
He pulled her to his lips for a kiss so wickedly sweet it literally made her toes curl. That kiss was the
most incredible one she'd ever known and the knowledge that this couldn't last made her ache.
As if he sensed her fear, Aidan stiffened an instant before he pulled back from
She leaned against his arm, wanting to comfort him. "I'm so sorry, Aidan."
"Don't be. I should have known. Scrooge was right. You can't let people know anything about you. You
can't give freely to them, because it's never enough. They always want more of you than any human being
can give. If you let them, they'll suck your soul right out of your body. The golden rule really is if you give
an inch, they take a mile." He shook his head bitterly. "There was a movie last year that I was in called
300 . It was about the ancient battle of Thermopylae—"
She frowned as he finally mentioned a reference she completely understood. "Where King Leonidas and
his band of three hundred warriors held off the Persian army?"
He looked shocked by her question. "You know the story?"
She gave him a chiding smile. "I'm a Greek god, Aidan. Of course I know the story."
There was a light in his eyes that said he still had a hard time accepting who and what she was. "Yeah…
anyway, I was curious about the history of the battle, and unlike you, I wasn't fortunate enough to be an
eyewitness to it. When I looked it up, I learned that they were betrayed by a fellow Spartan soldier."
"Ephialtes."
Aidan nodded. "He wanted money, so for that, he sold out his own countrymen and fellow soldiers and
told the Persians about the small goat path that allowed them to slaughter all of Leonidas's men. Men
who had protected his back in battle. Men with families to feed. Men who fought to protect his own
homeland and his own family and son that he'd left behind with theirs. A family that would suffer under
Persian occupation. But none of that mattered to the greedy, selfish bastard. All he wanted was more and
the rest of the world be damned. It appalled me when I found out about that. I didn't understand then and
I still don't understand how someone could do such a thing."
Unfortunately, she understood. She'd seen people do it time and again over the course of history.
"Simple. There's always some sorry human being who wants what other people have and they don't want
to have to work to earn it."
"Exactly, and the part that kills me is the lengths to which they're willing to go and how they feel so
justified in their theft. If they'd apply half the effort to earning the money that they spent trying to steal it,
they'd be far richer than me."
Leta couldn't agree more. Such people had always angered her too. "Familiarity breeds contempt. By
bringing them in close, they realize that you're just as human as they are. That's when the madness sets in.
They can't understand why you have more than they do when you're just a regular human being the same
as them. Then they hate you for it."
"Yeah, but why?"
Leta sighed. "I truly don't know. Humans are capable of so much creativity and goodness and at the
same time they are destructive and cruel. It's as if your kind needs adversity in order to achieve."
"No, we don't. That's just a lie people tell themselves to feel better about all the people who kick them in
their teeth when it's just as easy to help a man up as it is to knock him to the ground. That's why I've
withdrawn from this world. I don't want to have to watch my back all the time and I'm tired of trying to
figure out if the loyalty someone professes is real and true, or just another lie that will crumble the instant
they taste jealousy."
"I'm incapable of being jealous."
"Are you?"
She cupped his chin and forced him to meet her gaze. "Seriously, Aidan. In my world, jealousy is a man,
Phthonos. He walks in the court of Aphrodite and he has never taken root in my heart. He never will.
Even when I had all my emotions, I never let him in."
He pulled her to his lips for a kiss so wickedly sweet it literally made her toes curl. That kiss was the
most incredible one she'd ever known and the knowledge that this couldn't last made her ache.
As if he sensed her fear, Aidan stiffened an instant before he pulled back from
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