“And then,” she continued, “he told me one morning that he wasn’t in love with me anymore. That I loved my work more than him. So Ethan packed his things and left me. I had to face cancelling the wedding and telling everyone. I blocked him on everything and buried my head in work and now I’m here.”
Quen was on a roll, and I felt like maybe she needed to get this off her chest. How many people knew the truth of what unfolded in her life?
“I gave five years of my life to someone and thought it was just the start, only for him to turn around and say he didn’t even love me anymore. People find it easy to leave me. I don’t know what it is, but I’m not worth sticking around for. I learned the hard way that I’m the only person I can rely on.”
She looked me in the eye as if telling me to challenge her and then thought I knew I could bend her easily. I didn’t. I kept my powers under control and nodded.
“Fair enough,” I said. “Scott belongs to Scott and no one else.”
She was quiet and then said, “No teasing? No telling me how I’m a pathetic mortal?”
“No.”
“I’m surprised.”
I shrugged, rolling around the information in my head.
It made sense why she would behave the way she did. She worked hard and gave selected people her time. It was a knock-on effect from that sorry excuse of a man.
Who would leave her like that? Quentin could be difficult. There was no doubt about that, but she didn’t deserve to be left so heartlessly.
The anger bubbled just beneath the surface. Why hadn’t she sought me out sooner? If she’d prayed to me, I’d have helped her get revenge. But she hadn’t. Quen had dealt with it the way she dealt with everything. Alone and in her own time.
“I don’t think you were in love,” I told her honestly.
She opened her mouth to protest, but I continued.
“You weren’t soulbound.”
“Soulbound? Like soulmates?”
I hummed. “Is that what mortals call it? You’re all fickle beings. Anyone you marry is deemed a soulmate. Erik knows more about it than I do, but if you’re soulbound to a person, then it means they were created for you. He and Sloan are soulbound.”
“I don’t believe in soulmates. Or soul binding.”
“You don’t believe in much, do you, Scott?”
She smiled and nestled herself against me. “I’m a realist, Gray. Love is a series of chemical reactions. It’s not some grand, sweeping gesture that people make it out to be. No soulmates or love at first sight. It’s two people having to work out if they should settle together and hoping it won’t completely implode and destroy them.”
“Is that what you truly believe?” I asked, shocked by her cold and calculated summary.
“It’s what I know.”
All the Gods had gathered at Gareth’s house for the weekly briefing, and the small selection of minor Gods joined our ranks.
“How’s Quentin doing?” Archer asked, gliding towards us.
My eye twitched. “Stop trying to stir up shit, Archer.”
“She asked you about it then?” He laughed. “She’ll find out what you’re like, Grayson. You’ll lose that shine.”
Erik clapped a hand on my shoulder and pulled me away before we could start a fight.
Hunter had become more irritable lately, as he always did when Sloan and Erik had children. He wanted an heir and Larkin outright refused him. Their relationship was a complicated one, and he had the tendency to take it out on the rest of us. We didn’t need to give him any more ammunition to reprimand us over nothing.
“You seem in a better mood,” Erik commented as we took a seat and Hunter started.
I shrugged.
