Chapter 27 Grayson
Quentin was created in the wrong time period.
As she laid in the bath, water flowing over her curves, eyes closed and breathing steadily, I couldn’t help but think how she would have been a muse for sculptures.
Instead, she was perfection crafted specifically for me.
Quentin was my salvation. The only reason that I was standing here now.
As we sat there in silence, her in the tub and me leaning against the counter, our bond thrummed loudly between us.
She looked at peace, but the anxiety was rampant.
Every part of her journey of being and accepting the fact she was a demigoddess had been a baptism by fire.
There was no easing her into all of this. No baby steps.
There were times when I underestimated Quentin, back when we first met, but the more I got to know her, the more I fed into her beliefs that she was capable of taking on anything.
She armoured against her vulnerability in such a way that I forgot the truth was, she buried it all.
Pushed it all away in order to function.
That was how she navigated life. Admirable but unnecessary now.
“Are you finished?” I asked.
Quentin’s eyes fluttered open, and she turned her head towards me. Her hair was piled in a complicated knot atop her head and her cheeks were flushed red.
“I think so,” she replied.
Carefully, she rose from the gold tub, droplets of water rolling off her skin. I swiped the robe from beside me and stalked towards her.
“Can you not control yourself?” Quentin asked as I offered her my hand. “We’ve spent most of the night…” She trailed off.
“Around you? I have no intention of control.”
She placed her hand in mine and I kissed the back of it as she stepped out of the water. I wrapped the robe around her body, begrudgingly shielding it from my view.
“We have a trial to think about, Gray.”
“As if I could forget.”
Quentin snorted. “I don’t think there’s much else on your mind aside from sex.”
I glimpsed my reflection in the mirror. My irises had turned black, and small wisps of my aura pulsed lazily in the air. Oh, my golden girl, it was sinful to ask me to control myself around you.
Following her into the bedroom, I watched again as she stopped by the window, staring out onto the grounds of our property.
The sun was rising over Elysia, casting an orange-pink glow over everything.
The storm had passed, and the streets were being rebuilt.
Orchids and lilies sprouted from the ground in strange tangles, representing us both.
“What are you thinking?” I asked, walking towards her.
There was a moment of silence and I thought I would have to press her, but Quentin spoke. “I’m nervous about the trial. About what will happen.”
Wrapping my arms around her from behind, I kissed the top of her head. “We’ll show them the memories of everything that’s happened so they have their proof. As much as I’ll hate to do it, we’ll get justice.”
“And what does that justice look like?” she asked, turning in my arms.
I sniffed. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
The truth was not as simple as that. Gods were bloodthirsty beings.
If oleander had been used to kill, then it would be needed for justice.
But I wasn’t prepared to have that conversation with Quentin.
Her friendship with Archer, although distasteful in my opinion, was something she held dear.
She trusted him enough to allow him access to our home.
I understood the pain of watching your loved ones be sentenced to death in front of you.
I wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone, especially not my soulbound.
Just like the rest of Elysia, I would find out what happened to my brother in a few hours’ time.
I regretted not being the one to end his existence, but it made sense to me that Archer would have taken pleasure in it.
Perhaps he always knew what Hunter was, and it was nothing more than a long game.
Maybe he’d taken my words and realised we fought for the same cause.
But I’d seen the vitriol in his eyes. Archer would happily sentence me to death for a crime he was so sure I’d committed.
And whereas I always thought that I would relish the opportunity to do the same, Quentin had an indescribable hold on me that was making me question that decision.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Quentin muttered the words before breaking out of my hold. “And after that?”
She moved towards the wardrobe, opening it up before untying the robe and letting it drop to the floor.
“After that, we see what the Gods decide.”
“If they go against you?” she asked, looking over her shoulder.
There she was, calculating all the possibilities. She wanted answers and because she couldn’t get them, she was working overtime to present herself with every possible outcome. Knowledge was power and comfort for someone like Quentin.
“They shouldn’t,” I told her confidently. “All our memories align. They’ll all show that it was under Hunter’s order and influence. Larkin might have more answers that can fill in the gaps.”
“Don’t let her take the stand,” Quentin said, barely letting me finish my sentence. “She’s been through enough recently.”
A tendril of my aura wrapped around her naked waist and pulled her back to me.
“It is surprising how well you both get on,” I commented. “It’s even more surprising how you’re willing to defend her when she publicly humiliated you.”
I knew Quentin well enough to know that would have been a blow to her ego. She would have usually cut the person out of her life and left it at that. And yet, she was looking out for Larkin’s welfare. How much had unfolded while I was locked away under the chambers?
She shrugged, placing her hands on my chest. “Do you… Are you… Are you sad that Hunter’s gone?”
“Not in the slightest. He wasn’t like Cassidy, Queen. There were no warm memories between us. He has always been an overbearing…”
A finger against my lips. “Let’s not mention him anymore.”
The engagement ring glinted in the morning light as she dropped the hand from my mouth. My hands slipped from her waist to cup her ass and squeeze the flesh.
“Gray,” she half scolded.
“You do not need to worry about a single thing,” I told her. “I’m here now. I’ll deal with it all.”
The crushing weight of guilt was hard to unburden.
I’d left her in Hunter’s hands. Left her to believe that I didn’t care.
And even with all that, she spared my life and kept herself tied to me for an eternity.
There was no apology that would ever make it right.
I would live the remainder of my days knowing that I was unworthy of her time and attention. Unworthy of her love.
