“There's nothing to worry about, Councilman Draven. We’ll have these houses finished in no time. A lot of my workers also came through in this portion of the move in, and we're all happy to pull our own weight in this community. There isn't a single person who made the move who isn't aware of what you're doing for everyone. I, for one, appreciate my kids being safe because of you. The more people we can get out of the Resistance’s path, the better.”
Aside from Kyrie, this man has cemented himself as my favorite family member of the Bonded Group, and I shoot Gabe a grin, happy to see how proud and relieved he looks at his uncle's words.
Jeremy looks around again before nodding. “Building houses on the fly isn't easy, and you’ve all done an incredible job for the community.”
North holds out a hand to shake Jeremy's as though they're sealing a deal. The moment he lets go, Jeremy starts walking towards the houses with his sons, speaking to them about what they're going to tackle and how best to go about getting everything done.
Gabe lets out a breath and rubs his hands over his eyes. “Thank fuck, it's not all on me anymore.”
North nods and slaps his shoulder. “You should be proud of getting it this far, Gabe. You really did an excellent job, and Bassinger too.”
Atlas shrugs and kicks his feet against the dusty path like he’s feeling uncomfortable taking the praise. “I mostly lifted things. Oli’s the one who learned how to tile like a pro.”
He’s trying to shift the focus, so I help him out, laughing and pretending to flex my muscles. “I carried things too! There was also that one time that you saved Gabe from being squashed by a bathtub, that was pretty impressive.”
Gabe groans. “Don't remind me. He's still giving me shit about not securing it properly in the first place, but he would have never figured out about his power growing if I hadn't, so silver linings and all that.”
Chapter Twenty
Oli
As the days slowly go on, the tension in our Bonded Group grows.
We know that the peace we're feeling can only last a short amount of time before we are thrust back into a fight with the Resistance. All of the training and hard work we've been putting into place will have to hold up against our enemy, something that can only really be tested when we’re in the line of fire.
I spend my mornings down at the Tac Training Center working through drills and sparring with Sage and Aro. My afternoons are spent either building with Gabe and Atlas or reading through translations of texts with Nox in North’s offices.
Reading about the other times that the gods had been here is both jarring and familiar. The edges of my memories catch on snippets, as though if I could just clear my mind a little more, I could remember those moments myself. It brings into question the things that Jericho had said, because though the gods had been here before, I'm supposed to be nothing more than a vessel. By his count, I’m brand new, so I shouldn't be able to remember anything. Yet my mind keeps getting stuck on the little details, the little horrifying snippets that I can't stop obsessing over. The dragon. The god who wields madness. The one who had been burned at the stake for tearing men apart in a void-eyed fury, who had said with his dying words that it was the demon inside of him.
Something about them all is so familiar to me, and yet, how could it possibly be? None of the details that grab at me make any sense, and when I tentatively question Nox about it, he stares at me for a moment before he pulls out a small list of his own.
“I started keeping track of it as well. I've been meaning to give it to North to see if he can remember too, but I haven't made the time yet.”
I stare down at the list and find that it isn't too different from my own.
Bleeding out on a field of roses, a sword thrust through the heart.
A death of exposure.
A corpse hanging from a tree.
Each of these things are nothing more than words on a page, but something about them… something is familiar. I question my bond, but it has nothing to say to me, creeping back into the dark corners of my mind as it goes back to its hibernation stage. I hope that it's reserving its energy for our next big fight, but something about this feels so vital, as though the words aren't just tugging at my memory but irritating some ancient wound within my soul.
I wake up on the morning of the next council meeting, tangled up in a pile of limbs with a sense of dread hanging over me. Gryphon is already up and in the shower, the bathroom door open just a little, a sliver of light breaking through the bedroom.
North is still sleeping happily where he is wrapped around me, and Gabe is on his back next to me, snoring just a little, one of his hands tucked in my own. Atlas is on the far side of the bed since it’s his turn to be on the edge, and he doesn't look any happier than I am, even in his sleep.
I wriggle out from between my Bonded and make my way quietly over to the bathroom, stripping out of my clothes and slipping into the shower with Gryphon where he’s scrubbing the shampoo out of his hair. He doesn't turn as he hears the door open, but he speaks directly into my mind so as to not wake anyone up. You should be getting some extra sleep, Bonded. The council meeting is not going to be easy for any of us.
I slip my arms around his waist as soon as he's gotten all the shampoo out of his hair and tip my face up to meet his lips as I answer him. I'll sleep in when you do.
He sighs and then his hands come down to grip my thighs, lifting me up until I'm wrapped around him. The water works its way down us both as I try not to squeal at the move.
I can't play around when I know what's coming for us. I feel like every second that I'm not training or planning is a second wasted, one that might be the difference between us getting out of there alive or not.
This isn’t the sort of foreplay talk I am hoping for, and I cup both of his cheeks in my hands as I kiss him back, hoping to wash away the worries in him.
He’s tense under my fingers, the muscles in his shoulders rock hard even though I know it isn’t a strain on him to hold me up, and I can’t lose myself in the kiss while I’m too busy freaking out about what I could possibly do to fix this for him. Well, maybe not fix it, because short of leaving the Sanctuary right now to hunt Davies and the Resistance myself, there’s not a lot I can do about that situation, but if I could just find a way to soothe this tension in him a little…
Isn’t that what Bonded are supposed to be able to do for each other?
I’m not going to let them get you again. I’m not going to lose you to Silas Davies again, Bonded.
I shiver at the dark promise in his words, but when I glance up at his face, his eyes flash at me. I blink rapidly, my mind attempting to rationalize what I thought I saw, but there’s no way. No chance that I could have seen it.
He couldn’t have had void eyes.
It's hard to sit still in a room full of council members and the leaders in our community, including Vivian and Unser, when I had spent the morning getting the life fucked out of me by Gryphon against a cold, tiled wall.
I’d spent the entire time watching his eyes, but there were no signs of change in them, and I started to tell myself that I’m clearly going freaking crazy. The history books I’ve been reading with Nox have obviously wormed their way into my brain, and I’m seeing things that aren’t really there.