Page 45 of Harbinger
Eden’s gaze darted curiously around the room. It was her first time visitingOhomgath.
“I gotta say, I like this decor better than the old one,” Charlie muttered.
Bostrof followed their stares and grimaced slightly. His once sumptuous office was no more. The opulent furniture occupying what had once been a lavish space designed to intimidate his rivals and business partners had been replaced by soft couches with vivid cushions and washable floor mats. The dark walls were now a pale blue and the mini bar had transformed into a play area dominated by a giant dollhouse castle that looked suspiciously like Kalliste’s palace in Rain Vale.
Seated in tiny wooden chairs in front of it were Crusher, Bostrof’s champion, Akamon, the Lucifugous demon Cassius had saved in the sewers under the city, and Bostrof’s bodyguards Vorzof and Goran. They were currently in the midst of a tea party with Phebei, the delicate, porcelain cups they held swallowed by their thick fingers.
“Aboo,” Phebei said imperiously where she sat on the mat, her chubby legs stretched out before her.
The demons drank their invisible tea and made noises of approval, their nervous gazes darting to the visitors who’d just entered the room. Loki jumped down from Cassius’s arms and shifted into his imp form as he headed over to them.
Phebei beamed when she saw him. “Kiki!”
Loki smiled at the little girl.
Kes studied Phebei thoughtfully. “You two have a kid?”
Lilaia bobbed her head and guided them to the couches.
“It is rare for interspecies relationships to bear fruit,” Orena remarked as she sat down. “You must have tried real hard.” She looked up and stiffened a little at their stares. “What?” It took another second and Kes’s dirty smirk for the Black Fate to realize the sexual connotation in her last statement. She flushed. “I mean, you must havewishedfor a child with all of your hearts.”
“His heart was an animal in the bedroom,” Lilaia confessed, poker-faced.
Vorzof and Goran swallowed snorts. Spots of color bloomed on Bostrof’s cheeks. He scowled at the bodyguards. Eden looked like she wanted to sink into the ground.
“Are you sure those reporters won’t find us here?” Theo asked nervously.
“I doubt it,” Morgan murmured. “Ohomgath’s location is one of the best kept secrets in this city. Besides, they wouldn’t want to mess with Bostrof.”
Unease prickled Cassius’s skin. Morgan looked a shade paler than before. He was sweating slightly, as if in the grip of a fever once more.
Lilaia did not miss Cassius’s anxious expression. “Is something wrong?”
Bostrof frowned at Morgan. “You look a bit peaky.”
Cassius swallowed. It took all his will power to stop his voice from trembling when he spoke. “Morgan’s soul core is infected with Tenebra’s Rot.”
Bostrof’s eyes bulged. “What?!”
“Tenebra?” Lilaia gasped. “You mean, the eldest Black Fate?!”
Cassius briefed the Nymph and the Lucifugous demon on the events of the last twenty-four hours.
Lilaia pressed a trembling hand to her mouth. “Alecto and Megaera attacked Ivory Peaks?!”
Victor nodded.
“If it weren’t for Atropos and Tisiphone, things would have ended differently,” he said grimly.
Dread tightened Bostrof’s face. “The plague they’re talking about on the news is of Tenebra’s making? The same plague the Furies unleashed in the Dryad kingdom?”
“Yes,” Cassius replied in a low voice. “We decided to keep this a secret for now. It would only induce further panic if the world was to find out that this contagion was not of earthly origins.”
Guilt stabbed through him. He hadn’t told Lilaia and Bostrof that he’d nearly torn apart the realms again in his rage yesterday. He glanced at Phebei.
I dread to think what would have happened to everyone I cherish if Theo hadn’t stopped me.
“Elios is controlling the Goddesses still trapped in the Seventh Purgatory, like he did Boreas and Demetrius,” Victor explained bitterly. “He’s using them to do his dirty work.”
