Page 79

The words echoed around my head, louder and louder with every pass. They shattered me into broken pieces and forged each shard into something stronger, filling the cracks with gold.

I took a step without really meaning to. I couldn’t feel my face, my knee was fucked, and my feet were numb but I took another step.

I was truly mad, wasn't I?

But that didn't stop me running towards that cold voice and the bright light as fast as my bruised, fractured body would allow. Kai swore and raced after me, Harvey growling as he did the same.

My skin prickled all over as sensation threatened to return, dragging pain back with it. I was wrong, Ihadto be wrong. But the viciously bright light cut out, allowing me to see more than two feet in front of myself and—

He was there, standing in the middle of the ruined road, dressed in pure black and wreathed in moonlight as he faced Cronus. Rage slammed his brows down over livid silver eyes, and his mouth was pressed thin, a thousand different threats carved into his harshly beautiful face.

Wynvail.

I ran faster, my heart beating erratically as I threw myself across the ruined road, Olympus blurring around me. I didn’t care that my leg dragged behind me, or pain shot down my wings and my back where I landed when Cronus threw me.

He was here. Right here. Not unmade, not dead. Furious and blinding andalive.

Wynvail turned towards me, his nostrils flaring as he marked the way I limped, maybe even feeling my pain if our bond was still intact. Gods, how was he here? He was unmade—I watched him die. He diedin my arms.This had to be fake, there was no way it was real.

But I felt it then—the endless well of violence roiling through his chest as he stared at my face. I didn't want to know what state I was in, what made Wynvail's jaw clench and magic flash brighter.

I ran faster, so close now that I could see every detail of his face. My heart skipped, my bottom lip buckling when he opened his arms for me.

"Wyn," I choked out and slammed into him, throwing my arms around his waist as a sob ripped up my throat, followed by another and another until I couldn't breathe. He was warm, solid. I cried harder. "Are you—"

"Miraculously alive?" he replied softly, a tiny hint of amusement in his voice as he wrapped his arms around me and brushed a kiss to my forehead. "It appears so."

My lips quivered, hot tears burning my eyes.

"Ready to kill a titan, honey?"

A keening sound formed in my chest. I thought I'd never hear him say that name again, never thought I’d hear his voice again.

"You're dead," I rasped.

He kissed my temple again. "I'll explain later, but I need you to be strong for me now. Can you do that?"

I sniffled, swallowed the lump in my throat. "No."

"That's the spirit," he drawled, letting go of me and loosing a sudden beam of vicious light.

I pressed my face into his shoulder to shield my eyes, and dragged down breaths of his scent. It was him. He was really here.

"Where are your blades, honey?"

I blinked. They were in my hands when I fell and I—oh. I hugged him now with empty hands. Shit.

"Here, my rose," Kai said, making me jump as he appeared at my left, holding my blades out to me.

I sheathed one and accepted the other, but refused to let go of Wynvail.

"Don't you dare leave my side," I warned Wyn, my voice raspy and raw. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, couldn’t believe he was flesh and blood, not ashes stolen on a heartless wind.

I never knew what his reply would have been because Cronus came roaring at us—not just reaching out with giant hands but surrounded by a sheer, strange veil of sapphire magic.

It was only when I took a step forward and everyone else froze that I remembered Cronus's power.

He was the titan of time.