“All you do is work,” I replied. “Give me five minutes of your time.”
“You have five minutes,” she said sternly.
I moved to sit on the bed in the patient room with Quentin straddling my lap. She reached up and pushed the hair out of my face, thumbs stroking along my cheekbones.
Small gestures.
These small gestures were enough to consume me. I loved hearing her speak. Listening to the three little words that grounded my chaos. But her touch would always mean more. Each brush of skin and gentle caress was a constant reminder that I’d found someone who could treat me with such tenderness.
“I’m missing you at home,” I muttered with a sigh.
“Bubba,” Quen whispered, leaning her forehead against mine. “I need to work. I’m trying to prove it's worth keeping me around. Five more Gods.”
Hunter had left us in limbo and while I kept my ear to the ground trying to understand what the Gods were debating, Quentin worked. Five more Gods had ceased to exist, and the pressure mounted until she was buried beneath data and glassware. Sometimes it felt like she carried it alone and that thought unsettled me.
“I will not lose you,” I told her, gritting my teeth together. The concern over my kin was always outweighed by my concern over her.
“Unfortunately, that decision isn’t ours,” she reminded me.
“You have to understand, darling, that I’ve never had something worth losing before. I’ve never had someone that loves me in the way you do and I didn’t expect it either. I’m a stubborn bastard. No matter what the council decides, I will not lose you.”
She brushed her lips against mine and my hands slid down her waist until they cupped her ass.
“Gray,” she muttered.
“I’m behaving.” But I gave a firm squeeze.
“This is my workplace.”
“Fine. I’ll behave,” I told her, keeping my hands in position.
“I’m doing what I can so that I’m still here with you. With everything, I can promise you that.”
Her brown eyes looked straight into mine, and the chaos that flared in my chest eased. As people continually pointed out, bonds could break, so there was no guarantee that she might not change her mind and leave me once she had the promise of her life.
“I won’t ever leave you,” I told her. Even if she broke us, I’d never release her from my hold. She would only ever belong to me. “I’d have had to have lost my mind for that to happen.”
“I know.”
The tip of her nose touched mine, and the words flew from my mouth again. “Marry me, Quentin.”
She sighed, running her hands up my arms. “Not this again.”
I kissed her softly. “You would have married a mortal.”
“I was a different person then. I don’t feel the need to prove my love through marriage anymore.”
“I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone. I want you as my wife. I wish to possess you in every way imaginable.”
She slapped my chest, and I rolled my eyes at the feeble attack.
“If you wish to possess me,” Quentin said, narrowing her eyes. “You’ll have to ask me in the most traditional sense possible, and maybe then I’ll consider it. Until then, we are bound, and that is enough.”
“That would require you to tell your brother about the fact you’re a demigoddess.”
“I can’t.”
“You can. Quen, don’t you think he deserves to know? You have never hidden things from him and I think it’ll do you good to share this with someone. Then you can tell Gareth and stop working as if there is nothing else in your life.”
