Of Wars & Thrones (Elysian Gods #3)

Chapter 1 Quentin

Atsunami of bodies drowned my view, robbing Grayson from my line of sight.

Erik’s aura cut into my waist as the force of it dragged me back towards him.

My heels dug into the dirt and I reached out in a desperate attempt to escape.

When that failed I swiped at Erik—my feet and hands connecting with parts if his body in a wild display, but his hold remained strong.

“Let’s get her home, Erik,” Sloan said.

“I’m coming with you,” Larkin added.

Elva appeared over his shoulder. “So are we.”

“Erik!” My voice was hoarse. “I swear. Let me go. I need to see him!”

Pain ripped through my throat as I continued to scream.

Minor Gods craned their necks to take in the spectacle.

I didn’t care. While they celebrated the victory of justice, they refused to acknowledge that they didn’t know the full story.

Hunter fed them a lie, and they accepted it without question.

Or maybe they didn’t care for the truth at all.

Maybe they were nothing more than bloodthirsty beings who were desperate to satiate their boredom.

“None of you know the truth! None of you understand! He didn’t—”

A red mist descended in front of me like a veil and the ground disappeared beneath my feet as Erik transported us back to his home. The rest of my sentence, my accusations, were lost.

“Elva, can you please make sure the children don’t come down here?” Sloan muttered as we landed in their living room.

A wave of guilt crashed against the shores of my rage. There were so many people involved in this mess, including children who would wonder where their favourite uncle was.

“Erik!” I hissed, unable to see sense.

All the rage, all the chaos, needed an outlet. I desperately longed to find Hunter. He was the only target that would settle my soul.

Tendrils of red spread from my waist and snaked its way around my arms and legs, binding them against my body. I struggled against his aura in another futile escape attempt. The cuffs hung heavy on my wrists, reminding me that Hunter had made me powerless. Weak.

“Scott, you need to calm down.” Erik spoke to me like I was one of his children. Patience bordering on patronisation laced his words and stoked more flames in the pit of my stomach. How could he remain so calm in a situation like this?

“Don’t you dare!” I spat. “Don’t you dare make me out to be some hysterical woman. You heard what he said. He said he was going to sacrifice Gray. He’s going to kill him, Erik!”

The facade cracked as he choked out, “I know.”

I saw my opening, and I ran with it. Erik was my best chance. “We have to do something.”

“What do you want us to do, Scott?” Ignacio asked, stepping forward and looking infuriatingly unfazed.

The question grated on me because how was it not obvious to them? The next steps were clear. “We need to work against Hunter. We need to find a way.”

“You’re asking us to start a war, Quentin,” Erik whispered, brows pinching together.

A war would be worth it if that was what it took to get Grayson back.

I stared at the surrounding faces, Gods who knew Gray better than I did. Gods who had spent years by his side. And yet not a single one of them seemed willing to entertain the idea of tearing the heavens apart. Not to save Gray. Not to show others the truth.

“Gray would tell you the same thing.” Ignacio cut through my thoughts with his steady logic. “When Elysia is unstable, everything suffers. That includes Earth and mortals.”

“He’s meant to be your best friend,” I snapped.

“We have a duty, Scott! We can’t ignore the danger it would put mortals in.”

I let out a frustrated scream, but it was cut short when Erik’s aura wrapped around my mouth, effectively silencing me.

“Let her go, Erik,” Larkin ordered, tone akin to ice.

His pale skin flushed pink, and he uncoiled his aura not only from my mouth but all my limbs, setting me down on the ground.

The relief I assumed would fill me, the adrenaline that would carry me out the door, failed to appear.

Larkin was beside me as I collapsed against her and finally let the tears fall.

She wrapped me in her arms as I heaved sobs at the reality I faced.

Hunter had planned this with precision and, alone, I would be no match for him. The lack of support rang loudly around me. Duty came before friendships. Selfishness coursed through their veins as brazenly as divinity.

Larkin stroked my hair as she spoke to the others. “I think you should all leave.”

There were murmured objections, and I refused to look up even when Elva called my name.

I couldn’t trust myself. When the sound of footstep died away and the room fell quiet, I lifted my head from Larkin’s shoulder and sniffed.

