Chapter 31
“Congratulations!”
Elva pulled me into a hug, beaming while Ig’s face popped out from behind an unusually gigantic bouquet of sunflowers.
“We would have been here sooner, but we assumed you’d have a lot of visitors.” Elva pulled me over to the sofa and sat us down. “I’m so proud of you.”
“I’m not sure there’s much to be proud of,” I muttered under my breath.
Ignacio snorted as he tried to find a space to put the flowers.
Elva wasn’t wrong. Since I’d returned to Elysia with Gray and announced my decision to accept the position as leader, our house had been inundated with guests.
Gray, ever the social butterfly, looked ready to tear his hair out as his peace was invaded, but he put on his best grimace and directed people to me.
Flowers and hugs. There had been a fair amount of cakes and pastries that had lifted Gray’s mood imperceptibly.
“You survived various attempts on your life and are now going to lead us all,” Ig said, finally finding a spot for his sunflowers after elbowing a vase of peonies off the mantlepiece.
“Asshole,” Gray muttered, clearing up the mess.
Ignoring him, Ig continued, “You have plenty to be proud of.”
My smile was tight. The achievement was a difficult one to swallow.
Whilst everyone else was celebrating, I felt like a fraud.
Throughout my life, I’d worked hard to get to where I was.
This had been handed to me. I didn’t feel like I deserved to take on the role, but I knew there were good reasons to accept it.
“Ignacio is right.” Elva’s smile hadn’t faded. “Without you, Quentin, we’d have struggled for much longer. All the underlying resentment, all the fear and guilt, it would have eaten us away. We would have ceased to exist one by one and now, faith is strengthening again.”
“I keep telling people that you have James to thank for that,” I told her.
“We’ll be sure to favour him if he prays to us,” Elva assured me.
“Anyway,” Ig drew out the word. “We’ll keep this visit short and sweet because Gray is bordering on murderous again.”
Gray was leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest. He didn’t look murderous, not like when others had stopped by and he wanted them gone, but something was clearly playing on his mind.
“I wanted to offer my services,” Ig started, and a black tendril creeped towards him.
“He’s definitely going to be murderous if you open the conversation like that.” I nodded my head back to my bound. “Behave.” And then to Ig, “Try again.”
“You’ll have a coronation,” Elva cut in. “A celebration for you and your council.”
“I haven’t even thought about who’ll be on it yet.”
“That’s okay. You still have time. I think Elysia is understanding that you’ll take longer since you don’t know everyone well enough yet.”
I hummed, pushing down on my discomfort. I knew the gifts were in part a way for the Gods to ingratiate themselves. A chance for them to put their faces in front of me in hopes of being chosen for one of the coveted seats.
Ig took a few steps towards me. “But for when you have everything sorted, you’ll need a crown.”
“A crown.”
“Yes, and I’ll be happy to help you design it. If you’ll let me.”
“You want to help me?”
“He’s one of the best,” Gray said, pushing himself away from the wall. “As much as I hate to admit it.”
“I mean, sure. I’m happy to accept any help that’s on offer,” I told him.
Elva shifted slightly in her seat. “We’ll do whatever you need to make this easier for you. Why don’t you come over tomorrow and we can go through some plans?” She looked up at Gray. “You’re welcome to come over as well, Gray.”
“As if I’d let her go anywhere on her own,” Gray muttered.
I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. “Thank you, Elva. I appreciate that.”
“We don’t want to overstay our welcome,” Ig said, throwing a look at Gray. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Ig held out a hand towards Elva. She ignored him momentarily to pull me into another hug.
“I am proud of you, no matter what you think,” she whispered. “We can’t wait to see all you do for Elysia.”
I wasn’t capable of words, so I hugged her back and hoped that would be enough. Elva pulled away and joined Ig, wiggling her fingers in farewell before they both disappeared from our home. Without their presence, a silence settled in the room.
As I pushed myself off the sofa, Gray spoke. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
“Are you going to tell me?” I asked in return, making my way past him and out of the room. “You’re scaring off guests every chance you get.”
His footsteps were following me. “It’s our home and I like peace. Filling it with sycophants is hardly a wet dream come true.”
“What did you think would happen if you took up the post?”
“They’d be too terrified of me to bother trying to get on my good side.”
“Fair point,” I muttered, diving into a room in hopes he would give me some space.
