Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
“I did,” Cain confirmed, satisfaction dripping from his voice.
“Why? You must have an angle, but I am not seeing it.”
“There isn’t one.”
She scoffed, flapping a hand. “Life itself is a game to you and, as I once warned the witch, we are all just pieces on your chessboard. She stupidly paid no heed to my warning.” Ishtar propped her hands on her hips. “Do you think that your seal will protect her from the Aeons? Is that it? If so, this was senseless. You have only made her more of a target.”
“There is no possible way to make her more of a target. Regardless of what you believe, I had no ulterior motive. I imprinted my seal on Wynter because I wanted to lay a rightful claim to what’s mine. Simple as.”
“Yours?” Ishtar scoffed. “You don’t even know her.”
“Time will fix that.”
“She doesn’t know you.”
“Wynter understands me better than anyone.”
Ishtar’s eyes blazed. “She understands who she thinks you are. But the real Cain? She has not met him, has she? She has no clue what you are, what you can do, or how badly you could hurt her. The monster she carries is nothing compared to yours. She has no idea that your creature even exists.”
“Not yet, but she will.”
Ishtar’s mouth fell open. “You cannot seriously plan to tell her about it.”
“I have no choice. It wants to keep her. Permanently.”
“You cannot think that will ever happen. She would reject your monster in an instant.”
His creature snarled at that. “Lilith’s old consort didn’t reject her monster.”
“That was different. You are different. You have more—and much darker—secrets than the rest of us.”
“Wynter could handle them.”
Ishtar’s hands slipped from her hips. “What you are saying . . . is that you not only plan to tell her about your creature, you plan to tell her everything?”
“At some point, yes.”
She shook her head, utterly baffled. “Why would you do that? Why trust a mortal with such secrets? Her life will be over in the blink of an eye. For heaven’s sake, Cain, you are not being rational.”
“You coming here and having a tantrum because I claimed a consort isn’t rational.”
Her chin edged up. “I am not having a tantrum, I am—”
“Wasting both our time,” Cain finished. “If you hadn’t been so dismissive of my possessiveness toward her, you’d have seen this coming. The other Ancients all did—every one of them contacted me today on hearing about the seal, and none expressed even a lick of surprise. But you wanted to believe that I wasn’t truly serious about Wynter, so you did.”
“I don’t see the sense in you being serious about a mortal.”
“I don’t need you to see it. How you feel about any of this doesn’t interest me. It has nothing to do with you.”
A smirk touched one corner of her mouth. “Oh, but it does. Because in revealing your secrets, you would also be revealing mine. You would be revealing the secrets of all the Ancients. You will need our permission first, and I will never agree to you telling Wynter.”
“True. But unless you have a valid reason not to agree, your vote will be rendered invalid and you will be overruled. You already know that.”
Again, Cain heard muffled voices in the hallway. One belonged to Maxim, the other belonged to Wynter. It was rare that anyone escorted her to him these days, since his aides knew she had free rein of the Keep. Cain suspected that Maxim had chosen to accompany her to the solar room out of worry that Ishtar might try to attack her. The gargoyle had grown to be quite protective of Wynter.
Cain looked at Ishtar. “Unless you’d like her to learn some of those truths now, you might want to pull yourself together and keep your voice down.”
She snapped her mouth shut. “You are one condescending bastard.”
“Only when the situation calls for it.”
Mere moments later, a knock came at the door at the very same time that it swung open. Wynter breezed inside, not looking the least bit surprised to see Ishtar—Maxim had likely warned her that the Ancient was here.
Wynter looked from Cain to Ishtar. “I can come back,” she offered.
“No need.” Cain rose from his chair and held out his hand, urging her to come to him. “Ishtar is leaving.”
Wynter crossed straight to him, unfazed by the look of sheer resentment aimed her way by the female Ancient. It wasn’t an act. His witch genuinely didn’t fear her, and he knew that was another thing that angered Ishtar.
He pulled Wynter close and kissed her. “Hmm, you taste like chocolate.”
She smiled. “Hattie made some wickedly decadent dessert.”
“You are foolish,” Ishtar barked at her. “You have no idea what you have done by letting him imprint his seal on you.”
Cain tensed. “Ishtar.” The word was a silken warning.