Page 86 of Crimson Skies

“E—Elios?!”

He looked to the Abyss and the figure who’d emerged from it. Tenebra and the rest of Atropos’s sisters gasped, eyes bulging. Silver tears coursed down Hypnos’s cheeks as he gazed at Elios.

Relief. Anger. Frustration. Love.

The emotions burned brightly on his face, the shock of seeing the one who had betrayed him jolting his memories afresh and clearing his mind of the fog he had lived in for five hundred years.

“Hyp…nos?” Elios blinked. “That’s impossible. You died! I SAW YOU DIE!” A startled sound tumbled from his lips. He reached up and touched the silver tears on his own cheek, confusion clouding his eyes. “What?Wh—why?!I—I don’t understand!”

Chaos’s booming voice filled the sky. “THEN YOU ARE A BIGGER FOOL THAN I THOUGHT.”

“It’s okay,” Cassius hastily reassured a strained-looking Morgan and the other equally tense deities. “He won’t bite.”

“How about you dial it down a little?” Atropos suggested diplomatically.

“OH.”Chaos’s voice dropped to a whisper.“RIGHT.”

Disbelief slackened Elios’s face. “Grandfather?!”

Chaos’s irritation throbbed from the void. “I WOULD PREFER IT IF YOU DIDN’T ADDRESS ME AS THAT. IT’S CREEPING ME OUT.”

Morgan and the others gaped.

Hypnos’s jaw set in a determined line. He turned to Chaos. “Grandfather, I believe Elios should come to the Abyss with us.”

Elios froze.

Silence radiated from the void.

“ARE YOU SURE THAT’S WHAT YOU WANT, CHILD?” Chaos said quietly.

“Yes.”Hypnos dipped his chin.“He needs to atone for what he’s done.”

Cassius lowered his brows, not liking the sound of this at all.

Hypnos met his frowning gaze. “I know Elios deserves to die, Icarus.” His voice quavered. He fisted his hands, resolve brightening his eyes. “I have no right to ask this of you, but I shall, nonetheless. Just as you would do anything to save Rohengar and the soul now entwined with his, so would I my brother.”

Cassius flinched and shot a glance at Theo, his heart clenching painfully at the thought of losing both him and Rohengar.

He looked at Atropos, his stomach churning.

A sad smile stretched the Moira’s mouth. “This is your decision to make, Icarus. Elios’s life is in your hands.”

Cassius closed his eyes, the turbulent feelings swamping his core almost paralyzing him.

Morgan’s warmth reached him across their bond. Cassius took a shaky breath. He realized then that he had already made his decision, even before Hypnos begged him for mercy. He opened his eyes and nodded at Elios’s twin.

“DAMMIT,” Chaos mumbled.

Atropos directed a narrowed-eyed look his way. “You said you wouldn’t interfere.”

“I WASN’T GOING TO,” he protested. “SHEESH, YOU REALLY DO REMIND ME OF NYX.”

Atropos sniffed at that.

“No!” Elios’s terrified scream resonated in Cassius’s ears as the God of Creation reached out and grabbed him. “I don’t want to go! Let me be!”

He struggled in his grandfather’s grasp, to no avail.