Ignacio took the seat on my left and bumped his shoulder against mine, asking, “Are you done being an asshole?”
“Am I ever?” I asked in response, and Ig laughed. “Sorry about the other night.”
“I didn’t realise you’d staked a claim.”
I gave a noncommittal shrug. Ig wouldn’t have gone any further than harmless flirting. His moral compass pointed less south than my own and he had his hands tied with a certain Goddess.
“What are we doing here?” Ig asked, glancing around the room.
“Hunter had some words with the minor Gods.”
“He went home?”
“Apparently.”
As if on cue, Hunter stood and called for our attention.
“Some of you may know that I went to talk to the minor Gods earlier this week,” he started. “They’ve been restless for years. It comes in waves, but I think Archer is trying to stir the pot again. He’s insistent that we should also involve them in the project.”
“They want to come down here?” A voice lifted from the small crowd.
The minor Gods had been an issue for some time. They believed it was unfair that there were tiers, and that they were beneath us. Archer was the most vocal minor God and had proven a difficulty for us. We’d come to blows on more than one occasion.
“Yes,” Hunter said. “And I think it might be a good way to build some bridges.”
The room erupted, but it was my voice that was the loudest. “You can’t be serious, Hunter. What is wrong with you?”
My brother fixed me with a stare. “We need to try to placate them.”
“They cause issues in Elysia, and you want to bring them to earth?”
“They’ll be cuffed until they can prove they can be trusted.”
I bit the insides of my cheeks as the noise in the room continued to mount.
“Enough!” Hunter stood there with his aura blazing blue around him and multiple others sparked into life, including mine, Erik, and Ig’s. The swirl of blue, black, red, and orange lit up the room.
“We need to make a decision on this,” Hunter told us all. “In the long run, I think it’ll be beneficial for us. So, I put it to our council. All in favour of allowing the minor Gods to join us?”
Hunter, Larkin, Waverly, Malachi, Flynn, Aria, Elva, Bexley. A flurry of hands shot into the air.
“And those against?”
The small group of us that comprised Ig, Sloan, Erik, and me. I was surprised to see Sloan had joined us on this matter.
“Looks like I’ll be talking to Gareth to set the wheels in motion,” Hunter said. He continued to discuss matters concerning Elysia before he adjourned the meeting. When we rose from our seats, Hunter called out, “Erik. Grayson. A moment, please.”
Gritting my teeth, I walked over to join my older brother.
With every decision he made, the less fitting I found him as a leader. Minor Gods on earth had been the primary bone of contention that led to the last war. Was he really pretending like decades of bloodshed in the heavens hadn’t happened? Was he prepared to plunge us into that darkness again?
“I don’t appreciate you both showing me up,” Hunter told us both quietly, looking as irritated as I felt.
“Hunter,” Erik began. “You asked for a vote.”
“You’re going to make me look weak.”
“You do a good job of that on your own,” I muttered.
