Another deep breath that caused fat tears to roll down his cheeks. Erik’s lip wobbled as he delivered the news. “Hunter and Larkin have divorced.”
It took all my strength not to slap my brother for instilling panic in me over something so trivial. It was only the knowledge that Quentin would never forgive me for it that stopped me.
“My heart bleeds,” I drawled, getting up from the ground and dusting myself off.
“Gray.” Erik looked up at me with large, tearful eyes. “This is awful.”
“You never wanted them to get married in the first place.”
“Even so. Divorce… it rattles me.”
With a sigh, I landed on the sofa beside him and noticed the trembling of his body.
“Will you be okay?” I asked, more concerned for him than the dissolution of marriage.
“I assume so. I just need time to recover.”
“I’m surprised Hunter granted Larkin’s request.”
“From what I understand, it was Hunter who wanted the divorce.” He sniffed again and wiped his face with his sleeve.
“You are disgusting,” I said, getting up and grabbing some tissues for him.
Erik had always been the messy younger brother that I cleaned up after. Nothing had changed. Not even with millennia of history and a marriage with children. His vulnerability wasn’t a weakness, but it could hamper how he functioned, and that was when I stepped in.
He took the tissue and dabbed at his face.
“I’m surprised Hunter chose now to divorce her. He’s been talking about showing a united front.”
“I haven’t had the strength to find him and ask why,” Erik admitted.
“Perhaps he’s ready to upgrade Mabel from mistress to wife.” A truly horrifying thought, but I wouldn’t put it past Hunter.
“That isn’t funny,” Erik snapped.
“Who said I was joking? Hunter has been wanting an army of children and Larkin refuses. Even I thought she would have relented by now.”
All it took was the Gods’ will for a pregnancy to occur in Elysia. The simple act of desire aligned with both parties. Larkin had always been resistant to the idea, but I thought in a moment of weakness, in the tenderness of marriage and intimacy of sex, she may have relented long enough for a child to take root.
“Mabel’s shown willing by pledging her loyalty to him. Feeding him information from the heavens, and he’s given her clearance to come down here,” I continued. “Although with a gift like vanity, I’m not sure she’ll be eager to lose her figure for a child.”
“I won’t bless the marriage if he asks,” Erik told me firmly. “I should have done more to stop the last union. I won’t make the same mistake again.”
The fear was that Erik wouldn’t have a choice in the matter.
“Where’s Sloan?” I asked, knowing that his wife was the only one who’d be able to pull him out from under the current.
“At home.”
“Then go home, Erik.”
“But I’m needed—"
“They can manage a day without you here. You’re a God. It’s your prerogative to make them work to your schedule.”
A weak smile graced his face. “You’re terrible.”
“I know, and I’m so good at it.”
