“Brilliant idea,” Tuck drawled. “Let’s send the exhausted time-bender who can barely stand to chase down a god hell-bent on revenge. Nothing could possibly go wrong there.”
“Got a better plan?” Archer challenged.
Tuck moved between Archer and the door. “Yeah. Keeping everyone alive. Use that brain of yours. You go after them now, you’re only giving Alastor another weapon to use against her.”
“I think he’s right.” Thea took a step, fighting to reach Quill through the storm of her power. “We need to be smart about this.” She flashed a look at Archer, one that said she didn’t trust Tuck or I as far as she could throw either of us.
I huffed a laugh. “Smart? While we’re beingsmart, he’s—” I cut myself off. The things Alastor could be doing to Paesha’smind right now… His Remnants could be tearing her apart from the inside.
“You want to rush in and make things worse, Archie? Be my guest,” Tuck said, eyeing Quill, his curiosity obvious.
“So we do nothing?” Archer bit back.
“No one said that. We plan. We prepare. We figure out which bargains are actually binding us and which loopholes we can exploit.” Tuck’s eyes met mine. “But first, we deal with the fact that our new little friend here is about to level this house with the force of her feelings.”
As if to prove his point, Quill snarled like a little beast, consumed in her anger. The windows shattered. Her power was immediately building again, feeding off everyone’s fear and anger.
“Enough,” I growled, stepping toward her. Thea moved to block my path but Tuck caught her arm.
“Let him try,” he said softly. “Can’t get much worse.”
I knelt before Quill, ignoring the glass. “Look at me, little one.”
Her glare met mine, and for a moment I saw what Paesha saw in her, not merely power, but fierce love and loyalty. “You promised to protect her. She told me you did.”
“I did. And I failed.” The admission cost me, but she needed truth right now, not more lies. “I’m going to get her back. We all are. You have my word.”
“Your word means nothing. You’re a liar.”
“Yes. I am,” I held her gaze. “But I love her. I have loved her longer than there were stars in most skies. I have chased her through a thousand lifetimes, watched her live and die and live again, each time hoping she would finally be mine. Not because I want to own her, but because loving her is as natural as breathing, as inevitable as dawn following night.”
I ran a hand through my hair, centuries of memories washing over me. “I remember every version of her. The warrior who had fought beside me in ancient battles, her blade flashing like lightning. The healer who saved an entire village while dying herself. The queen who’d sacrificed everything to protect her people. The dancer who moved like poetry given form. She has been fierce and gentle, broken and whole, sometimes in the same breath. And I have loved every incarnation, every smile, every tear.
“I’ve failed her in this life, as I have failed her in others. But I’ll challenge every god who stands in my way. A universe without her in it is darker and colder and infinitely less worth saving. That’s not the word of a god or the Keeper. That’s the word of someone who loves her just as fiercely as you do.”
It wasn’t much but the slightest bit of tension left her shoulders as she studied my face before stepping back. It would be baby steps with her or nothing. Just like Paesha. “Maybe you should have told her that instead of telling her you liked salt.”
“Maybe,” I smiled.
“That was… unexpectedly honest of you,” Tuck commented.
I rose, brushing off my knees. “Stop.”
Aeris stepped forward from where she’d been quietly observing. “The bond between god and mortal is rarely so pure.” Her eyes met mine. “Though in this case, with a volatile Huntress, I suspect there’s nothing pure about it at all.”
“Your opinion wasn’t requested,” I said, restraining myself.
“And yet you have it all the same.” She turned to the gathering crowd of children and caretakers who’d been drawn by the commotion. “Briony, perhaps we should get these little ones some tea in the kitchen.”
Briony hesitated only a moment before nodding. “Come along then, everyone. Let’s leave them to sort this mess.”
As the children and the others filed out, Aeris’s aged hand settled on Quill’s shoulder. “You should rest, little bird. Your power has been rather taxing today. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a nap upstairs before we go back to Silbath.”
“I want to help find her.”
“And you will,” Thea said, smoothing Quill’s wild curls. “But right now, some quiet time is best. You don’t have to sleep, but rest a little.”
“I don’t want to go upstairs alone.”
