“This is no different. I will be in the background. I will advise when you ask, and I will not overstep the boundaries you set.
“I told you, my only concern from now on is you. Your happiness. Your reign. Your pleasure.”
“Gray,” I moaned, unable to say much more.
“You are my soulbound. I am yours. There is nothing that should be embarrassing for you to come to me with. Do you understand?”
I nodded slowly.
This relationship was so different from the last two. Gray had not flown off the handle when Larkin nominated me. He’d been quick to support it. Support me. And that was all he’d been doing since. The truth was more close to the fact that I was worried about how I would do, and I was using Gray as an excuse. He probably knew that as well, but we both were aware that those doubts would only be quelled once I took on the role.
“Your existence is everything to me,” Gray told me, as I picked up the pace, desperate for the high. “You will do brilliant things, like you were always destined to do.”
“Don’t leave me.” The words tumbled out of my mouth without filtering. “Please.”
“Death could not take me from you. There is nothing that will be able to tear us apart.”
No work schedules. No petty arguments. No wars. Gray was the start and end of everything. I needed him more than I cared to admit, and maybe it wasn’t a weakness to acknowledge it.
My muscles tightened as the waves of bliss became more frequent and then drowned me. I buried my face in his shoulder, screaming his name. Gray joined me over the edge. The warmth of his cum filled me and I felt the way it dripped between us when it no longer had any place to go.
Gray gently kissed along the side of my face until he coaxed me to look at him.
“Better?” he asked with a smirk.
“Yes.”
“So, what do you say to someone who has helped you?”
I took in a deep breath, before begrudgingly telling him, “Thank you.”
“We really should work on your bedside manner.”
I snorted, but gave him a chaste kiss. We were still locked together in a sticky mess, but neither of us made any attempt to move.
“I understand,” Gray said, wiping some hair out of my face, “that you still have a lot to process. But I will be there whenever you need me. Use me. Trust me.”
“I will,” I told him, feeling more comfortable with the concept.
Gratitude filled my chest that Gray could look at my entire situation and understand that there were so many things at play. Ruling Elysia. Leaving my home. Wondering who to put on the council. Figuring out what to tell my loved ones. The list of things to do felt never-ending, and I wasn’t even sure I would be good at the job. My confidence in the lab came with evidence.
“We’ll look at this like an experiment,” Gray said simply. “Would that make it easier for you?”
I hugged him tight, overwhelmed by just how much I loved him. He wasn’t impatient, but he wanted me to talk because my discomfort was his discomfort. And here he was, finding a way to speak to me that would keep me calm. That would allow my brain to accept what was going on.
“Little tip, golden girl,” Gray mumbled into my hair. “I can’t fuck the anxiety out of you in the chambers, so we might have to find another way out in public.”
Asshole.
Iused to watch Quentin as she worked in the lab. It was where my obsession with her started. There was a confidence about Quen that made her untouchable. She moved with precision. Calculated her values and scribbled notes on surfaces when she didn’t have her notebook. Quentin knew she was great, and to be allowed into her orbit made you feel like you were part of something phenomenal.
Now, she had been removed from the lab and into a world that she was still trying to get to grips with. I understood her concerns about there being too many things and it all moving too quickly. She had her life on Earth to think of, a nation of Gods to lead and her own threads of trauma that she was trying to untangle. Despite her fears and doubts, she continued to move with a confidence that only grew as the days passed by.
When she finally caved and said she would need help, I swelled with pride. Not because I would have a chance to have my say, but because she would allow herself to rely on me. A woman like Quentin would only depend on you if she saw yourworth and trusted you to her core. To be bestowed that honour was better than any crown or throne in existence.
The house had been filled with congratulatory gifts for my golden girl. Flowers, chocolates, gems. She barely spared them a glance as she set up a board in the living room with configurations of her inner circle. Each spot had been filled and erased a dozen times as she tried to balance the council to her liking.
Surprisingly, although I would not tell her I was shocked, Quentin had handled the dismissal of elite Gods who had served in their roles for decades with class and poise. The shock was only because I judged her by my own standards. I would have taken great glee in telling Aria she was fired, but Quentin had found the strength to be polite and professional. The same could not be said for Aria, who shattered multiple things in our home before I kicked her out.
