Page 86 of Harbinger

Power throbbed off her in a wave that rattled the windows and the bottles on the coffee table. Alecto touched her hand. The youngest Fury took a shuddering breath and sat back down next to her older sister, her divine rage abating.

Morgan’s trepidation echoed across the soul bond that connected him to Cassius.

“Is that even possible?” the demigod asked, knuckles white where he rested his hands on his knees. “Making demonic keys identical to those original weapons?!”

Lachesis hesitated. “The alchemists of the Shadow Empire are cunning enough to attempt it.”

Atropos dropped her head in her hands. “So, all this time, when he was consuming our blood and our powers, it wasn’t just to make himself stronger?!” Her voice trembled with horror. “Why could we not see this?!”

Clotho swallowed, her face tight with regret and anger. “Because he blinded us all, sister. I do not know whether it’s because Elios still holds an element of Hypnos’s power in his hands, but none of us could divine his plans.”

“And hediduse us to make himself stronger, Attie.”Lachesis clasped Atropos’s hand. “Our brother is a monster through and through.”

Victor lowered his brows in the fraught hush that followed. “So, whydoeshe need the Sword of Wind?”

Cassius’s stomach plummeted as sudden realization blasted through him. He straightened, his eyes rounding. “Because it’s Nyx’s weapon!”

Tenebra nodded, her expression grim. “Yes. Our mother bestowed her sword upon Ivmir and bound it to his soul. It is unique among the weapons of Heaven and cannot be imitated. Only Ivmir can wield it. But if he were to die…”

Blood pounded heavily in Cassius’s head as he stared at the Black Fate. “Then another son of Nyx could use the sword.”

“Yes.” A muscle jumped in Tenebra’s jawline. “It is likely one of the reasons he brainwashed Coraos into joining his ranks and gave him the order to kill Ivmir.”

Victor’s eyes grew haunted at that.

Eden stiffened. Her pendant was vibrating against her neck, bloodcursed magic emanating from it in a red glow. She touched it and gasped.

“Woody says he can probably find those weapons!” she told them dazedly.

Cassius brightened. “He can?!”

Eden bobbed her head shakily. “Given time, yes.”

Cedric gave his fiancée a worried look.

Tenebra straightened. “What is it, Attie?”

Cassius looked over at the eldest Moira. Atropos was staring at the floor, her expression distraught. Fear prickled Cassius’s skin when she raised her chin and met their gazes.

“I saw another vision when we were in the Seventh Purgatory.”

Her whisper filled the room with palpable tension.

“What did you see, Attie?” Clotho asked, her voice full of dread.

Atropos took a shuddering breath. She turned to Clotho and Lachesis, pressed her fingers to their foreheads, and closed her eyes. A focused frown marred her unblemished brow.

Gold brightened Clotho and Lachesis’s pupils at whatever Atropos showed them. A horrified expression dawned on Clotho’s face.

The blood drained from Lachesis’s cheeks. “By the Gods.”

“Tell us, sisters,” Tenebra commanded in a steely voice.

Atropos opened her eyes and swallowed. “Elios will succeed in opening the Abyss. Chaoswillcome to Earth.”

Bile flooded the back of Cassius’s throat at her shaky words. He grabbed Morgan’s hand. Morgan turned his palm over and clasped his fingers just as tightly, tension humming off his powerful frame.

“So, he will win?” Theo mumbled, his face pale. “He will win the war that will take place on Earth?!”

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