Chapter 4 Quentin
My days grew senseless in Elysia as I replayed the conversation with Hunter over and over.
A proposal of marriage had been the furthest thing from my mind when he appeared in the room.
It was jarring how he could casually talk about eternal vows when the other option was a death sentence.
More than once, I questioned my sanity, wondering if I had heard him right.
Picking apart the interaction and trying to find the piece that I was certain I was missing.
Erik was furious with his brother’s lack of care towards the sanctity of a soulbond, but it was more than that.
Hunter cared for no lives other than his own.
He’d carved out his own path and placed himself securely in the centre of all his plans.
There wasn’t a single route you could take that didn’t lead back to him.
I’d have been vaguely impressed if it wasn’t so despicable.
I refused to discuss the impromptu proposal with Erik and asked him not to mention it to the others.
Larkin was less curious and leaned towards livid.
She’d been married to the monster for long enough.
She knew how he ticked, even if she couldn’t fully understand the mechanics.
After all, he’d only ever let her see what he chose to show her.
Hunter was good at keeping enough of himself back that no one ever truly got the full picture.
My fingers pressed against the window of my temporary bedroom. The glass was cold beneath my fingertips, but it was the rattle of the chain between my cuffs that caused me to drop my hands.
“Have you had time to think about my proposition?” Hunter’s voice cut through my morning and made me jump.
With my heart hammering, I turned to face him. “I won’t do it.”
Something inside me rankled when I took in his appearance. Not a hair out of place. No visible sign of regret about the games he was playing with Gray’s life. It was business as usual for Hunter.
He raised an eyebrow. “So you’d rather see him die?”
“No. That would be you.” The words were strained as they came out from between my teeth.
It still shocked me how easily Hunter spoke about taking lives, like they were pieces in a game of chess. They meant nothing to him and had no impact on how he mapped out his future.
The thought of Gray’s impending death made me light-headed.
I would do anything to keep him alive… But marrying Hunter?
That was a step too far. No one would paint me as the world’s biggest romantic, but I wanted to marry for love.
Not convenience. I wanted to marry the God who was specifically designed for me.
I couldn’t imagine that Gray would forgive me if I made a choice to save his life that involved us never being together again.
“Perhaps,” Hunter started, looking pensive.
“What?”
“Perhaps you’d feel better if you could discuss the matter with Grayson?”
Hope blossomed wildly in my chest, robbing me of any sense. “You’d let me see him?”
“I don’t see the harm.” He shrugged effortlessly, as if he were deciding on dinner plans. “You’re both cuffed, after all.”
Hunter moved towards me, and I instinctively flinched.
The damage he caused during our last meeting was healed by Erik and Sloan, but I didn’t trust him not to try anything again.
Gray was a powder keg with the fuse always lit.
Hunter was a firework you assumed was finished but caught you by surprise.
“Oh, come now, Quentin,” he crooned. “I’m a protector.”
“You’re a piece of shit,” I retorted before I could stop myself.
“Less of that,” he snapped. “Especially when I’m being so nice to you.”
He produced a key from his pocket and inclined his head towards my wrists. My gaze stayed fixed on the small piece of metal in his hands.
He was letting me free of the cuffs? The moment he did, I would channel every bit of my aura to show him he had picked the wrong person to fight with.
I raised my hands towards him expectantly. Hunter obliged and undid one cuff before it slipped from my wrist, swinging between us while the weight transferred to the other. I shook the wrist that was still cuffed, only to be met with a laugh.
“Don’t be so na?ve. I’m not about to let you loose.”
The delirium that had filled me was washed away as he carefully undid the chain. The single cuff sat like an ugly bracelet around my wrist, weighing just as heavily as it always had.
“You can come through to the council chambers with Erik when you are ready. Just the two of you. No one else. I mean it,” Hunter instructed before leaving me alone.
I barely had a chance to breathe before Erik entered the room again. He must have been nearby, having sensed Hunter arrive at his home. I missed being able to tell what was going on around me. Losing my aura was a loss of one of my senses.
“You should really change the permission of who is allowed to enter your home,” I muttered, looking at him.
