Page 40 of Harbinger

He touched Loki’s hand. Loki flinched before looking at him, his expression tortured. Cassius wordlessly pulled him down next to him and wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders. Loki trembled and leaned into him.

“Though we did not achieve what we had intended to do upon escaping the Seventh Purgatory, I still managed to foil Elios’s machinations over the centuries that followed.” Atropos’s voice had hardened. She looked at Theo, her eyes bright with conviction. “I found the perfect vessel for Rohengar’s soul.” The Goddess’s gaze shifted to Eden. “I guided the Bloodcursed Devilwood Summoning Staff to the next Magus who would wield it.” Atropos’s face softened a little as she gazed at a stunned Loki. “And I made sure the Keeper of the Eternity Key found his way to Icarus.”

19

Morgan cameout of the bathroom and found Cassius sitting in the gloom with his back against the headboard and his knees pressed against his chest. The demigod was looking out over the terrace and a moonlit-bathed San Francisco Bay, his gaze unfocused.

Cassius flinched when Morgan flicked the bedside lamp on. He turned to look at him, expression clearing.

He shifted down the bed. “Hey.”

Morgan slid under the covers, tucked him against his flank, and kissed his hair. Cassius relaxed against him.

His hand found Morgan’s belly, his touch hesitant. “Does it hurt?”

Morgan swallowed a sigh at the way his voice quivered. “I won’t lie to you. It hurts. But the way you’re acting hurts me even more.”

Cassius flinched. He tilted his head and frowned at Morgan. “What do you mean?”

Morgan met his irate gaze squarely. “I don’t like this distance between us. And I hate that you think this was all your fault.”

Cassius’s expression grew mutinous. He pulled away and jerked upright. “Itismy fault!”

Morgan bit back a curse and sat up. He winced a little at the hot shard that stabbed through his core before glaring at Cassius. “Every which way I look at this, I still don’t understand how you came to such a stupid conclusion.”

Cassius glared at him over his shoulder. “I should have seen what Elios intended!”

“How?” Morgan snapped. “By looking in your magic crystal ball?!”

Cassius’s face fell. His lower lip trembled. This time, Morgan swore out loud. He pulled Cassius into his arms.

“You’re such a stubborn brat,” he muttered into his hair.

Cassius sniffed against his chest. “I’m older than you. Attie said so.”

Morgan grimaced. “Since when did you start calling her Attie?”

“Since just now,” Cassius mumbled.

They stayed silent for a while, their hearts thumping steadily against one another.

Morgan finally drew back and tilted Cassius’s chin with a knuckle. “Stop blaming yourself for something you had no control over, Cassius. Even Atropos couldn’t divine Elios’s plans.”

Cassius shuddered and closed his eyes. Tears glimmered in the beautiful gray depths when he opened them once more.

“If I hadn’t responded to his provocation during the War in the Nether,” he whispered. “If I hadn’t unleashed my powers and torn apart the realms. If I—!”

Morgan swallowed the rest of his wretched words with his lips.

Cassius went rigid before relenting and kissing him back.

Morgan savored Cassius’s sweetness for a long minute before reluctantly lifting his mouth off the demigod’s. “You heard what Atropos said.” He pressed his forehead against Cassius’s. “That we were destined to lose the War in the Nether. That the Fall was preordained.”

Cassius clenched his jaw.

Atropos’s words from a few hours ago flitted through Morgan’s mind once more.

“It is Cassius and Theo’s presence on Earth that has stopped the Fallen and otherworldly in this realm from succumbing to Tenebra’s Rot,” the Moira had explained once they’d gotten over the blow of her latest revelations concerning Theo, Eden, and Loki. “The holy power of two Guardians is a potent force that can negate even the most powerful of poisons and prevent it from infecting a soul core that contains divine energy.”

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