“I’ll see you in your dreams.”
Falling asleep became a task.It usually evaded me, and I slept in broken fragments that only served to fuel my paranoia. Tonight, hoping Archer would stay true to his word, I settled intobed, nestling against the pillows. My heart thumped in double time and my mind ran wild with all the possible outcomes of my future. None looking any more palatable than the last.
If I married Hunter, I was forced to play his trophy, in a similar fashion to Larkin, but with success at my fingertips. Gray would be murdered and I would lose my soulbound and any chance of telling him what I thought of him. If I refused to comply with Hunter’s plans, then he would make me pay for my insolence with my life. Gray would be murdered and we would both cease to exist. Elysia would remain under the control of a psychopath. If I tried to reach out to the others… there were too many things that could go wrong. Too many people innocent Gods implicated in something they had no role in. The list was endless.
The plan was to fight through it all, but my confidence was wavering. I didn’t know enough about Elysia, its history, and its alliances. I could no longer use my powers. There was so much stacked against me that getting myself out of this situation felt like more of a delusion than anything else.
I wasn’t certain how long I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling as the thoughts continued to wrap themselves around me and eventually pulled me under.
My home remained untouched.The papers I’d been reading were still sprawled across the coffee table and the throw was rumpled and hanging onto the back of the sofa by its corner. A pang of longing hit me so hard that I held myself up using the wall. What I wouldn’t give to be back home. To be with Cass. To be in the lab.
“Quentin?” A soft and tentative voice forced me to lift my head. “You look like hell.” Dionne stood in the doorway of my kitchen, drinking me in with her dark eyes. “Bexley mentioned… there wasn’t much we could do.”
I blinked a few times. What was I meant to say?
“Can I hug you?” Dionne asked.
In the absence of words, I nodded my head slowly. She strode across the room and wrapped her arms around me. I buried my head in her shoulder and took in the comfort. Dionne refused to loosen her grip.
“I didn’t know if I’d see anyone,” I mumbled.
“I told Archer I wouldn’t let him come here unless I was with him,” she whispered.
My body stiffened, and I pulled away from her slowly. “Where is he?”
“Right here.” I turned sharply to find Archer sitting in an armchair with his ankle crossed over his leg. “Don’t look at me like that. I used to be one of your favourites. Remember?”
“You ruined my life,” I hissed through gritted teeth.
“And lover boy ruined mine,” Archer spat in return.
My feet carried me forward as anger licked every nerve ending, setting me on fire. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Archer shot up from the seat and stalked towards me, driven by his own rage. “You have no idea what you let yourself into. I tried to warn you, but you thought you knew best. Rather arrogant of you.”
“I’m part Goddess. It comes with the territory.”
“Maybe we all need to take a deep breath,” Dionne commented. I could feel her presence behind me.
“You want me to be calm when Gray’s life is on the line?” I asked, looking over my shoulder.
“An eye for an eye. The whole of Elysia would be better off without him. You saw it yourself, Quentin. Who tried to protect him? Who disagreed with the decision?” I turned my attention back to Archer as he spoke. “It was only you. Erik barely tried. And what about his friends? He’s not worth putting your life on the line for.”
“You don’t understand. You need to speak to Gray and he’ll show you.”
“That’s the last thing I’ll do. I only plan to see him as he becomes nothing more than a memory.”
“That’s not going to happen. Not if I can help it.”
Archer scoffed and grabbed my wrist, lifting my left hand between us. “How sweet that you refuse to give up on him. ’Til death do you part.”
I flexed my fingers, the weight of the ring feeling wrong. “Only this isn’t the ring that Grayson gave me. It’s the one that ties me to Hunter.”
“Hunter?” Archer’s face had twisted away from angry to perplexed.
The room fell deathly silent. Dionne shuffled behind me.
“You knew.” Archer’s tone was low. “You knew, and you didn’t say anything.”
