Chapter 24 Quentin
Recklessness was a characteristic that Grayson was known for. It was part of his nature. But I never had him down as suicidal.
When I woke up, I expected to find him next to me, but the space beside me was empty. It wasn’t warm. The house was quiet. And then the anxiety settled in. I searched through our home, but he was nowhere to be found and neither was the knife that we’d agreed to use.
“Quentin?” Erik had appeared in the room.
With no idea where to start or what to do, I’d called for him and was grateful that he wasted no time in showing up.
“He’s not here, Erik,” I told him simply.
Erik paled. “The grounds?”
“I’ve already looked out there, but it’s empty.”
The room was filling with Gods we trusted and the news filtered amongst the bodies.
“He’s gone to find Hunter,” I said, knowing it was the only possibility. Gray wouldn’t run. He wasn’t a coward.
The panic turned my blood to ice. We had come up with a plan and he had agreed. How long had he known he would go rogue? Why would he do this when the rest of us had been waiting for midday?
“Ignacio,” Erik said, calling him over. “Go look for him. Take Flynn with you. Stay safe and report back as soon as you know anything. I’m going to stay with Quentin.”
“I’ll go,” I told him.
“No. Gray would never forgive me, and I wouldn’t forgive myself either.”
“We don’t know where Hunter is,” Archer pitched in. “If he catches you unawares, then we’ll have another issue on our hands. Grayson is more than capable of looking after himself.”
“Archer…”
“No, Quentin. This was a selfish move by him, and I have no sympathy for his actions.”
Malachi shook his head at the comment. “We’ll look as well. He won’t be far.”
Gods and Goddesses started to leave the room as quickly as they’d come.
I agreed with Archer to an extent that it was a selfish move.
But Gray wasn’t after glory. If I knew Gray, then he’d taken it on his shoulders because he felt it was his fault.
That no one else should be involved and feel the repercussions of a fight that had always come down to him and Hunter.
“He’s an idiot,” I told Erik. “We need to find him.”
“He made a choice,” Archer said nonchalantly.
I turned to look at him, narrowing my eyes. “If you have nothing helpful to say, then keep your mouth shut.”
The comments weren’t helping, and I didn’t have the patience to deal with his grievances.
His lip curled in response, but Larkin put a hand on his shoulder.
“I need your help with something,” she said to him. “Follow me.”
“Colour me intrigued.”
Larkin turned to me. Her facade was icy, the way it had been before she opened up to me about her past. I was ready for whatever comment she was going to say, but she thought better of it and walked out of the room with Archer on her heels.
“Erik,” I said, pushing Larkin to the back of my mind. “We need to get out there and find him. I need to find him.”
“It’s too dangerous to take you out there,” Erik replied. “You know this.”
There would be many Gods, and Goddesses, that would take my gift from me hoping to win. The prayers continued to keep it amplified, and I wondered where else James had sent the footage of my speech.
“Our plan is out the window. We need to move because if Gray is with Hunter, he is going to need me,” I explained.
Ignacio appeared in the room with us, soaked to the bone and looking concerned. “He’s up on the cliffs,” he told us, heaving in a deep breath. “Hunter’s there.”
“We need to go,” I told Erik, who nodded.
Ignacio was the one who took us there. The orange of his aura enveloping us until we were blind to the world.
When we reappeared at the base of the cliff, I looked at Ignacio. “Why didn’t you take us straight to him?”
“We don’t know what we’re facing.”
“It doesn’t matter!”
From the top of the cliffs, I could see the clouds of blue and black. They collided together like some violent variation of the Northern Lights. I took off at a run, feet slipping through the mud and making every step unsteady.
“Quentin! Wait!” Erik called after me.
“For the love of the Gods.” Ignacio’s voice was growing close.
I urged myself forward, unwilling to let them stop me when Gray could be in danger. This war had no certainties. Chaos reigned, but so did protection. I wouldn’t have put my money on any particular outcome. Not unless I could get involved.
By the time I crested the cliff, I had a clear view of the brothers. They were on the floor, exchanging punches. Their auras didn’t dance with a gentle flow, the way I was used to seeing from Gods and Goddesses. Instead, they were sharp and moved with precision.
When Hunter punched Gray across the face, something inside of me crumbled and a strangled scream ripped from my throat. “Grayson!”
He tipped his head back to look at me before it snapped back towards Hunter. A burning sensation ran through my body, inescapable and searing hot. My steps fumbled and Ignacio was by my side, while Erik continued towards the pair.
“Hunter!” Erik called over the sound of the rain. “Put a stop to all of this!”
Large swathes of red pushed out around Erik, joining the blue and black. The black that was slowly retreating towards its owner.
I pushed myself to my feet as Larkin and Archer appeared.
“It would be too much to ask you to stop making rash decisions. You were told to stay home,” Larkin hissed.
She grabbed my arm in a vice grip. “Quentin, Goddess of success, I ask you for your success in this task. Failure is not an option and only you can grant its certainty. Bestow upon me success the likes of which I have never known.”
The sensation of being gutted was violent. A hollow feeling ripped through my chest as she took my gift from me. I expected it would happen. That someone would take it from me. More than once. But I hadn’t expected it to be Larkin without my permission.
