Page 4 of Harbinger
Morgan sniggered as Phebei smeared a cream doughnut all over Loki’s face in an attempt to fill his belly. Everyone looked at him.
“What?” he said defensively at their faintly accusing stares.
Cassius sighed. “You’re such a child.”
“Well, I’m yours for better or worse, so get used to it,” Morgan muttered.
The demigod’s eyes flashed with a hint of heat that warmed Cassius’s cheeks and reminded him of all the wicked things Morgan had done to him last night, in the very next room.
Cassius hardened his resolve. “Don’t think you can just charm your way out of the doghouse you’re in.”
Morgan’s mouth tilted in a smile that went straight to Cassius’s heart and stirred his groin. “Sure.”
Loki’s eyes shrank to slits at the simmering sexual tension between them, his tail moving with irritated flicks. Lilaia noted his dissatisfaction with a sigh.
“Wow. I bet that kid crushes the balls of any boy who messes with her when she starts kindergarten,” Suzie remarked in a tone full of admiration.
Everyone followed her gaze. Zach grimaced. Lilaia and Bostrof blanched.
Phebei had squeezed a handful of hard candy to smithereens and was trying to stuff the pieces in Loki’s mouth.
“I think you might be right about that ten-pound dumbbell,” Strickland told a worried Bostrof.
Cassius grinned.
The next few hours passed in a blur of easy conversation and laughter. Cassius’s heart lightened when he went in the kitchen to get more drinks and turned to see the people he cared for gathered happily in one place.
This has been a long time coming.
He was glad he’d decided to hold a party for Lilaia and Phebei, however belatedly. It was a much-needed distraction from what was dominating the news headlines these days and the unease building inside all of them.
The events that had resulted in Inner London temporarily relocating to the Seventh Hell before it was forcibly transported back to the earthly realm by Cassius and the reborn South Star, Theophile Serrano, were still sending ripples across the world. Ripples that were making themselves felt in ways none of them could have anticipated.
Though most of the official gateways between Earth and the other realms remained broken, now that the governments of the world had become aware of Theo’s ability to open stable interdimensional portals, there was talk of whether the Fallen and the rest of the otherworldly who had come to this realm should take their fight with Elios elsewhere.
It was a conversation that was happening at every level of society, from grannies at bridge parties to the highest councils that oversaw the human world. And it was one that was threatening to compromise the peace established after the Hundred Year War by Victor Sloan, among many others.
Because, truth was, the Fallen had found a home on Earth they wished to protect, while the humans who had formed attachments to them did not want to see them leave. After all, those alive today could not recall a world without the supernatural beings who walked among them.
Cassius frowned slightly as he opened a bottle of juice. He wondered if Elios had foreseen this. According to Victor, the God of Darkness had admitted to controlling the Fates during their clash in London.
Well, all except Atropos.
The eldest Moira had been spotted by one of Bostrof’s spies in the Nine Hells a while back. It was she who had given them the clue they needed to locate Boreas, the Winter God Elios had captured and imprisoned in the Underworld.
Cassius had glimpsed the growing disquiet in Adrianne, Bailey, and Charlie’s eyes since their return from London as the debate about whether to force the Fallen and all otherworldly to leave Earth raged in the news and on social media. The same unrest now thickened the corridors of Argonaut and darkened Suzie’s gaze when they visitedOcculta.
Morgan and their team were aware of the vision Regina Bvarvik, the Dryad kingdom’s royal seer, had had concerning the final battle with Elios. It would take place on Earth and determine the fate of all realms.
They had shared Regina’s warning with the heads of Argonaut, Hexa, Cabalista, and the Order of Rosen, who, in turn, had related it to the leaders of the human world. It seemed the latter had ultimately decided they could avoid the Dryad seer’s prophecy altogether by forcing the principal players of that battle out of their realm.
But leaving Earth was not an option for the Fallen, nor was it one for Cassius, Morgan, and their allies. What Regina had foreseen would become reality. They just had to find a way to convince the human leaders of this.
“You okay?”
Cassius startled. Morgan had come up behind him and slipped his arms around his waist. He hesitated before relaxing against his lover’s chest, Morgan’s heat easing his mind.
“Yeah. Just thinking.”
