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I’d do anything to get it back, and that was a promise. Nyx could hold me to that deal for the rest of my days.
Chapter 23
Graceclutchedherchest,body curled into herself as she kneeled on the ground. A sound somewhere between a sob and raw scream escaped her, a pain so deep that I didn’t need the supernatural bond to tell me how much she was hurting.
I was an idiot.
All this time, I worried that it was the bond that made me care about Grace. What a fuckingidiot.
I looked at Grace and I knew that bond had just been a bonus. An added extra. I didn’t care for her any less without it, despite the gaping, empty sensation in my chest.
All that suspicion, all that time wasted, for nothing. And now the bond was gone, ripped away by one of the most powerful goddesses in existence. There was nothing we could do.
It was too late.
Chapter 24
“Stopthis!Please,makeit stop,” I gasped, crawling towards Nyx with one hand, the other gripping my chest like it’d fall apart if I let go. That’s what it felt like—like the very internal structure of my body had been disassembled, ripped apart and discarded. “Put them back. Fix it.Please.”
I forced my gaze up, and even though Nyx was veiled, I could tell that her attention was directed behind me, head tilted thoughtfully to the side. I climbed to my feet, following her gaze, and my heart dropped. Or perhaps broke. Whatever it was, it hurt. Bullet’s face was scrunched up in pain, his hands pulling aggressively at his pale blonde hair like he was trying to rip it out.
Wild reached for him like he was approaching a feral animal, moving to pull Bullet’s hands away from his hair, but Bullet snarled at him in warning. Wild froze in place, agony and indecision written all over his face.
“Bullet,” I breathed, turning fully to face him and stumbling into his space, not leaving an inch of space between us.No, no, no, this couldn’t be happening. I’d saved him. I’d brought him back. Bullet was mine. Mine to keep, tolove.
“I’m sorry,” Bullet gritted out, the tendons in his neck sticking out from whatever it was he was battling. He looked up at me with so much regret in his eyes that it brought me to my knees. “I’m sorry, Amazing Grace.”
“No, don’t say that,” I pleaded, gripping his elbows as he began to sway forward, taking his weight. Wild snapped out of his frozen state, moving behind Bullet and helping him to the ground, sitting between his legs. “Bullet, you’re not going anywhere.”
“Save him!” Riot yelled at Nyx. “You’re a fucking all-powerful goddess.Save him.”
“I didn’t set the length of his mortal thread, Moros,” Nyx snapped, though there was a hint of sadness in her voice. “Take it up with the Fates. The Spirit of Dreams has already been saved from the Shears of Fate once. This is his time.”
“It’s not,” I whispered, gasping for air. When had I started crying?
“Return to the mortal realm, Prophêtis,” Nyx said quietly, her voice resigned. “The path you need is open for one of you to follow. The sun shines once more.”
Before I could respond, we were back in front of Sophia’s plinth, the soft ground beneath us now cracked and broken stone, glowing white in the moonlight.
Moonlight.
“We did it, Bullet,” I rasped. “See? Open your eyes. The stars are shining again. There’s a full moon, and it will be morning soon. And there’s a path somewhere for us to go to Tartarus and fulfill the prophecy. And then we’re going to live happily ever after, okay? We’ll go back to your house in the countryside and we’ll never do anything for anyone ever again. We’ll just live in peace and be happy, just us. Bullet, open your eyes,please. Just hold on a little longer and then we can go home, okay?”
“Gracie…” Riot whispered, a hint of something I didn’t want to hear in his voice. Acceptance. Resignation. Something I couldn’t understand because there was no bond to tell me.
A breathy, slightly hysterical laugh of relief escaped me as Bullet opened his eyes. He was going to be fine. He was going to befine. I’d find a way to get us back to his home, and we’d all live together in peace, prophecy or no. So long as Bullet was safe, I’d figure the rest out.
His gaze slid to Riot, giving him a weak smile. “You’re like the brother I never had, you know that?”
“Stop that,” I whispered, holding his hands with my shaky ones. “Stop saying goodbye.”
“I know we haven’t always seen eye-to-eye,” Bullet continued, his voice barely above a rasp. “And I know I let you down—”
“You didn’t,” Riot interrupted, voice thick. “You couldn’t. I’m sorry, so fucking sorry. You’ve always been the best of us, Bullet. You gotta stick around, because we can’t keep it together without you.”
“You can. You will. I’veseenit. I’ve always known what you’re capable of. What you’llbe.” Riot fell to one knee with a thud, clutching his chest, while Bullet turned his gaze to Dare.
Dare gripped the column at the top of the stairs, looking down at us on the ground and shaking his head in denial.
