I wished I could have laughed with him at the sheer absurdity of it. I wasn’t a diplomat or a general. Stopping wars was as far out of my remit as it could get. Organising the lab to pay towards the coffee and biscuits was a far cry from brokering peace with angry deities.
“I don’t know. The thing I need, I can’t get a hold of yet, but even after that I don’t know what to do,” I admitted.
“What is it you need?” Sophie asked.
“I…”
“You?”
“I need some oleander.” For a moment, I thought about confessing my intentions to Cass and Sophie, but I swallowed back the words on the tip of my tongue. Some things you could process and accept, others were a little more difficult to look past. “I can’t explain why, but it’s important. It’s what’s inside the cuffs and dampens our powers.”
“So, if you get the oleander, you might be able to weaken Hunter?” Sophie confirmed.
“Yes.”
It was a partial lie. I didn’t plan to just weaken Hunter. I planned to kill him.
Cass stood up from his chair. “I’m not sure about this, Quentin. You’re already being held like a prisoner. They got Gray, and he’s the God of chaos. If they could tie him up and render him powerless, what makes you think you’re going to beable to weaken Hunter? I love you, but I can’t see how this is going to work.”
An excellent question, albeit one that was a blow to my ego. Cass had always believed in me, especially when I couldn’t find it in myself to do so. Hearing his doubts now made me wonder if I truly had lost my mind with this plan.
“I have Gods that are on my side.”
His face turned red before he exploded. “I don’t trust a single one of them! I trusted Grayson to keep you safe and look at what’s happened.”
“I would never have placed a bet on Grayson,” came a silky voice from the hallway. Archer soon stepped into the room with Andreas by his side. “But we all make mistakes.”
“Archer. Andreas,” I said, relieved to see them. “What are you doing here?”
“Get out!” Cass hissed, marching towards them.
A thin, smoky green tendril reached out and pushed against Cass’s chest, stopping him in his tracks.
“Let’s not do anything stupid,” Archer said to him. “After all, I am one of the Gods who is on her side. They are in limited supply. You don’t want to put her at any more of a disadvantage. Do you, Cassidy?”
Cass remained silent as I rose to my feet and joined his side. Placing a hand on his arm, I said, “I trust him. For now.”
“Clever girl,” Archer commented. “It’s pandemonium up there.”
“Why? What happened?”
“Hunter’s called for a war,” Andreas said, the deep timbre of his voice reverberating in my chest.
“Why? He was planning a wedding a few hours ago, and now he’s taken Elysia to war?”
“Let’s just say his hand was forced.”
“In what way, Andreas? Stop talking in riddles.”
Archer pinned me with a stare. Dark green eyes bored into me as he contemplated on whatever it was. Eventually, he sighed. “You’ll find out soon enough, but Grayson has managed to free himself from the cells.”
The hairs on my arms rose to attention at the news. Gray was free. A sense of relief flooded through me, making me slightly unsteady on my feet. No wonder Hunter wanted the heavens to be at war. Gray wasn’t going to sit silently and do whatever Hunter said. Every doubt I had crumbled to dust. He would be out for blood the same way I was. Worse, if his track record was anything to go by.
I shifted my focus to Andreas. The giant of a God was emanating a dangerous, unseen aura that made the room seem small. Sophie and Cassidy had gravitated towards each other, with my brother standing protectively in front of his wife.
“You’re not up there helping them?” I asked.
“Are you questioning my loyalties?” came his reply.
