Inavigated the stairs with some difficulty, taking each step slower than usual, thanks to the ridiculous heels. It was unfair to blame my footwear entirely. There was a healthy dose of stubborn reluctance that forced me to make my gait unnaturally slow. Archer matched my pace patiently until we hit the ground floor of the house.
Muted music drifted through the space, growing louder as we headed towards the source. Large wooden double doors separated us from the party where chatter and laughter joined the notes. Even behind a barrier, it was easy to tell there was a sizeable crowd.
“What did you tell them?” I asked him. “That this would be the party of the century?”
“Millenia,” he corrected.
Archer straightened his tie and shot me a look. Slender fingers rose between us until a yellow tulip materialised between them.
“We’ll find your flower soon,” he assured me. “Until then, you can borrow mine.” He placed the bloom in my hair behind my ear, and I shook my head, in an attempt to dislodge it. Archer let out a deep laugh. “What did I just tell you? First impressions are important. I’ve fixed it in place for you, but you’re messing up your hair.” He smoothed the wild strands back into place, one finger winding around a lock and tugging gently. “You really are perfect,” he whispered.
It was a sentiment that I was sure he wanted to come across as sweet and sincere, but dressed up in the way he wanted and cuffed like a criminal, it lost all meaning.
I imagined lifting my hands and bludgeoning his temple with the heavy copper cuffs. The bruising of his skin and fracturing of his skull would offer some compensation for being his personal Barbie doll.
And then the sobering thought that he wouldn’t feel a thing and I would sign my death warrant washed over me.
‘Well behaved women seldom make history.’ Wasn’t that how the quote went?
I’d spent my life speaking up when I was expected to be quiet. My work required me to challenge what people knew, prove what they didn’t believe, and constantly question everything around me. Censoring myself chipped away at my soul.
The deafening sound of the double doors flying open and hitting the walls drowned my careful response out. They bounced, shuddering with the effort, and revealed a room full of Gods who no longer laughed and gossiped without a care.
Front and centre of the crowd was a figure I hadn’t expected to see.
“Don’t keep us all waiting,” Gray said.
A torrent of emotions swirled in my chest and almost brought me to my knees. Seven days without him would have been my idea of bliss a few months ago, but things had changed and the relief that flooded me made me lightheaded. The ache that resonated at the centre of my chest and made it difficult to breathe finally eased.
It was short-lived. The expression on Gray’s face, teamed with the black tendrils and scandalised minor Gods in the room behind him, made a weight settle in the pit of my stomach.
Archer’s fingers sunk into the flesh of my upper arm as he pulled me behind him.
“It’s invitation only,” he spat at Gray.
“You really think I’d listen to instructions from you? You think I care?” Gray replied. “I’ve come to collect her and bring her back to the upper quarters.”
Archer scoffed. “Under whose authority? Or did I miss the part where you were put in charge of Elysia?”
A deep voice sounded from behind me. “Under my authority.”
Turning on my heel so quickly I almost tripped, I found Hunter stood tall with a vicious look carved into his features. Archer pulled me aside as Hunter glided through the hallway towards us. He stopped in front of Archer so that they were toe to toe.
“You better have a good explanation of what is going on here,” Hunter whispered menacingly. “Because this is not what we agreed on.”
A dark chuckle that belonged to Gray rang through the house and made my blood run cold. It was a hollow sound that reminded me of when we first met. When I believed he didn’t have the capacity to care for anything or anyone but himself.
“Whatever deal you’ve made with my brother seems to have reached its end,” Gray pointed out, stepping into the hallway with us.
“There’s nothing wrong with welcoming her to Elysia,” Archer gritted out. “She’s doing no harm.”
“Not yet,” Hunter hissed. “But this cements that I shouldn’t have trusted you. You have most of lower Elysia here. She was meant to be kept a secret.”
“Maybe you should have expressed that specific desire,” Archer pointed out. “A direct request. That was an oversight on your part.”
An electric blue tendril knocked Archer out of the way, slamming him into a wall and damaging the plaster work. He sank to the floor in a cloud of dust and debris.
“Larkin won’t accept her back in the house,” Archer yelled. “What are you planning to do with her?”
