He froze at the voice that had stayed with him all these weeks. The voice that both soothed and tortured him.

It was then he felt her gentle touch against his scaly flesh.

Erin cried over what they’d done to him. She ran her hand along his rocky flesh, unable to believe they had reduced him to such a state.

He tried to push himself away from her. “Go. I don’t want you to see me in this hideous form.”

She laid her cheek against his and held him close. She now understood what he’d meant that night at the carnival. “I don’t care what you look like, V’Aidan. I love you as you are.”

Those words tore through him. “You’re not real,” he said, his voice ragged. “My precious Erin can’t love a monster. No one can. She is goodness and light, and I … I am nothing.”

He looked up and roared at the ceiling, “Damn you, Hades! How dare you mock me like this, you bastard! Isn’t it enough for you that I ache every minute of every hour for her? Just leave me to suffer in peace.”

Erin refused to let go of him. “It’s not an illusion, V’Aidan. I want us to go home. Together.”

Tears welled in his swollen eyes, stinging them unmercifully. It was a cruel lie. He’d never had a home. Never had love.

He pulled against the chain that choked him, wishing for one moment that he could be with Erin again in her dreams. It had been the only time in eternity he had ever known happiness. “I am damned here, Erin. I have no powers. Nothing to offer you at all. You must go. If you stay here too long, they won’t let you leave.”

Erin looked around his cold, dark prison that smelled and slithered. She’d never seen a more inhospitable place. Her worst fear had been being stuck in this cave with the dragon.

But if that was what it took to have V’Aidan, then she was willing to do it. “I’m not going to leave you again.”

He lifted his head and she could tell he was trying to see her. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that if you can’t go home with me, then I will stay here with you. Forever.”

V’Aidan gaped at her. “You don’t know what you’re doing.” He pushed at her with his talon. “Go!”

She didn’t move. “I will not leave you.”

He gathered her into his arms and held her close. “If you really love me, Erin, you won’t stay. I could never stand the thought of knowing you were here because of me. Please, love, please go and never look back.”