Elliot stopped in his tracks. When he turned around, his gaze fell on me. I could see him weighing the odds in his head. “What happens to you if you die?”
“If Donn gets his way, you mean?”
“What happens to us, Grym?”
“We get sent to Tech Duinn.”
“Together?”
“We’d never find each other there. Donn will make it impossible.” I’d never been there, but I’d heard stories about people being sent there. I’d only ever met one person Donn had sent there and allowed to come back. She’d described it as so dark she was afraid to move and as feeling as though something were hunting her.
Elliot nodded, then met Morgana’s gaze. “Show me what to do.”
Morgana sighed in relief, and then they got to work.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Elliot
At first, everything was black. When Morgana led me into that same blackness that Grym had when I’d died, and he wasn’t with me, my chest ached. Or more precisely, my heart.
“I don’t know if I can do this.” Not without Grym.
Morgana held me by the shoulders. “Donn will make our lives miserable there, punishing us if he gets his way. And for what? For loving someone? It’s not fair to any of us. Not you or me. So what of the changes this all brings? The human realm wasn’t meant to hold souls long-term. I get that, but what of the love you and Grym have? What of the love the others will have? Me? Phineas and Ossy, if they can get their heads out of their asses. We must appeal to Aengus. I don’t see another way.”
Well, that was a speech. “Maybe you should say all that to this Aengus guy.”
“He’s a god. Please don’t call him aguy. At least not to his face.” She actually made air quotes with her fingers. “You’re the only one who can walk between realms. At least until the others bond.”
I sighed.
It was old news to me, something pounded into me almost since the day I met Grym. Also, the pounding had been literal. Grym gave it to me good.
I knew I had a dopey smile on my face just thinking about the fucking Grym had given me. Thinking about it calmed the panic.
Morgana snapped her fingers in front of my face as if I were in a trance. Hell, maybe I was. Maybe Grym’s dick had hypnotized me, and this was all a dream. Not a nightmare. In no way could the best sex of my life give me nightmares. And since it couldn’t, there was no reason to be scared, was there?
I nodded. “I’m in. But first, I want to know how I can get here if needed. Like, here, here. Into that black in-between nothing space.”
“We call it the between. Not the in-between. It’s literally the space between realms. Think of it as a hallway.” That was a great little lesson, but it didn’t answer my question.
“How do I get here by myself?” Getting back to Grym was my top priority.
“You can’t. You need a reaper.”
“Or a demon.” They came to the living realm, which meant they could use the between, too.
“Never go anywhere with a demon. They’ll lead you into the unknown. We’d never find you.” She didn’t consider the god of love’s realm unknown? To me, it was. I’d never been anywhere but on Earth with other humans, and in the between, of course.
I had to remind myself it was a dream, not a nightmare. I shut my eyes and created my first affirmation. “Grym’s dick leads to happy endings. Grym’s dick leads to happy endings.”
Morgana sighed. “Could we focus, please?”
“I am focusing.” On Grym’s dick. Well, and on the rest of Grym, too. I liked all of him. His dick was just my favorite part.
“On the task, Elliot.” She’d finally stopped using my full name when she addressed me. That was progress, I guess.
I opened my eyes and met her gaze. “Look, I’m not even sure all this is real. It feels like it’s fucking not. Grym is the only thing I can be sure of. No way could the best sex of my life not be real. That means I don’t have to fear anything, because no way would Grym stick me in some kind of nightmare, right? It’s a dream. And dreams have happy endings.”
