Dionne sucked in a breath and muttered, “Marcel.”
She didn’t hang around, marching out of the room and closing the door roughly behind her. The space filled with a thick silence that I refused to break. If Archer was so desperate to see me, he could tell me why.
“Dionne’s home?” he said eventually. “I thought you might have ended up at mine.”
“I think I was trying to escape the psychopaths and liars in my life.”
“I can’t be classified as either.”
Out of control.
That was the only way to describe what I was feeling.
I was surrounded by Gods who I should never have trusted. Sweet talk and empty promises had turned my head. How naïve to forget myself and give them what I swore I never would?
More than anything, I wished to be on Earth. To call Cass and laugh about the stupid Netflix series we were trying to watch together and lead a monotonous life. Tedious but controlled. I knew what to expect, unlike now.
“Do you think you did something here, Archer?” I asked, trying to put a lid on the wild chaos that banged against my breastbone. “Do you think you helped me?”
“I think I opened your eyes before it got too far. I want what’s best for you.”
“What’s best for me?” I repeated.
When I was younger, Alice in Wonderland was one of my favourite tales. I was obsessed with the Mad Hatter and wondered how he felt when he lost his mind and succumbed to the madness. Now I knew it was because there was no other choice. Sometimes, the only option was to let your mind snap and let others deal with the consequences.
“You have hounded me for months,” I said, taking measured steps towards him. “You have plagued my dreams and watched my moves so you can turn up when I least expect you, God of secrets and deception. For months, you’ve been certain I’ve hidden things from you. I’ve watched you try to pry it from my lips and break Gray, to force a confession out of him. And for that whole time, you knew what he’d done and what I was, and you never uttered a word. Don’t you dare make out like you gave a shit about me or my wellbeing.”
“That was when I thought he was playing a stupid game I could use against him. I didn’t expect him to manipulate you into falling for him. Even then, he wouldn’t have killed you as a mortal; just got himself in trouble with the council. Now that you’re a demigoddess, I don’t trust him or his brothers. They’re already plotting your death.”
Manipulate me? That didn’t sit right. Gray might have lied, but he didn’t manipulate me into loving him. Neither of us wanted anything more than sex, but a deep connection formed between us that I struggled to explain. I’d loved no one the way I loved Gray, and that was what made this whole situation worse. Not only had I opened myself to getting hurt again, but it felt like it was destroying me this time. Ripping apart my soul and taking away my ability to do anything other than succumb to misery.
Curbing some of my anger, I looked him in the eye. “I am sorry for what happened to your wife.”
“Elara. Her name is Elara.”
“But I am not a replacement and I don’t wish to be a pawn in your vendetta against Grayson or anyone else. You want to fight him? Knock yourself out. But I have a life, Archer. I have feelings and I am tired. I’m so fucking tired of all of you.”
My voice wobbled as the lump grew in my throat and tears blurred my vision. I blinked them away quickly, refusing to wear my vulnerability in front of him. This was my fault. I trusted the Gods when I knew they never pulled through for me.
He narrowed his eyes. “How do you expect not to be a pawn when you don’t even understand the game? Don’t know all the players.”
“If you’re talking about Hunter, I’ve guessed that he’s not the perfect protector he wants people to believe he is.”
“Took you long enough to figure that out,” Archer said. “But it’s interesting that you came to Dionne’s. If you’re going to be untrusting, then you need to be like that with everyone.”
“Stop talking in riddles.”
“Did you ever wonder how I got into that pretty little head of yours? All the dreams you had.”
“You’re a God.”
“You’re still a partially naïve mortal.”
The gold spiralled out around me, and Archer laughed under his breath. The moment he marbled his green aura with mine, I retracted it. The mixture of colours made me even more uncomfortable than I already was.
“I’m a God who’s in charge of deception. I have nothing to do with dreams. But Dionne, well, it’s a beautiful gift, and it did the job.”
Another heavy weight settled in my stomach. Elysia was hailed as a paradise. A residence for the Gods that was perceived with awe amongst mortals. But all I saw was a nightmare that I couldn’t escape.
