decide what to tell you.”
“Decide what to tell me?” Thanatos frowned, and then sucked in a harsh breath as realization dawned. “You weren’t
going
to tell me, were you?” He felt the ground shift beneath him as the magnitude of Ares’s and Limos’s betrayal rocked him. “
You weren’t going to tell me I was a father.
”
“Yes we were, but the rest of the plan isn’t about you.”Ares held up his hands in a soothing gesture that was so
not
soothing. “If Pestilence finds out about Regan’s pregnancy, the child’s life will be in danger.”
Son of a—Okay, yeah, there was that. He’d been out of his mind for a while there, but Ares was right. “Pestilence would love to hurt me through a child.”
“More than that,” Ares said. “We think the baby is your
agimortus
.”
Of course. Than had spent the last months wondering why his Seal hadn’t broken and trying to figure out what
would
break it. And now the warmth he felt when he was near Regan made sense. He was feeling his
agimortus
.
“How did you get free?” Ares asked. “You weren’t due for another dose of hellhound venom for a couple of hours.”
Thanatos glared at Hal, and he swore the mutt smiled. “I felt a pull that seemed to neutralize the effect of the venom. Turns out it was the baby.” Than nearly stumbled over the baby word. So… foreign. “I didn’t know what it was until I got to Aegis headquarters and found Regan. There were demons loose, and she and the baby were in danger.”
“So you sensed the child?”
“Apparently.” The sense had dulled now that the immediate danger had passed, but inside, he definitely vibrated with an awareness that had been with him for months but that he hadn’t been able to identify. “You’ve always been able to sense your
agimortus
. Must be why I can feel the baby.” He gnashed his teeth, frustrated by pretty much everything that had happened today. “By the way, I saw Hades. He said Reseph has his sights set on destroying Azagoth and Sheoul-gra.”
“Not much we can do about that. We’ve got enough onour plates in the human realm. Underworlders are on their own. Now, where is Regan?” Ares repeated.
“She’s safe. That’s all you need to know.”
“Shit,” Ares muttered. “You need to return her to The Aegis. That’s the only way she’ll be safe.”
“You think I can’t protect her?”
“Your temper—”
“My temper is under control,” he roared, and yep, that display surely convinced Ares.
Ares smoothed his hand over the hound’s head, calming the beast. What a huge change, given that only a year ago Ares had been gunning to destroy every hellhound in existence.
“You don’t remember, do you?” he asked quietly.
Uh-oh.
“Remember what?”
“The reason we incapacitated you in the first place.”
Than’s stomach turned over. He didn’t want to know. He really didn’t. The scorpion started stinging his neck, letting him know that what he’d done was poison to his very soul. “What … shit, what did I do?”
“You nuked the island, almost killed Arik, and very nearly damaged Reaver and Limos permanently.”
Thanatos’s mind spun with confusion. “What island?” The look on Ares’s face said it all, and Than stumbled back a step. “No. Not
this
island. Oh, Jesus. How … how bad?” Than asked, but deep down, he knew. Vampires were immune to his death blasts, but few others were.
“Angels intercepted the shockwave, but they couldn’t save many. You left few alive.”
It all came back in a rush, a broken dam releasing so many memories. The thousands of the souls in his armor went crazy, evidence of what he’d done.
If a million angels descended on him right now and cast a million lightning bolts at him, the punishment wouldn’t be enough. If it went on for centuries it would n’t be enough.
“I was so angry at Regan … at her betrayal. The Aegis fucked us over, and then Reseph…” Thanatos had been riding Styx hard, chasing