She remained a blurred figure in my vision as I stared at her through tears.

“They can’t do this, Larkin,” I pleaded. “He did what he did under Hunter’s orders. I know he’s not innocent but… but…”

Logic was my forte. As a scientist, one of my primary characteristics was the ability to troubleshoot and yet I couldn’t think of a solution to this.

I wasn’t dealing with cells but psychopathic Gods that had a history of murder and lies.

They had been doing this longer than I had and I wasn’t sure I had all the pieces that would make it a fair fight.

The only solution I could come up with was to get Gray to show his memories to everyone, but that meant getting to him and it seemed an impossible task.

“I know,” Larkin replied. Her blue eyes were guarded, as if she was going through her own mental calculations. “Hunter is up to something. It’s never what it appears with him. We’ll find a way. I will not sit back and let this happen.”

Hope blossomed so violently in my chest that I choked on a fresh sob. Someone was willing to fight beside me. When everyone else had given up, Larkin refused to back down. I understood Elysia thrived on balance and harmony, but some things were worth causing an upset for.

A sudden rush of pain pierced through my relief, and I doubled over with a hiss before my knees hit the ground.

“Scott?” Larkin crouched down beside me.

The pain continued to flush through my limbs, forcing my hairs to stand on end and nausea to roll in my stomach.

“He’s hurting,” I gasped. Panic rolled through me alongside the pain as I looked up at Larkin. “He’s hurting. They wouldn’t just… They’re not…”

I couldn’t get the words out. If I was already too late to save him…

When I met Grayson, I wanted nothing to do with him. The less time I spent with him, the better, in my opinion, but things had changed. We were engaged. We were bound. He was my person, and I was promised an eternity with him. An eternity that was now threatened to be cut short.

“No,” Larkin assured me forcefully. “Hunter wouldn’t just do it. He’d want an audience. He’s trying to sacrifice Gray to gain favour, so it doesn’t benefit him to do it privately.”

The nausea twisted in my stomach and I heaved, planting my cuffed hands on the floor in front of me.

“You need to try to calm down,” Larkin said as she helped me to my feet. “You’re no use to him like this.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but the flicker of electric blue made me lose focus. Hunter appeared in the room and a fresh surge of rage bolstered me.

“You!” I spat, ignoring the way the room swayed.

“Calm that temper, Scott.” His tone was unnervingly level in comparison to mine.

“I swear to Gods—”

“I’ve come to talk to you.”

The silvery sheen of Larkin’s aura drifted between us in the form of a screen. Gratitude poured out of me for Larkin and all she was doing when Hunter had caused her nothing but pain in her life.

“Alone,” Hunter pointed out, looked bored.

“Do you think I’m crazy enough to let that happen?” Larkin asked him. “You ambushed them, Hunter. You have her cuffed so she can’t defend herself.”

A crease formed between his brows as he took us both in. The last thing he probably expected was for me and Larkin to form any kind of kinship. Hunter relied on her brash attitude to form fissures rather than unions.

“I’m not sure what my business has to do with you anymore, Larkin.” The ripple in his calm disappeared as quickly as it came. “A quick reminder that we are divorced.”

A flash of pain ghosted across her face. She may have wanted out, but it was never how she saw her marriage ending when she agreed to his proposal. Hunter had form in hiding the monster that laid beneath.

“Now.” He straightened out the cuffs of his shirt. “You’re welcome to wait outside the room while I speak to Quentin, but I would like to speak to her alone.”

Larkin didn’t move.

Hunter’s lip curled at her defiance, and his tone dropped as he spoke. “I won’t ask you again.”

“Larkin, go,” I told her. “I’ll be fine.”

There was no guarantee of that, but I would not risk her being hurt by him again. Plus, I wanted to know why he had turned up here and he wouldn’t tell me as long as she was in the room with us.

“I’ll be outside,” she reassured me.

I gave her a small nod, and she left, aura following her out of the room. Wisps of hope and safety shut behind a door and out of my reach.

I fixed my gaze on Hunter, locking eyes with the God who held all the cards. I never thought it was possible to hate someone as much as I did the man standing in front of me now. But whatever he had to say, I would listen and if there was a chance of getting Gray back, nothing would stop me.