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"Hi," I whispered "You’re such a handsome little man"

He stared up into the space I occupied, and I could hardly breathe He was perfection

"Milo" The name left my mouth before I could think about it, but once it was out, it see as much a part of him as his dark hair or how ed cry broke the spell between us, and Milo’s sobs returned, even louder than before I tried to touch hiain, to offer whatever small measure of comfort I could if he really could sense I was there, but rew shriller

"Calliope!"

I froze Henry

Torn between leaving Milo or finding Henry, I lingered near the cradle As much as it killed me to leave the baby, I had to knohere Henry was If he was outside the nursery--if he knew about Milo and was going to save him--

Please, please, please let him know

I dashed through the open door and into a part of the palace I’d never seen before The walls were a rich gold, not stone like the ones insideevery ten feet on the outside wall The hallway stretched nearly the entire length of the palace, and Calliope stood in the middle, only a few feet away from Henry

He’d saved me from the clutches of death on the banks of the river in Eden He’d fought for all our lives as Calliope choked me with chains in Tartarus He was Lord of the Underworld, King of the Dead, and one of the ods in history

But never had I seen him look so terrible in his power It rolled off of hi the very foundation of the palace, and even though I wasn’t really there, for the first tienuinely afraid of hih, and disdain ripped through me as I approached Calliope Henry would end her Whatever this weapon was she claie that surrounded hiod, and Calliope was exactly likeh me Milo Henry had no idea he was here, that Calliope stood between hiht not even know he existed And if he brought down the entire castle--

All it would take was a single thought, and our son would die

I dashed into the nursery, but before I could spot Milo’s face over the edge of the cradle, the sunset walls disappeared

It took s Cronus held ered on o corridor, but it was empty

Was it over? Had we missed it?