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Foster glanced over his shoulder at the pit, eyes wide.
There was a moment of heavy silence between the five of us, their unspoken question hanging in the air.
Where is Bullet?
“Grace…” I prompted, unsure if she wanted me to tell them or not. From the limited amount of time I’d spent with them, I felt like they were good people who wouldn’t push for information if she wasn’t ready.
She wiped her eyes on my shirt, blowing out a long breath against my chest. Before my eyes, Grace seemed to transform, pulling her shoulders back and tipping her chin up, a mask of stoic calm falling over her face.
It was awe-inspiring to watch, and it broke my fucking heart. Grace’s grief was fresh and painful, and she shouldn’t have to suppress it for anyone or anything.
But she would.
She would, because she’d been given a job to do and Grace would see it through to completion, no matter how much she was suffering.
Grace turned to face everyone, an inch of space between her back and my chest. The rest of the group had drawn closer, probably wondering what it was that had gotten the Prophêtis so upset.
“Bullet…” Grace began, pausing to take one more steadying breath when her voice shook. “Bullet isn’t here. It was the bond between us that had been keeping Bullet alive.”
“He’s dead?!” Estrella gasped, slumping into Foster’s side, while Vasileios frowned.
“What do you mean?” he asked. “What does the bond have to do with it?”
Grace paused, studying the assembled group again. “Oh.Oh. None of the bonded agathos are here…”
“No,” Foster replied slowly, wrapping an arm around Estrella’s waist. “They all stayed back in Greece. Grace, what’s going on?”
“Gaia broke the bonds. All the bonds.” Grace’s voice shook again, and one of her hands drifted to Milos while the other found mine behind her back. “I wish I could explain it better, but I can’t. All I know is that the bonds are gone and in their place are full gaping wounds in my chest.” She swallowed thickly. “I don’t know if it’s permanent—Sophia mentioned that the Fates might be able to fix it, but if agathos can feel desire for other people…”
Right. That did sound like it was pretty permanent.
“And Bullet?” Vasileios asked, all traces of amusement gone.
“He’s not dead,” I said firmly,needingthat to be true. If Grace was feeling hopeless, then I was going to maintain hope for both of us. “He’s in some kind of in-between.”
“Like a coma?” Foster asked, wincing. “Sorry, that was inappropriate—”
“That’s probably the closest comparison,” I agreed. “A coma, but with a little more divine influence. He has been taken by Thanatos to a safe place until… Until we can figure out how to fix it.”
“He’s safe with the God of Death?” Estrella sounded about as comfortable with that idea as I felt.
“It was the best option we had.” The words sounded weak to my own ears. Itwasthe best option we had, but it was still a shitty one.
“Do you want to get drunk with us? We, er,borroweda lot of wine from people celebrating the sunshine.” Vasileios held up a half-drunk bottle of red wine almost apologetically. “We thought… Well, we didn’t know it was this bad.”
Grace smiled weakly. “I think my stomach is a little empty for wine, but I’d love to hear about your journey here while we wait for Ovie and Fox to come back with Wild and Riot.”
The internal battle was written all over her face as we followed Vasileios over to where the others had set up a rough makeshift camp. She glanced over at the other side of the pit, and I’d wager she was debating whether to go and track down Wild and Riot herself, but struggling with the idea of going back to where she’d last seen Bullet.
Just in case it really was the last time.
It wasn’t. I’d made a deal with Bullet, and I intended to honor it. If he ended up in the underworld, I was going to drag him back. I didn’t think telling Grace that would help though. First, because I didn’t want to get her hopes up in case I failed. Second, because she might object to me visiting the underworld and I didn’t want her to worry.
“I think we should not tell you about our journey as we did many things you wouldn’t approve of,” Vasileios told Grace as we all sat down on a blanket a few feet away from the pit. Milos dropped down next to us, resting her enormous head on Grace’s lap, very much to Grace’s surprise. She stroked Milos’ head a few times, and the poor pup fell asleep almost instantly. “And then we were wondering if we’d ever find you, and suddenly the stars appeared and the agathos lost their minds. It is only because Foster and Estrella wanted to see you so badly that they have clothes on right now. They have been fused at the—”
“O-kay, thanks for that,” Foster interjected, blushing an impressive shade of beetroot. “At first, I thought I was feeling the soul bond pull somehow, that Estrella had meant to be mine all along.” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “But we realized pretty quickly thatallthe agathos with us were experiencing desire for the first time, even if they didn’t have a specificperson,you know.”
“General lust,” Estrella added, giving Foster a seductive smile like she couldn’t help herself despite the generally terrible conditions. “We were in a makeshift campsite and all of a sudden all the agathos men had their dicks out to explore their hard-ons while the stars twinkled above us.”