“Larkin, we don’t have time for you to wax lyrical,” Archer said as he grabbed Ignacio’s arm. “Ignacio, God of luck, bless me with the opportunity to do what is needed today. Bless me with luck that favours me and my plans.”
Ignacio’s face paled, and he winced as his gift was stolen from him. We held on to each other as Larkin and Archer made their way towards the fight.
“Quentin,” Ig said, looking concerned. “Are you okay?”
“I need to get to Gray,” I told him, starting to put one foot in front of the other.
Hunter had left Gray, focusing on Erik, Larkin, and Archer. I scrambled towards Gray, who was lying motionless on the ground. As I reached him, my stomach plummeted to my feet to see the knife sticking out from his side.
“No. No, no, no!” I said, dropping to my knees beside him. “Gray. Gray, are you okay?”
“Shit.” Ig dropped to his knees on the other side of Gray. “This isn’t good. We should take it out.”
“No! We can’t remove it. He might bleed out.”
“It’s coated in oleander, Quentin. He’s been poisoned. His blood is tainted. It makes no difference now.”
Against my instincts, I took hold of the handle of the knife and looked down at Gray, whose eyes had glassed over. “I’m going to take it out, Gray. It might hurt. I’m sorry.”
As I pulled the weapon out of him, he groaned in pain.
I stopped momentarily when he heaved and nausea rolled through me as well.
We were inextricably linked. With another tug, I pulled it out the rest of the way.
The silver of the blade was coated in black and gold.
More black than gold. More chaos than God.
The wound continued to bleed, and I pressed my hands tight against it, willing the bleeding to stop.
“You need to stay with us, okay?” I said to Gray, glancing up as the world around us was growing thick with green and silver. “Are you listening to me?”
“Quentin, I don’t think this is going to work,” Ig stated slowly. His focus remained on Gray’s face.
“It will!”
Gray moved slowly. His breaths were becoming shallow, but he pulled something from his pocket. Pinched between his fingers was my engagement ring. The one I told him to keep a few hours ago.
“I’m sorry,” he rasped. “For everything.”
“Shh. We’re not talking about that now, remember?”
“Marry me.”
I moved my left hand to take it and manoeuvred it onto my finger with some struggle. “Done. I’ll marry you, but you need to survive. That’s the deal.”
Or I’d never know how to continue the rest of eternity.
With what looked like effort, Gray lifted his arm and his fingers moved to sign the numbers one, four, and three.
“Gray?” I glanced at him. “Gray!”
His eyes closed and his breaths became faint. I looked at Ig again, who let a single tear fall down his cheek before searching for Erik.
Beyond us, the God of love had bound his brother along with Archer.
Larkin looked terrifying with her aura surrounding her.
She was ice and fire. She was vengeance in human form.
Hunter lashed out, but her strength shot out at him, pushing him to the edge of the cliffs.
In the blink of an eye, she was on top of him, forcing something to his mouth.
I watched in abject horror as she smashed the vial against his teeth and it poured down the sides of his face, melting the skin as he choked on the contents.
Larkin leaned in close, her lips moving, but whatever she said was meant for them. A parting gift.
The electric blue that had helped light up the sky retreated and my hands slipped from the wound on Gray’s side. I collapsed on top of him, covering his body with mine.
“Please, no.” I heard Erik. “Oh, Gray.”
“I’m going to lose him,” I whispered.
Archer scrabbled next to me, grabbing the knife that was coated in Gray’s blood before running off towards Larkin.
“Take him to the pool,” Ig said, and I looked up at him. “We need to get him to the pool, now.”
He offered no explanation as orange blinded my view and we left the clifftop to be transported to the shores of the pool.
The surface of the water was as chaotic as the rest of the heavens.
Disturbed by all the rain that was hitting it.
It no longer looked clear and inviting, but another danger to avoid.
“I don’t know if it’ll work, but take him in there. It’s gifted us once. I don’t know what else it can do, but we need to hurry.”
Time was critical. With Erik’s help, we dragged Gray into the waters. His body had grown heavy as life ebbed away from him. I could feel it in myself, the way our bond was weakening. The fatigue that was slowing my muscles. Gray was slipping away, and I wasn’t just seeing it, but experiencing it.
We held him up, waiting for the waters to do something, but they remained in their chaotic state and hope faded away from me.
“Submerge him!” Ig called from the shore. “Put him under the water.”
“Erik,” I whispered, unsure if I could keep going.
“Let’s try it,” he replied.
I took in a deep breath before we lowered Gray under the water.
Forcing my eyes open, I looked at his face.
His eyes remained shut, robbing me of the brilliant blue they were.
A sob escaped my lips when I realised I hadn’t told him I forgave him.
That I hadn’t told him I loved him. That there was yet another loss in my life where I’d missed my opportunity.
Another mistake that I would spend the rest of my life lamenting.
The air was quickly escaping me, and I pushed myself towards Gray with my lungs burning and pressed my lips against his, hoping that he knew that wherever he went next, I would always love him. One last kiss before my life would change forever.