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I hurled myself across the city, carried on the scaly backs of my snakes. But movement drew my eye; Harvey was already streaking across the ruined city to his brother. So I swallowed my dread and kept pushing across the city to our mate. Renna was right;she needed backup.

I threw together a hasty plan to distract Cronus so Haley could kill him once and for all, but there was no guarantee it would work. Where was Lucifer? She'd gone to save the devil, but I didn't see him anywhere. Didn't see any gods, actually. Poseidon had vanished too.

Fuck, were we on our own?

Hurry up, Renna, Tali. We're gonna need those imprisoned gods pretty fucking sharpish.

Cronus laughed when Haley’s wings dropped her lower; she slashed her daggers across his stomach until inky magic parted and his guts spilled flickers of light and blood.Kill him,I chanted in my head as I raced faster towards her, still too fucking far away.Kill him.

But even from here, I saw the titan’s wound close, not even a scar visible as proof that she'd hurt him. My hands started to shake. I pushed my magic faster, pushed to breaking point.

Ice pumped through my veins instead of blood, panic making my heart race so fast I felt every beat against my ribs. Wind whipped past me, grabbing me like it was sabotaging me.

"I'm coming," I promised Haley even if she couldn't hear me.

Six metres away. Close enough to shout, but I didn't dare distract her.

Five metres. I rose higher in the air, gathering the last dregs power, planning to hit Cronus with every bit of venom I had. It wouldn't kill a titan but it might weaken him and that was all Haley needed.

Four metres. Haley made another blow, jamming her wavy dagger into his hip, severing a brutal hole.

Three metres. Cronus's hand snapped up so fast that I blinked, and he had Haley in his massive hand. I couldn’t even scream a warning.

My heart stopped as his awful voice echoed across the city.

I'll have this meal tenderised.

"Haley!" I screamed, wishing I had wings, my body fucking useless as I pushed my magic to my limit, the empty pit of my power taunting me. There were no more snakes, no more magic.

More! I need more!

Two metres. Too far, too fucking slow. Cronus reared his hand back and threw her.

I dragged inner claws across my well of power, summoning anything, any hint of power. I tore and pulled until I felt a snap, and every snake and scale keeping me in the air fell apart.

"Harvey!" I screamed at the ground, begging for him to do something, anything, to save her.

I dropped faster than I could stop myself, but it didn’t matter when my rose fell like a meteor from far, far higher, trailing crimson light and devastating magic.

The impact of my mate hitting Olympus sent shockwaves so far that I heard shouts and cries in the distance. A force slammed into me, until I fell even faster, the world a blur.

I wrenched at whatever power I had left to slow my fall, but magic slipped through my hands like sand. Snakes fled around me, vanishing into nothing, snuffed out of existence, and I had nothing left to save me, nothing to—

"Fuck!" I screamed when I slammed into something hard, unyielding, and—furry? "You—son of a—bitch," I panted, and slid down Harvey's side on weak legs. I was hurt but I was alive. I could save her, I could. "I fucking love you, you bastard. Have I told you that?"

I wavered on my feet, my knees weak, but I grabbed his giant head and pressed a loud kiss to his forehead. I should have been dead, but he caught me.

But no one caught my rose.

My mate’s body splayed on the ground twenty feet away, her wings at awkward angles, but she was moving, wasn’t she? Was she groaning, or was I deluding myself?

All exhilaration and relief drained from me, and I stumbled back into Harvey's shoulder. My heart thudded slowly, heavily in my chest, the beat irregular.

"Is she...?"

Numbness spread through my soul until I was full of ice. I didn’t know how to exist without her.

But I'd seen her move, hadn't I? I'd heard her groan, hadn't I?