Chapter 22 Quentin
Ididn’t know what to expect when I saw Grayson again for the first time.
I wanted to be calm. To park our issues until we had resolved the chaos that was unfolding in Elysia.
But when he called me his, I lost my mind.
It was the casual way he expected us to fall back into the way we were before.
Before he had said things that broke my heart.
My heart… but not our bond.
A part of me had known all along that he hadn’t meant what he had said. That he couldn’t have switched his feelings off when he’d been so possessive and obsessive over our bond from the moment he learned of it. That didn’t mean I was willing to let his behaviour slide.
We’d have a conversation about everything eventually, but now was not the time.
“Quentin!” Erik’s voice boomed through the room as I entered it.
But it was Elva that got to me first, pulling me into a hug. “You’re glowing.”
“I’ve enlisted a little help,” I told her as we came apart.
“You’ve spoken to some others?” Larkin asked. She looked as unimpressed as she had when I left Erik’s home on Hunter’s arm.
“No. Hunter took me back home. Clearly didn’t trust me to be kept up here. I spoke to the rest of the team and accidentally a few more hundred, maybe thousands, of people. They know what I am and what is happening, and they are praying to me right now.”
“That is brilliant!” Erik finally made his way over and I was scooped into a bone-crushing hug. “We’ve been worried sick about you.”
The room darkened, and a familiar voice followed that omen. “Quentin.”
“Stay away from me, please, Gray.” It was a plea that came out from between gritted teeth.
Archer leaned against the wall, watching the scene unfold. If anyone was curious to why he was here with us, they didn’t voice their concerns.
Gray didn’t heed my warning and instead strode over to me until his frame towered over me. “We need to talk.”
“You’ve said enough.”
“You’re mad at me. I understand that, but you need to listen to—”
“I listened,” I hissed, uncomfortable with having this conversation with an audience.
“You heard what you wanted to hear. If you believed it, then it would have been broken by now.”
Even if he made a valid point, it didn’t take away the sting from the words. It didn’t change the fact that I laid in bed as the pain ripped through me while our bond suffered at his hands. This was not a conversation that I could have with him in two minutes and glaze over.
“If you don’t stop, I will ask Erik to break the bond.”
It was an empty threat, but I hoped it would get him to back off long enough for us to work on stopping the war that was going on outside.
“What?” Erik asked, moving closer to us. There was a spark of hope in his eyes. “It’s not broken?”
“No,” we both said together, although Gray sounded more relieved than I did.
“But I will ask you to break it if he doesn’t leave me alone.”
“I can’t do that,” Erik told me. “Only you two can break the bond.”
The frustration and hurt were bubbling at the surface and no amount of control I’d been taught over the years was enough to put a lid on it. “Then I want it broken.”
Grayson scoffed. “Apparently not badly enough.”
His aura was slick and fast as it grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into him. I wished I had more control over mine, but the prayers were making it more unpredictable than usual.
“I said what I did to keep you alive,” he told me.
“I would bet my divinity that you would have done whatever was needed to keep me alive as well.” He took my silence as a sign for him to continue.
“I apologise for what I said, but I will not apologise for saying it if it’s kept you breathing until now. Until I could be with you again.”
“You really are a piece of—”
“I will leave this conversation until later, as you’ve requested,” he said, cutting me off.
A tendril of his aura snaked close to my face, and I saw what it held.
My engagement ring shone in the light. The black stone settling the unease that Hunter’s replacement ring had sparked in my chest. “Once we have resolved this mess, and we have this conversation, you will wear this ring again and you will become my wife.”
I grit my teeth together, unable to find the words I wanted to say to him.
If I opened my mouth, there was a good chance that I would just scream.
It was better for everyone in the room if I kept quiet.
At least Grayson seemed to have agreed to my wish of having the conversation later now that he’d said his piece.
“Are we done?” Ig asked, looking vaguely amused.
“Yes,” Gray answered.
The ring was back in his pocket and I expected him to remove the tendril of his aura from around my waist, but it remained there.
The pressure of it was heavy and dominant.
It was as if he didn’t trust me not to run from him.
But I wasn’t going anywhere. Not when I’d put so much on the line. Made promises I intended to keep.
“I assume there’s a good reason Archer is with us.”
On hearing his name, Archer made his way forward and joined the group. “As ever, I am the most useful asset in Elysia.”
“Stop winding people up,” I snapped. “Archer found the oleander that Hunter was hiding up here. It was at Mabel’s.”
Larkin wrinkled her nose in disgust at the mention of Mabel. “Of course she would keep it for him.”
Archer produced the small, sickly flowers from his pocket.
“That’s it?” Erik asked, looking crestfallen.
“I’m sure there’s more,” Archer replied. “But I couldn’t figure out where she’s hiding it. She’s definitely keeping secrets.”
“It’ll be enough for one shot, right?” I asked, looking around the room.
It was Gray who replied, voice like silk. As if I were the only person in the room with him. “Even that would burn the skin, but if we’re talking about getting rid of Hunter properly… you don’t need much to taint the blood. We just need to figure out how to do that.”
“He’s not exactly going to sit down for dinner and drinks with us,” Flynn pointed out.
Elva shook her head. “It would need to be an attack.”
“Good luck with that. He went back to the house and we’re not welcome there.”
“He lied,” Gray pointed out. “He wanted us to believe he had Quentin with him, but he didn’t. So he must have another plan.”
“But he’ll want me,” I muttered quietly.
“What?”
I refused to look at Gray, knowing my next few words would cause an argument. There was no way he would agree, but there was a room full of Gods and as long as the others backed me, then we might have a chance of ending this sooner rather than later.