Gray had changed the permissions for our home to ensure that no one could just stop in anymore. They would have to knock on the door. Erik was a lot more trusting than most, but this was not the time to offer goodwill and the benefit of the doubt. It was a time for caution.
“I’ll sort it,” he replied, his eyes dropping to the raw skin that was now visible on my exposed wrist. “He’s freed you from one of your cuffs.”
“I think he’s trying to get me on his side. Convince me to go along with his plan. Did you hear anything he said?”
“No. I didn’t want to risk tipping the scales against Gray.” He must have read something on my face, because he hastily added, “I would have stepped in if I felt anything amiss.”
“He said we can visit Gray,” I whispered, unsure if I wanted Erik to come with me.
As selfish as it was, I wanted all of Gray’s time.
But I pushed that away after seeing my hope reflected on Erik’s face.
His love for his brother ran as deep as mine did for Cass.
My initial anger at his reaction subsided as I realised we were all trying to navigate the game Hunter set before us.
At least a visit would allow us the chance to see Gray with our own eyes and try to collectively come up with a plan.
“Let’s go,” Erik said, extending his hand towards me.
I took it, squeezing tight, and watched as he unleashed his aura, wrapping us in red and transporting us from his home.
When we made it to the council chambers, Hunter was already there. He knew the draw of seeing Gray would not be one I hesitated on. It was an open vulnerability, and he manipulated it.
“Quentin. Erik.” The greeting was curt. All business.
Erik tensed beside me. “Hunter. You should really reconsider all of this. I’ll beg you.”
“I don’t want you to beg me, Erik.”
I squeezed Erik’s hand again, in a silent request for him to stand down. I didn’t want a fight or anything that would jeopardise the visit.
My heart thudded violently in my chest. Gray and I hadn’t spent this long apart in a while. We’d become inseparable. A unit. Gray, for all intents and purposes, was my weakness. My world. My soulbound.
“You said we can see him,” I prompted.
“And I’m a God of my word, Quentin. Erik knows where to go.”
Erik’s fair brows drew together. “You won’t be joining us?”
“Not this morning. I have other matters to attend to. I trust you won’t attempt anything stupid, Erik.
You have two brothers. You wouldn’t want to be accused of favouring one over the other, would you?
Or worse, treason.” It was a warning with no room for misinterpretation.
“Plus, my presence apparently only serves to aggravate Grayson.”
He was right. Gray never stayed calm where Hunter was concerned. He would be livid when I revealed the proposition. Gray would rather we both be dead than have me agree to that.
Maybe that was the only solution…
Existence for eternity without Grayson was an impossibility.
I’d always managed on my own, but there was a deep comfort in having a person who would love you no matter what.
There was no weakness in relying on them or sharing your burdens.
Grayson had taken everything of mine and I took everything of his and we made it work.
“Gray?” His name echoed around the stone stairwell as Erik led the way.
The holding cells beneath the council chambers were dark and cold. Erik kept a hold of my hand as we walked through the halls. I scanned the empty cells before noticing him at the far end of the room.
With a sudden burst of energy, I ripped my hand from Erik’s and ran towards him. “Gray!”
Gods. My heart felt lighter just seeing him. Knowing that he was still alive and in front of me.
He sat on the floor, back to the wall, legs stretched out in front of him and head hung. His dark hair fell out of place instead of its usual controlled style and my fingers ached to tidy it for him. To touch him.
“Gray?” I called softly.
He raised his head slowly and locked eyes with mine. My heart clenched when I saw the dark bruise on the side of his face. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him hurt, but he usually healed quickly. With the cuffs, his regenerative abilities, along with the rest of his divinity, was hampered.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
Blue eyes focused on me, a storm that raged with no sign of stopping.
Taking a moment, I steeled my spine. I often relied on Gray to guide the way, but he wasn’t in a position to do that now. I would help us navigate this. Take the lead.
“I’m working on finding a way out of this,” I assured him. “Larkin and Erik. We’re… I’ll find a way.”
There was no plan in place, but seeing him only strengthened my resolve. I knew I would do anything to save him. I’d found my way out of sticky situations here before. It would take some time to convince the others, but as soon as I left I’d get Erik to take me down to lower Elysia.
