“Safe and sound back at mine. She knows better than to get involved in all of this.” A smug smirk tipped the corners of his mouth upwards. “Not unless I force her to.”
It was curious that my parents named their eldest Hunter and that he would go on to live up to his namesake. He stalked and hunted Gods and Goddesses for his collection. What was the council if not his own personal cabinet of trophies? A selection of gifts that could be called upon when he needed them. How proud he was to have appointed us all to our positions, and we were only too happy to accept, blind to the horrors that were ahead of us.
I lived with my choices every single day. I questioned why I never trusted my gut and pushed back against Hunter when it mattered the most. That was my burden to bear. I was not about to let Quentin suffer the same consequences. Not when she barely understood the enormity of what she was.
“Stay away from her,” I warned him.
“Why would I do that? After all, she’s my fiancée.”
One tendril of my aura struck the ground between us, causing a tremor that took Gods off their feet and a crack in the pretty paving of the square. Hunter’s aura wrapped around him like a cocoon before he disappeared from sight.
In a split second, I followed him. Unsurprisingly, I landed outside his property. Of course he would have changed the permissions on his home to make sure no one else could enter. Balling my fist, I hammered on the door.
“Hunter!” I yelled. “Get out here. For once in your life, stop being a coward and face me.”
There was nothing. No movement. No sign of his aura. Just silence and nothing more. I hammered on the door again, wanting a reaction. Needing him to get out here so we could finish this feud. I would have brought the building down to its foundations if it wasn’t for one thing…
“Quentin!” I called out. “Quen!” Nothing. And that was the silence that continued to drive me to the brink of insanity. “Quentin!”
“Gray.” Erik appeared by my side. “This is pointless. We need to regroup and figure out the best way to handle this. He won’t come out. He’ll be planning, and we need to do the same.”
I looked between my younger brother and the door that hid my soulbound. There was a time when I would be able to feel her presence, but now there was emptiness. Breaking our bond had ruined my chances of knowing she was okay. That she was safe.
“Gray,” Erik implored. “We need to go.”
“Okay,” I said, finally making my decision. “Head back to mine. I’ll join you soon.”
“Where are you going?”
“This war is partially my fault. I won’t let them fight it alone.”
“You don’t?—”
“I won’t abandon them when they didn’t abandon me,” I explained to him. “And we’re going to need all the help we can get because Hunter has an ace.”
Erik’s face paled as he understood what I said. The odds were stacked against us, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t fight until we had nothing left. And Gods were prideful beings, which meant surrendering was not an option. I only hoped that I would not have to meet Quentin on the battlefield.
“Idon’t want you going back up there,” Cass said, his voice quiet and face pale.
After my unsuccessful run in the lab, I came straight to my big brother. He was the only source of comfort I could think of in this hellish situation. He was sitting in his chair, worry lines etched deep into the corners of his eyes and his brow. It was the same look our dad used to get after a difficult shift at the hospital. Watching him now made me ache for my parents.
Sophie stood near his chair, eyes fixed on the floor. “I don’t think we get to make that decision for her.”
They were surprised to see me on their doorstep, but heading home hadn’t been an option. It was too quiet, with too many reminders of Gray. After being isolated away from everyone in Elysia, the last thing I wanted to do was be on my own. Plus, Cass was the other half of my brain. If either of us couldn’t resolve an issue, it was hashed out together. James had been intent on sticking with me, but I sent him home. The fewer people involved in this mess, the better.
“Even if I could stay down here, I can’t,” I said, forcing them both to look at me. “There’s too much at stake.”
Cass’s lips drew into a thin line, making him look older than he was. I knew what he was thinking. That this was all too dangerous. That he moved here so we would be closer together again. That he didn’t want to lose another family member. If he had it his way, we’d forget any of this ever happened and continue on with our lives with no complications.
There was a moment, as I left the Life Sciences building, where I thought about hiding. Maybe if I moved away from London or the UK and worked in a completely different field… But it wouldn’t matter where I was or what I did, I could never deny what I was. A demigoddess. Home no longer just meant Earth, but also encompassed Elysia. Not only that, but I’d never run from anything in my life, and I wouldn’t start now. I couldn’t let those who I’d never believed in push me into becoming a version of myself that I didn’t recognise.
“Quentin, this wasn’t what you signed up for,” he pointed out. “You took that job because of the prestige and the pay. You didn’t ask for any of the rest of it.”
“They never gave me a contract with small print. No subsections that told me about what to do when you find out you have divine blood. Or what the company policy is if they decide to relocate back to Elysia for an undisclosed amount of time during the middle of the project. You kind of learn to roll with the punches when it comes to the Gods.”
Cass didn’t know how true that was. I’d told him a scaled-back version of what was happening up there. The effects of it were already trickling down to Earth and causing chaos. Storms with wind strengths that ripped roofs from houses. Volcanic eruptions that blocked out sunlight with thick plumes of ash. New virulent diseases that were spreading with resistance to all established treatments. When they said a tip in the balanceof Elysia affected Earth, I didn’t fully comprehend how bad it would get. Yet another reason to figure out how to resolve all the mess.
“What do you want to do?” he asked, running a hand down his face. “How are you planning to broker peace when they all seem so desperate for a war?” Cass let out a strangled laugh. “War. My little sister is trying to stop a potential war.”
