Page 163 of Crown of Olympus
Sobbing, I ripped the twin crowns from my head.
“They’re not worththis!”
I launched them directly at the rift, screaming. Let the cosmos devour them, for the price we had paid was too high.
The pricehehad paid was too high.
“Nothing is worththis!”
A second before the crowns struck true, a flicker of darkness darted from the rift — so fast I barely registered it. The split pulsed again, and the tiled floors shattered. The Parthenon was coming down on top of us.
And I didn’t care.
Let the stones bury me. Let me find my heart on the other side of life and death.
I threw myself over Caelus’ lifeless body as someone — Aphrodite, perhaps — wept nearby.
When I was sure the ceiling was about to drop down on top of me, the shaking relented.
The crowns were spat back out of the tear, landing on the floor with metallic clinks. The rift sealed itself back up as though it never existed. The only signs that it had, were the distinct fracture the Crown of Olympus now bore in its shiny surface, and the sickly, smoky grey the Shadow Crown now flickered — no longer the deep black of midnight.
The dust settled. The damage was revealed. Half of the ceiling had collapsed with limbs poking out from beneath the rubble. I had no way of knowing who they were, or if they lived. And it no longer mattered because I had still losthim.
I closed my eyes and imagined he was merely sleeping — that we were still curled up beneath my silken sheets. I imagined the rise and fall of his chest, the warmth of a lightning-blessed god seeping into my cheek, and the steady thrum of a contented heart.
I envisioned it so vividly, I swore I could feel the thump of his chest against my face.
It thumped again.
This time, I was sure.
I sat up so quickly my head spun, my gaze snapping to Caelus’ bloodied face. I barely dared to breathe, let alone hope.
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
Lightning cracked with a startling boom.
Caelus’ heartbeat picked up its tempo as his lungs stirred to life with a crackling wheeze.
Then he sat bolt upright with a piercing inhale, his eyes locked on mine.
“Caelus?” I whispered over the silence of the atrium.
Everybody watched with rapt fascination; nobody made so much as a move towards us.
His eyes were glaringly bright, but not quite the same. Within the flashing silver, tendrils of black now twined around the edges. My powers had brought him back… and it seemed they had not wanted to let go.
He blinked rapidly, as if waking from a dream, and extended a tentative hand towards my face.
“Nightshade?” he rasped.
I fell into him with a wracking sob, felt his arms curl around me, their solid weight reassuringly warm once again.
“What happened?” Caelus asked over my head.
Charon answered from behind me, relief clear in his voice. “You died.”
Caelus flinched beneath me.