“Hunter would want to use me. Right, Archer?” I looked over at him and he nodded. “So, I’ll be bait.”
“That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said,” Grayson hissed.
“And how exactly did you get back here?” Larkin asked. “Hunter will realise one of us helped you.”
I nodded and chewed on my bottom lip. “You’re right. What if we all went then? He wants success, and he wants to win. We’ll be as transparent as we can. We’ll make it seem like it’s a negotiation.”
“Do you really think he’ll buy that?” Malachi asked.
“Probably not, but Hunter will want my success even if he thinks we’ve already used it. He’ll want to fight fire with fire. I think he would turn up.”
“I can throw in some luck our way to at least get him to meet up with us,” Ig spoke up. “It’s worth a try.”
“And then what?” Larkin asked, folding her arms across her chest.
Archer smiled, not a gesture filled with warmth but one that held a twisted glee. “We kill him.”
“How? If you take out a knife, he’s going to know.”
“So we use something more innocuous,” I told her. “Do you have a pencil?”
Flynn chuckled. “A pencil could work.”
The room filled with murmurs, and my chest swelled with hope. We had a plan and now we just needed to execute it.
“I’ll leave the details to all of you,” Larkin said. “Let me know when and where you’re planning to meet and I’ll be there, but for now, I’m going home.”
“You’re leaving?” I asked.
“I don’t think I need to explain myself to you. We hardly have a friendship.”
The words stung, but it was no surprise Larkin was frosty towards me when I agreed to marry Hunter. No matter what my reasons were, she probably felt betrayed by me, and I didn’t blame her.
“If you need anything…” Elva trailed off as Larkin waved her away.
The silver glow of her aura wrapped around, concealing her from view before she was gone.
“I think Gray has a pocketknife in his office,” Erik said, breaking the awkward silence.
It was enough to get everyone into motion.
“Erik, write to him setting up the meeting. It’ll be best coming from you or Malachi. Someone who isn’t an instigator,” Dionne said, following Erik out of the room.
“I resent that!” Flynn called out. “I’m not an instigator.”
I moved to follow them, but was rooted to the spot by the aura around my waist. As the room emptied, I was left with Gray.
“Have you lost your mind?” he asked, stopping in front of me. “Offering yourself up as bait. Over my dead body are you putting yourself on the line. Do you understand?”
“Do you understand you don’t get to tell me what to do? We need to stop all of this, Gray, and as soon as we can. If that means I have to put myself in front of Hunter again, then I will.”
“You will not.” The black of his aura was slowly filling the room until we were surrounded by darkness. “You will stay here while the rest of us do what we need to.”
“This might come as a blow to your ego, but he’s not interested in any of you.
Hunter wants to win. I’d bet everything I have that he’s been trying to get Gods with useful gifts on his side so that he can stack all their gifts together.
He’s using Mabel as a scapegoat. When this all ends, he’ll throw her under the bus and say she was growing something illegal here. ”
“He won’t live long enough for anyone to hear his excuses.”
“That’s what we all have to hope. And I will be there,” I told him, my tone leaving no room for argument. “You’re not the only one who is full of vengeance, Gray. You’re not the only one he has wronged.”
Gray looked terrifying, surrounded by his aura and face twisted with fury. “You will stay with me at all times.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he ploughed on.
“You will not even think about doing anything that hasn’t been discussed. Understood? You want your pound of flesh, I will allow you to have it, but your life will not be put at risk. There is no room for argument and no room for discussion. Those are the terms.”
My heart beat so violently in my chest that I could feel the blood pounding in my head and the sound of it filled my ears.
Gray’s tone left no room for argument and hammered home just how dangerous this could be.
I was relying on my gift to see us through, but I didn’t know if people would continue to pray long enough to amplify it or if we would be left struggling against Hunter and whatever machinations he’d dreamed up.
“I don’t mean to interrupt.” I turned my head to see Erik in the doorway. He was on his own, observing us. “Hunter replied to the letter. He said he’ll meet us tomorrow at midday in the square.”
Gray’s eyes narrowed. “Midday? He’s definitely planning to bring an army with him.”
“That’s what we all thought, but it’s our best chance at getting him out of the house and in front of us.”
“Okay.” Gray made no move towards his brother. He stood in front of me as a divine shield. “Leave the oleander here and I will deal with it.”
“Are you sure?”
“I don’t want anyone else’s hands to be dirty,” he explained. “If it doesn’t go our way, then they’ll only have me to blame.”
“Gray…”
“Go home, Erik. Spend time with your children. Tell them all to go home.”
“I don’t think…” I started.
“We will all meet in the square tomorrow as planned. I’ll bring the pencil—a fucking pencil, of all things. We’re using a pocketknife, and we will try to bring an end to all this.”
Erik nodded slowly. “Take care, brother.”
“You too.”
Erik left and Gray shifted all his attention to me. “You should get some rest,” he told me. “I need to make sure everything is ready for tomorrow.”
“I can help.”
“It’s hardly a two-person job,” he said. “And you need to figure out how you’ll swallow your pride and allow us to resume our engagement after we’re done with all this mess.”
I bit the insides of my cheeks, half frustrated that he was such a dick and half grateful that he was willing to give me the space I needed.
“Gray,” I said, choosing to ignore his last jab at me. “We can do this, can’t we?”
He lifted a hand and cupped my face. Against my better judgement, I leaned into his touch. This was what I needed, the comfort that came with being with him.
“I promise you, Quentin, that I will put everything on the line to make sure that you and I get to see an eternity together.”