Cassius swallowed and sagged, his expression miserable. “I’m—I’m sorry.”
All the anger had drained out of him, leaving him ashen faced. Morgan rose despite the effort it cost him and gently took him in his arms.
Cassius trembled in his hold. He buried his face in Morgan’s shoulder, his fingers clenching on Morgan’s chest like he never wanted to let him go. The wetness soaking into Morgan’s shirt made him want to weep too.
Despite the poison eating away at his soul core, he could feel all of Cassius’s emotions. His love. His guilt. His rage. His despair.
Morgan ground his teeth.I swear, I will kill you with my own bare hands, Elios!
“I understand your frustration, Icarus.” For the first time, bitterness underscored Atropos’s voice. “Trust me, I wish I could have stopped Elios when I divined his intentions. Alas, with Hypnos steadfastly at his side, there was little even us Moirai could do against him.”
Cassius finally lifted his head from Morgan’s shoulder.
He took a shaky breath, wiped his eyes, and turned to face the Goddesses. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lash out at you.”
“It is quite alright, Awakener,” Atropos murmured graciously.
Tisiphone and Orena smiled gently.
“I’m only forgiving ’cause you’re a hottie,” Kes grumbled. “Also, when we have private time, I get first dibs on you.”
17
Theo swallowed a sigh.Cassius refrained from looking at the man beside him.
“What’s this about private time?” Morgan asked suspiciously.
Adrianne grimaced. “Oh, yeah. You were out cold when they talked about that.”
“I’ll tell you later,” Victor muttered to Morgan.
Cassius drew Morgan back down on the couch. They all watched Atropos, knowing she had more to tell them.
“The first Igrew suspicious of Elios was some five hundred years before the Nether tore,”the Moira said quietly, her gaze lost in the past.“At the time, he still curried favor with the ancient Gods of Heaven and regularly trod the celestial halls of power. I had heard some disturbing rumors about him. That he had been spotted in parts of the Hells he had no business visiting. That he was talking to the war demons and the Nephilim, an act which would have brought him before the Council of the Gods had it been confirmed. I attempted to look at his fate then, but Hypnos blinded me, just as Clotho and Lachesis now obscure my vision. It was by chance that I found out he’d been whispering poison in Coraos’s ear to try and turn him against Ivmir. Everyone knew of Coraos’s interest in Icarus. Well, except for Icarus himself.”
Cassius’s chest tightened as the enormity of Elios’s deception sank in.
Atropos spied Victor’s wretched expression. She sighed.“I do not blame you for what happened, Coraos. Love can make even Gods do foolish things. Besides, it was Elios who used Hypnos to brainwash you into becoming obsessed with Icarus and hating Ivmir after he claimed the Awakener’s heart.”
Bile roiled at the back of Cassius’s throat.
The blood had drained from Victor’s face. “What? He—theybrainwashedme?!”
Atropos nodded, frowning. “You’ve seen how he was able to control Alecto and Megaera. Hypnos’s powers were as effective as Elios’s seeds of corruption.”
Victor sagged. His hands trembled as he covered his face.
“All this time. All this time, I thought I deliberately hurt Icarus and tried to kill Ivmir out of my own despicable greed!” the demon choked out.
Theo closed the distance to Victor and took him in his arms. Victor hugged his lover tightly and burrowed his face in the crook of his neck, eyes gleaming with unshed tears.
Cassius’s heart ached at the torment radiating from his oldest friend. Morgan’s fingers clenched tightly around his hand.
“By the time I spoke to my sisters about my misgivings, Elios had already laid a trap for us,”Atropos continued in a lifeless voice.“He suppressed our divine cores with his corruption, captured us, and imprisoned us in the Seventh Purgatory.”
Movement startled Cassius.
Loki jumped down from the couch and shifted into his imp form. “That’s where you were?! The Seventh Purgatory?! But I looked for you there and did not find you!”
