Chapter 9 Quentin #2
Gray, in rare moments of vulnerability, had said he felt like the black sheep of his family.
Placed between a protector and a lover, his powers always felt out of balance.
He wondered how his family had put up with him and was quick to leave his parents’ home the moment he could.
He believed he was too difficult to love. If only he knew the truth.
“No.” Hunter was blunt. “Quentin is here with me because we have some news to share.”
My stomach churned violently, and I curled my toes in my shoes in an attempt to ground myself. Hunter reached down and took my hand, and this time I didn’t struggle or tense.
“Quentin and I are engaged,” he announced.
“You’re what?” Kieran’s aura pulsed violently, portraying his anger.
“No.” Eva shook her head and focused on me. “No. No, you aren’t. You’re bound to Gray. My boy found his soulbound. You wouldn’t. You couldn’t.”
“What game are you playing, Hunter? How have you forced her into this?” Kieran approached him. “What sick and twisted—”
“Don’t speak to him like that.” My voice came out with more strength than I thought I was capable of. I took a step forward, but Hunter’s aura appeared like a wall in front of me, stopping any further movement. “This was nothing to do with Hunter. It was a choice I made.”
Kieran narrowed his eyes. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Because I’m nothing more than a demigoddess? A pawn? A woman?”
His face fell. “I’ve never—”
“Quentin.” My head turned to Eva. Beneath the facade, something shook and my free hand became a fist. The delicious bite of my nails sinking into the soft flesh of my palm kept me grounded. “Please. This can’t be true. Grayson is your soulbound.”
She kept saying it as if I didn’t understand the weight of our bond.
But how could I forget it? How was I meant to forget the way Gray’s darkness had pulsed through my veins and pooled in my chest?
The very essence of him was wound around every single cell.
His name echoed with each beat of my heart.
You didn’t forget those things. Didn’t throw them away carelessly.
You planned as meticulously as you could and believed against all hope that you knew your bound better than anyone else.
“Grayson broke the bond,” I told her bluntly. “He made a choice and I’ve made mine. I’m not sure what you expected me to do, but I refuse to mope around after men who decide I am no longer worthy of them.”
The memory of Gray’s words stung. My heart was being held together by the most fragile threads and discussing his cruelty in any context left the organ on even more precarious footing.
“He…”
“He made a choice, Eva. Hunter saw something in me that Gray never did. And I’m grateful.” I glanced up at Hunter, who looked at me with veiled curiosity. “He’s seen my potential and my ambition. Something I’ve worked so hard for down on Earth. I know this is the right decision for me.”
When I looked back at Eva, her face had hardened. “You’d see Gray put to death?”
I bit the insides of my cheeks and tasted the familiar ferric tang. “Grayson is no longer my concern. And he has clarified that I am not his.”
Eva’s aura joined the colours in the room, but Kieran moved towards his wife. When he looked at me, I thought I might vomit across the floor. It was an intense look that held a mixture of disgust and hate.
“A lot of demigods proved they were untrustworthy, and I tried not to tar them all with the same brush. But you’ve proven to be the worst of them. Get out of our home.”
“I take it you won’t want an invitation to the wedding?” Hunter said, finally finding his voice.
“OUT!”
Hunter laughed as he dragged me out of the door and back onto the streets of lower Elysia.
My body felt numb. I wanted to run back inside and tell them the truth. That all of this was because of an impossible situation. That I would do anything I could to save Gray. That they would still lose a son and I was sorry they would have to go through that pain, but I had made my choice.
I jolted from my thoughts when Hunter’s lips pressed against the top of my head. “You did well in there.”
The words rankled. “Was that a test?”
“Isn’t everything in life? You’re being gifted a position others would die for, Quentin. I wanted to see if you would be able to handle the unexpected when it arises.”
I swallowed the irritation. This was about getting Hunter to trust me. To see me as an irritant rather than a threat. The former was something he could live with. The latter was an issue that needed to be eliminated.
“As long as you keep your word about Grayson, I will make sure everyone thinks this was all my idea.”
He sighed. “Your loyalty to him is baffling. It must be the mortal part of you that can withstand humiliation and yet continue going back for more.”
My cheeks heated, and I looked at the ground. “You promised me—”
“And I’m a God of my word.”
His word meant nothing to me, but I didn’t say that. When I looked up, something past Hunter’s shoulder caught my eye. Archer stood by a lamppost, watching us intently. He must have followed us earlier. When I caught his eye, he cocked his head before bending at the waist in a weak bow.
“I’d like to go home now,” I said to Hunter. And he had no idea how much truth was behind those words.