“I told you to stay away from Archer,” he responded. Gray’s voice was ice and the hair on my arms stood. He hadn’t spoken to me like this since the first time he stepped into my lab.
“I know,” I relented.
“I told you to stay away from him, but you couldn’t help yourself.”
“Grayson—”
“Are you satisfied now?”
I blinked and felt the heat of Erik’s body behind me as Grayson pushed himself to his feet. He swayed before steadying himself.
“I’m in here because of you!” he exploded. “My life is on the line because of you!”
He rushed at the bars, and I stumbled backwards into Erik, who steadied me.
“Gray,” Erik warned.
The anger was akin to what it had been when he was dragged through the facility. Raw, unfiltered, and dangerous. He raised his hands, still bound by the copper cuffs, and slammed them against the bars.
“You did this!” he roared.
My voice lodged in my throat. Shock held it captive, as I could only imagine how much of his aura would have devoured the space between us if he could manage it.
“Grayson,” Erik reprimanded him firmly. “That’s enough!”
“You,” Gray seethed, spitting the word as he turned his attention to his younger brother. “I told you I wanted to break this fucking bond, and you begged me not to.”
That was a punch to the chest, and I winced at the pain that uncoiled so rapidly that I lost my breath.
“All this for a demigoddess,” Gray continued. “I have lost my fucking mind.” His gaze returned to me. “I knew. I knew you would be more trouble than you were worth, but I let myself get caught up in it all. I lost my damn mind, but all of this is down to you, Scott.”
“Gray, I—”
“I made myself weak. And for what? The likes of you?”
“You don’t mean that.”
His voice boomed through the halls while mine shrunk to a whisper.
“I wish I’d never laid eyes on you.”
“No.”
There was once a time where none of those words would have affected me.
I despised Grayson as much as he did me and I would have matched each of his insults.
But then it all changed somewhere along the way.
I softened to him, getting to know him and finally falling in love with him.
Gray was an ass, but he was mine and treated me well. With him, I was safe.
Hearing him now, all the things he had to say, broke me.
“I know you don’t mean that,” I said, fighting back. “You asked me to marry you. Multiple times. You want to spend the rest of your life with me.”
I held up my left hand. Solid, concrete evidence that Gray didn’t mean what he said. He looked at the ring on my finger and let out a laugh that I hadn’t heard in so long. Cold, heartless, and empty.
“The rest of my life?” he repeated. “The five minutes I have left here? I should have trusted myself and stayed away from you when we first met. Fucked and chucked you just like I always intended to.”
I glanced at Erik, who looked as broken as I felt. This was not how this meeting was meant to go.
“I don’t want to marry you, Scott. I can barely stand to look at you.” Disgust marred his features, twisting them into something unrecognisable. “Get out and stay away from me,” Grayson demanded before looking at Erik. “That goes for you as well. You’re as much to blame for this as she is.”
“Brother—”
“You are no brother of mine. I have no family.”
Erik recoiled at the comment and a flare of anger burned in my chest. If he wanted to be angry at me for the situation we found ourselves in, then so be it. But Erik had done nothing wrong. Erik had tried to warn us both to stay away from each other.
“Grayson, don’t you dare—”
“What? You can’t tell me what to do. Take a hint, Scott. You aren’t wanted. You should be used to it by now. Story of your life, isn’t it? Discarded and abandoned. Completely pathetic. Chasing after people who no longer want you.”
Everything that held me together finally shattered. The last thread snapped.
I trusted Gray with my past. Everything from my parents to Ethan had been poured out to him with an understanding that he would carry those admissions as close to his heart as I did. They were sacred. I never imagined that he would use them against me, let alone with such vitriol.
Without thinking, I ripped the engagement ring from my finger. It sailed through the air, passing through the bars, before landing in the dirt behind him.
Those words were all I could take. I wouldn’t stand there and beg for him to keep me. If that was what he saw, if that was what he thought, then he could suffer. Grayson had shown his true colours.
Pain ripped through me in waves so violent that the edges of my vision blurred and nausea threatened to undo me.
“Quentin,” Erik whispered.
The world swayed, and I felt Erik grip my arms before the world went black.