But my big brother was in his element. Through hazy vision, I saw her body lifted through the rubble, blood staining her skin. Why wasn’t she defending herself?
I called on my aura, summoning it around me before she was plunged into the stone floor. Quen’s screams ripped through the room, echoing mine as my body writhed with the fresh wave of pain down my back. It was so powerful that tears sprung to my eyes and nausea rolled in my stomach.
“Stop!” Erik yelled.
Hunter ignored his cries, and I tried to pull myself to my feet to do something. Through blurred vision, I watched as another load of rubble cascaded from the ceiling and landed on top of her body, driving my head to the ground and robbing my aura from around me.
“Stop this!” Erik’s voice drifted away from me. “They’re bound!”
Silence fell over the chamber and the pain subsided before I pushed myself up to my knees properly. Chest heaving from the exertion of the assault, I looked up to find Hunter staring back at me.
“Repeat that again,” Hunter said, voice quiet and laced with danger.
Erik looked back at me apologetically. “They’re bound.”
“He’d have to possess a soul to be bound,” Waverly remarked.
“Bound to a half-breed.” Aria chuckled. “Only suited to something useless.”
“Enough!” Hunter yelled. “You’re all dismissed except for Grayson and Erik.”
The chamber filled with movement as Gods left us in a flurry of whispers and auras. Rising to my feet, I pushed past Hunter and dropped beside Quentin. Calling on my aura again, I searched through the debris before finding her. Quen’s body lay curled on the ground, looking worse than when I’d found her on the road a few weeks ago. This time death would not come to claim her, but the pain she’d felt and the damage Hunter had caused brought a lethal and quiet rage to my soul.
“Are they truly bound?” Hunter asked.
“I’ve read Gray. There’s no mistake. Quentin is his soulbound,” Erik said.
As I brushed the hair out of Quentin’s face, she didn’t stir. Her breathing was shallow, and I picked her body up from the fractured floor. She laid limp in my arms, blood smeared across her skin. The red liquid was flecked with gold, conveying her divinity.
“You knew,” Hunter said, striding over to me. “I thought you were just using her, but you knew you were bound.”
My aura formed a solid wall between us, protecting her like I should have when he started the whole fucking interrogation. I shouldn’t have let her stand there alone to take him on. I’d let her down. Failed at keeping her safe.
“If youeverthink about touching her again…” I paused, gritting through clenched teeth. “… I will not hesitate to call on my gifts with everything I have and destroy anything you hold dear.”
Hunter looked amused as he observed us through a veil of black. “I wouldn’t be so brave to throw around threats if I were you, Grayson.”
“Hunter, you know what would happen—" Erik tried to reason.
“I don’t want to hear a word from you. I can’t trust a single thing that comes from your mouth.” Hunter turned on him. “You’ve both embarrassed me in front of the council again. I’ve told you we’re meant to show a united front, but you both continue to betray me.”
“We didn’t know until recently,” Erik lied.
“And now the entire council knows about this affliction.”
“Hunter—"
“We descend again this afternoon,” he said, cutting across Erik. “Since she’s so certain of herself, she can heal in her own time. I will know if you’ve helped her, and I will make sure that she’ll be in a worse state if that happens.”
He flicked his gaze to Quen, and I curled her tight against my body, cradling her close.
“This changes nothing.” Hunter stared at her limp form. “The council decides her fate.”
He left the chamber, and Erik took two steps towards me, but my aura grew in size.
“Gray,” he said sadly. “I would never hurt her.”
“I don’t trust anyone anymore.”
