Page 88 of Crimson Skies

“Cassius?!”

Darkness started to encroach on the edges of Cassius’s vision. His core creaked, releasing the weapons he had absorbed. They materialized out of his body and returned to their original owners.

Sorrow tightened his throat as something he had lived with most of his life shattered into a million pieces, the sense of loss tearing through him so deep he wondered if he would survive it.

Morgan’s terrified shout faded as he lost consciousness.

37

“He has lost his Awakener powers.”

Morgan’s stomach lurched at Hyperion’s words.

Shock reverberated on the faces of everyone gathered in the room. Eden’s eyes welled with tears. Orena pressed a trembling hand to her mouth.

“What?” Theo mumbled.

The demigod’s gaze found his brother where he lay on the bed, motionless but for the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

Kalliste sat beside Cassius, face pale and dark circles rimming her eyes.

Morgan swallowed past the lump in his throat as he stared at his lover’s achingly beautiful features. He took Cassius’s hand in his own and pressed his fingers to his brow.

Cassius’s flesh was cool, as it had remained since he’d fallen into a sleep from which he could not be roused. The only thing that had kept Morgan from losing his mind in that time was the bright cord that still throbbed between their souls.

“Did you know?” Atropos asked her fiancé stiffly.

Hyperion dipped his head. “I’ve had my suspicions all along.”

Atropos clenched her jaw. She didn’t resist the Titan when he put his arm around her.

“I think…Icarus knew.”

Morgan’s pulse quickened.

Atropos met his dazed stare. “When Chaos told him how to defeat Elios, I think Icarus already knew this would happen.”

Agony twisted Morgan’s insides.

Theo made a frustrated sound. “So he sacrificed himself for us, again?!”

His voice shook with bitterness.

Victor cradled his head with a hand. “Hush, now. We all knew he was the only one capable of vanquishing Elios.” A muscle jumped in his cheek despite his calm tone. “Cassius didn’t hesitate for a single moment when he made his choice. We have to respect his decision.”

Theo clenched his fists on his lover’s chest. Loki shivered and mewled miserably where he curled by Cassius’s pillow in his demon cat form.

Morgan reached out and laid a hand on the imp. “It’s okay. He’ll wake up soon.”

Loki settled under his touch.

It had been three days since the war with Elios ended. It wasn’t until the smoke and fires had cleared that the devastation that had been wreaked upon the Earth was laid bare.

The fracture lines that had appeared along the axis of the nexus had destroyed vast swaths of cities and conurbation, making them inhabitable for months if not years to come.

Just as the Moirai had anticipated, San Francisco wasn’t the only place where Elios’s portals had opened. The human and otherworldly forces around the globe had had their hands full defending almost every sanctuary against the monsters and lower demons the dark God had sent to annihilate the denizens of Earth while he led his main army to the Western Seaboard.

In all, a quarter of a million human lives had been lost and some three hundred otherworldly had perished.