There were murmured objections, and I refused to look up even when Elva called my name. I couldn’t trust myself. When the sound of footstep died away and the room fell quiet, I lifted my head from Larkin’s shoulder and sniffed. She remained a blurred figure in my vision as I stared at her through tears.
“They can’t do this, Larkin,” I pleaded. “He did what he did under Hunter’s orders. I know he’s not innocent but… but…”
Logic was my forte. As a scientist, one of my primary characteristics was the ability to troubleshoot and yet I couldn’t think of a solution to this. I wasn’t dealing with cells but psychopathic Gods that had a history of murder and lies. They had been doing this longer than I had and I wasn’t sure I had all the pieces that would make it a fair fight. The only solution I could come up with was to get Gray to show his memories to everyone, but that meant getting to him and it seemed an impossible task.
“I know,” Larkin replied. Her blue eyes were guarded, as if she was going through her own mental calculations. “Hunter is up to something. It’s never what it appears with him. We’ll find a way. I will not sit back and let this happen.”
Hope blossomed so violently in my chest that I choked on a fresh sob. Someone was willing to fight beside me. When everyone else had given up, Larkin refused to back down. I understood Elysia thrived on balance and harmony, but some things were worth causing an upset for.
A sudden rush of pain pierced through my relief, and I doubled over with a hiss before my knees hit the ground.
“Scott?” Larkin crouched down beside me.
The pain continued to flush through my limbs, forcing my hairs to stand on end and nausea to roll in my stomach.
“He’s hurting,” I gasped. Panic rolled through me alongside the pain as I looked up at Larkin. “He’s hurting. They wouldn’t just… They’re not…”
I couldn’t get the words out. If I was already too late to save him…
When I met Grayson, I wanted nothing to do with him. The less time I spent with him, the better, in my opinion, but things had changed. We were engaged. We were bound. He was my person, and I was promised an eternity with him. An eternity that was now threatened to be cut short.
“No,” Larkin assured me forcefully. “Hunter wouldn’t just do it. He’d want an audience. He’s trying to sacrifice Gray to gain favour, so it doesn’t benefit him to do it privately.”
The nausea twisted in my stomach and I heaved, planting my cuffed hands on the floor in front of me.
“You need to try to calm down,” Larkin said as she helped me to my feet. “You’re no use to him like this.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the flicker of electric blue made me lose focus. Hunter appeared in the room and a fresh surge of rage bolstered me.
“You!” I spat, ignoring the way the room swayed.
“Calm that temper, Scott.” His tone was unnervingly level in comparison to mine.
“I swear to Gods?—”
“I’ve come to talk to you.”
The silvery sheen of Larkin’s aura drifted between us in the form of a screen. Gratitude poured out of me for Larkin and all she was doing when Hunter had caused her nothing but pain in her life.
“Alone,” Hunter pointed out, looked bored.
“Do you think I’m crazy enough to let that happen?” Larkin asked him. “You ambushed them, Hunter. You have her cuffed so she can’t defend herself.”
A crease formed between his brows as he took us both in. The last thing he probably expected was for me and Larkin to formany kind of kinship. Hunter relied on her brash attitude to form fissures rather than unions.
“I’m not sure what my business has to do with you anymore, Larkin.” The ripple in his calm disappeared as quickly as it came. “A quick reminder that we are divorced.”
A flash of pain ghosted across her face. She may have wanted out, but it was never how she saw her marriage ending when she agreed to his proposal. Hunter had form in hiding the monster that laid beneath.
“Now.” He straightened out the cuffs of his shirt. “You’re welcome to wait outside the room while I speak to Quentin, but I would like to speak to her alone.”
Larkin didn’t move.
Hunter’s lip curled at her defiance, and his tone dropped as he spoke. “I won’t ask you again.”
“Larkin, go,” I told her. “I’ll be fine.”
There was no guarantee of that, but I would not risk her being hurt by him again. Plus, I wanted to know why he had turned up here and he wouldn’t tell me as long as she was in the room with us.