“When Elysia is ours, nothing will ever be able to hurt you again.”
“You can’t—”
“I swear it to you, Quentin. Nothing will ever harm you. I won’t allow it.”
She cocked her head to the side. “I’m not the one who almost died.”
“We’ve both had brushes with death,” I reminded her before pressing my lips against hers. “And even that couldn’t tear us apart.”
“Don’t make light of it,” she said, trying to pull away, but I wouldn’t let her. There would never be a time she was out of my sight again. I’d suffocate her with my presence. She could call me all the names under the sun and it would do nothing to deter me.
“I’m not making light of it.” My nose ran down the column of her neck. The sweet scent of orange blossom wrapped itself around my senses. “I’m telling you that there is nothing that can destroy us.”
“You aren’t as invincible as you like to think,” she breathed. “I saw you laying there. Losing the will.”
“And yet I came back to you, didn’t I?”
The taste of her skin, the hitching of her breath, the golden aura that burst into life around her as my fingers teased the spot between her legs. It was all so addictive. How could I have died knowing she would continue to exist without me? How could I let that happen?
Her tongue found mine, and fingers pulled at my hair.
All protests had fallen silent as Quentin let herself be laid on the bed.
Her legs fell open for me, heat and stickiness growing between them.
I trailed kisses from her mouth, along her jaw, and between her breasts.
The thumping of her heart was loud and clear. It beat steadily. For me.
My tongue swirled around one of her nipples, sucking at it whilst the other was teased between my fingers. Her body arched from the bed, so wanton and desperate. Sweet moans fell from her lips and my name sounded like the most sacred prayer.
Moving down, I pushed her legs farther apart and my mouth hovered above my goal.
“I promise you,” I whispered, keeping my eyes on her face. “That you are all that matters in this life, Quentin.” I allowed myself to taste her and revelled in the goosebumps that decorated her flesh. “My duty is to you and then to Elysia. Do I make myself clear?”
“Mmm.” That was all the sense I could get out of her.
Her skin glowed golden with her aura and her fingers tangled themselves in my hair. With her gentle encouragement, I placed my mouth on her and licked and sucked at her clit. My fingers found her entrance and eased into her, curling slightly.
“Yes, Gray.” She pulled at my hair, and I added another finger inside her.
The anxiety I felt through the bond earlier had disappeared and, instead, was replaced with a heady dose of lust and love.
I’d claimed her so many times when we arrived home last night.
On the floor of the hallway, against the wall, in the bathroom.
Her body and soul were mine. We’d spent too much time apart.
The space between us felt cavernous, and I was desperate to crush it to nothing.
Desperate to have her under my skin until I couldn’t think straight.
Once, love held no appeal for me. It was something that remained out of my grasp and beyond my understanding.
And then Quentin entered my life and love became all-consuming.
It was a sickness. A maddening leap into insanity.
It dictated everything I did and everything I would ever do.
She became what I orbited. There was nothing I wanted more than Quentin and even when I had her, it wasn’t enough.
Her legs shook, thighs tightening around my head as I continued to suck and lick her through her orgasm.
“Fuck,” she breathed. “Gray!”
I pressed one last kiss on the swollen bundle of nerves before moving back up her body. Quentin’s eyes had turned golden and hazy with pleasure, and she caressed my face. Leaning down, I kissed her hungrily, unsure if I’d ever be satiated.
My clothes were stripped from my body in between a flurry of kisses and sharp bites. I pinned my love beneath me on the bed and my hardness rested against her thigh. She writhed, trying to find a way to satisfy herself.
“Say please,” I teased her.
“You couldn’t hold back now even if you tried,” came the response.
I laughed, the sound filling the room and drawing the most beautiful smile from the woman underneath me. She knew me too well. We were a match made in the heavens.
Slowly, I pushed myself into her and Quentin let out a low moan as her nails dug into my back. Each time felt like coming home. Like being where I belonged.
As I thrust into her, I took her in. The waves of her hair, the smoothness of her skin, and the thickness of her lashes.
I wanted to commit every single piece of her to memory.
I wanted everything she could give me and more.
There was such an overwhelming sense of urgency in my chest that I didn’t know how to quell it.
“When all of this is over,” I told her, cupping her breast in one hand and letting my thumb rub over her nipple. “I intend to fill you with our children. I will be relentless until we have a house full of them. We’ll get married straight away. No more waiting. No more wasting time.”
The words were spilling from me before I had a chance to process them, but they were steeped in truth.
Children. I wanted a family with Quentin.
An extension of our love. For the hallways of our home to be loud and busy.
I longed to see her swell with my child.
To be free of the constraints of time that had always been placed on us and our relationship.
“We won’t wait,” she panted, looking up at me as I lifted her leg onto my shoulder and drove deeper. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
That was all I needed from her. Confirmation that I could have it all. That she would give me everything I desired because it aligned with her wants and needs.
We fell into a rhythm. Soft kisses and sweet words whispered as the skies brightened over Elysia. Quen’s bruising grip as she found her bliss again and my teeth sinking into her flesh as I found mine.
Slowly, I pulled myself out of her and kissed her forehead. I rested on the bed beside her, watching the way her chest rose and fell. Her eyes fell shut and I would have loved to have let her sleep, having finally fucked a sense of peace into her. But that wasn’t a possibility now.
Pressing another soft kiss to her forehead, I ran my fingers down the side of her face and her eyes fluttered open.
“We need to get ready, sweetheart,” I told her softly. “One step away from starting the rest of our eternity together.”