Page 78 of Harbinger

“Kill them!” the God of Darkness barked.

They spread their dark wings and rose, unable to disobey his command.

Troops of war demons and Nephilim lifted off from the cliffs surrounding the crater and followed in their wake.

* * *

“You’re almost there!”Cassius shouted.

Eden gritted her teeth, her bloodcursed magic turning the gloom around them scarlet where she floated within a sphere that protected her human flesh from the interdimensional space that would have decimated her body.

The devilwood staff vibrated violently in her grip as it tore a hole into the Seventh Purgatory.

Sparks detonated against the weapon where the Ring of Death touched it, the scythe aiding the staff to breach the hellish realm. The Reaper God’s pupils glowed red and gold where he levitated beside Eden in his skeletal form, the same focused expression tightening his bony face.

Dark wind pulsed faintly around Morgan. The currents throbbed in tandem with the weapon that lay trapped within Purgatory. It was the echo of this power that Loki had followed with the Eternity Key, the imp guiding them through the void between worlds with Theo’s help.

A muscle jumped in Morgan’s jawline as he observed the doorway Eden and the Reaper God were creating. Tension knotted Cassius’s shoulders. He touched Morgan’s arm.

“Be careful. He’ll come after you.”

“I’ll be ready,” Morgan said in a hard voice.

Cassius’s pulse stuttered at his fierce expression. It reminded him of the undaunted look on Ivmir’s face when he’d stood beside Icarus during the War in the Nether. His heart swelled with affection.

Every time I think I couldn’t love this man any more than I already do, he goes ahead and surprises me.

Morgan startled when Cassius grasped him by the scruff of his armor and yanked him close. Heat bloomed inside Cassius’s core as he sealed their mouths together and kissed Morgan with savage abandon. The demigod stiffened before kissing him back just as wildly.

The words Cassius had wanted to say to him for a while finally tumbled from his lips. It wasn’t the right place. And it definitely wasn’t the right time. But he sensed that if he didn’t utter them now, he might swallow them forever more.

“If we defeat Elios,” he breathed against Morgan’s mouth, “if we win the war that is to come, I want us to have a baby.”

Morgan blinked, stunned. Cassius’s belly clenched.

Pleasure had brought a flush of color to the demigod’s face.

“Yes!” Morgan gushed. “A thousand times, yes!”

He grasped Cassius’s face and kissed him again, his eyes sparkling with delight and passion.

“Wait. Are they planning to conceive right now?!” Orena hissed to Kes.

“But…they’re both male,” Tisiphone said, confused.

“If I’m not mistaken, the Dryads have a fruit in their realm same-sex couples can consume so as to fuse a portion of their soul cores into a new being.” Atropos smiled faintly. “It possesses some of the properties of the Golden Apples.”

Theo pressed his hands against his pinking cheeks. “I’m gonna be an uncle!”

Loki’s face crumpled. “I’m gonna be a big brother!”

Victor rolled his eyes at the wailing imp.

Morgan wrenched his mouth from Cassius’s and squinted at Loki. “Hey, who said you were our kid?!”

“Look, I’m pleased for you, but could you guys pipe down?” Eden groaned. “We’re trying to concentrate here!”

“Yes,” the Reaper God grumbled. “All this talk is makingme want to return to my realm and ravish my sweet Mortis.”

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