But that would have been asking too much. Instead, Gray followed me into his ballroom and shut the door behind him. A miscalculation on my part. I should have gone straight out onto the grounds.
“I’ve been honest, and now it’s your turn,” Gray told me. “I can feel how unsettled you are.”
“Doesn’t take a genius to work out why,” I replied, keeping my back to him.
I walked into the centre of the room and my eyes fell on Gray’s throne. It stood there, dark and imposing, just like its owner.
“Smart mouth,” Gray grumbled, making my lips twitch into a smile. “What are your concerns now?”
“A throne. A crown. A council.” I didn’t need to turn around to know that Gray had come up behind me while I spoke. “It all sounds ridiculous when I think about it.”
His fingers grazed my sides, and I leaned back against him, taking comfort in his form.
“Those are the things that sound ridiculous to you? What about the fact you are part Goddess? That you are bound to the God of chaos? That part of your soul never did and will no longer ever belong to you?”
“When you put it like that, my entire existence is ridiculous.”
Gray spun me around with force so that I faced him. That quiet fury that he used to hold when we first started this twisted romance was displayed across his face.
“Your existence is a blessing for which I will be grateful for until the heavens no longer exist,” he told me with a darkness to his tone. “You’ve lost your spark,” Gray said, sounding amused. “You have become fearful and you are letting fear rather than ambition drive your life.”
I turned around with narrowed eyes. “No, I am not.”
“Then what is all this?” He gestured in my direction. “All of this overthinking and worry.”
“It’s called being human. Try it some time,” I bit back, and made to move past him.
I loved Gray, but I was not in the mood for his snippy comments.
My brain was skipping over so many things that had happened and were yet to happen that I couldn’t add an argument with him to the list. Not unless I wanted the grey matter to leak out of my ears.
Unfortunately, he caught my wrist as I tried to walk by him.
“Impossible,” he purred. “I am divine. As are you.”
“You know what I mean,” I gritted out.
Gray’s aura appeared and before long, so did mine. Not that I saw him as a threat, but it was instinct to not be left without it where there was another around.
“Quentin.” Gray’s aura snaked around my waist and lifted me off my feet gently. “You are a demigoddess. Would you like me to worship you again to prove to you how much you belong here?”
I should have known that Gray could cut through the bullshit and figure it out. He was the other half of me. Sometimes it felt like he knew me better than I knew myself.
“It’s not just that…”
“Then what is it?” When I stayed silent, he continued. “Maybe it would have been better for me to dissuade you and take the position myself.”
The gold in the room amplified into something blinding before simmering down to a gentle glow around me.
“Oh, there she is,” Gray said, looking wild and gleeful. “My golden girl came out to play the moment someone other than herself questioned her capability.”
“Put me down,” I told him.
“Ask nicely.”
“Put me down or I’ll exile you from Elysia.”
Gray barked a laugh so loud that I jumped before he set me back on my feet. His aura remained around my waist and pulled me in towards him.
“Wherever I go, you come with me. So if you exile me, it looks like you’ll need to find the rest of the Gods a new home.”
“What do you mean?”
But the question barely made it out of my mouth because Gray buried his face in the crook of my neck and I could feel his tongue against my skin. My hands landed on his chest, with no will to push him away. Instead, I fisted his shirt, needing him to ground myself.
“Most unfortunately,” he whispered. “Where you lead, they will follow from now on.”
“No escape?”
“No escape.”
I closed my eyes, taking in the enormity of my decision, which was impossible to back away from now. A sharp nip on my shoulder made me yelp and open my eyes.
“Asshole,” I muttered, but Gray continued to look infuriatingly amused.
“Do you wish to change your decision?” he asked before kissing me deeply.
Each kiss with Gray was a total body experience. The feel of his lips, his hand tangled in my hair, the way every single one of my nerves lit up. It felt like coming home. I was safe as long as I was in this bubble with him.
“What decision?” I asked, slightly out of breath once he pulled away.
“To keep me alive.”
“Now you’re the one who is talking out of fear,” I told him. “Keeping you alive was my only goal.”
His aura robbed the colour of the world before it dissipated and Gray was sitting on his throne at the back of the room with me on his lap. My skirt pooled around my legs as I straddled him and Gray’s thick erection, stopped only by his trousers, teased me from the position I was in.
“I’ll be here for as long as you need me,” Gray assured me, his hands lifting my T-shirt and discarding it onto the floor.
“I need you,” I whined.