Erik’s aura pulsed brighter than before. “Quentin, you saved him. Your bond saved him.”
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“Gray has some of your soul, Quentin. He was losing it because of the oleander. Everything that makes you who you are, divinity included, is part of your soul. The moment you kissed him under there, it found its way back to him. It let him live.”
“So, I don’t have a soul anymore?” Quentin looked panicked. “We aren’t bound?”
But even as she said it, I knew it wasn’t the truth because I could feel how much the thought upset her.
“I don’t think that’s the case. I’ve read about this in some accounts, but there weren’t any verified sources. I had no idea it could really happen,” Erik mused. “It looks as though when you kissed Gray, your soul made enough of a move to him that he took on a trait of yours.”
“It felt like something left me,” she told us.
“There’s your answer. Your soul didn’t want to be parted, and so it embedded itself in Gray.”
“The brown is—” Quentin started.
“Your soul. A physical marking of what belongs to you.”
I looked back to Quentin, who was shaking in my arms. The stress of the last few days must have been setting in. Pulling her closer, I kissed her forehead.
“You saved my life,” I muttered against the wet skin.
“We need to get back to everyone else,” Erik said. “Call some order. Without Hunter, everything falls to you, Gray.”
The words brought me no joy. With Hunter and Larkin divorced, the responsibilities of Elysia fell to me, but I’d seen the state Elysia was in. A lot of residents wouldn’t be happy to see me take his spot.
“The square?” Erik suggested.
“Council chambers,” I replied, trying to organise the chaos in my mind.
Ignacio pushed himself up from the ground. “I’ll start rounding up whoever I can. Let them know the news. For what it’s worth, I’m glad you didn’t kick the bucket, Gray.” And then he disappeared from sight.
We knew how this worked. There was no time to waste in trying to settle things again. Elysia, without a leader, would be even more unstable.
“Quentin,” I said, and she looked at me. “You stay close to me the entire time. Understand?”
She nodded her head. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
I took one glance at Erik before I wrapped my aura around us all and took us to the council chambers. The cavernous space was a wreckage. It should have been no surprise that it would have been targeted, considering it was the centre of distrust.
Amidst the debris, there were plenty of angry Gods and Goddesses, and at the heart of it all was Archer, on his knees and bound by a plethora of auras. Oh, this would be interesting.
“Enough!” I bellowed, cutting through the humdrum of noise. Quentin jumped, and I hugged her close to my side, rubbing a hand along her back soothingly.
The shouts turned to whispers that soon died out as eyes turned to me. I gently pushed Quentin behind my back, undecided on whether it was safe for her to be around everyone yet.
Aria stepped forward, and my stomach sank. Nothing good was coming if she was involved.
“You conspired with Archer to get rid of your own brother,” she said with such conviction that you’d have thought she’d stumbled upon a vault of plans.
“Aria.” I fixed her with a stare. “Of all the bullshit that has fallen from your mouth over the centuries, that has to win the prize. I’ll remind you all that Hunter conspired with Archer to rid you of my presence. He was beaten at his own game.”
Tobias fixed me with a stare. “And we’re meant to take you as our king?”
The room filled with cries of uproar as I knew it would. This wasn’t how I planned to take the seat. It would be a continuous uphill battle from now until they finally accepted the truth that had been hidden from them for so long.
“What exactly do you all want?” Quentin asked, stepping out from behind me. The golden glow was still prominent.
