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’m well-aware of that,” said Cain.
“Then release them,” Abel pushed.
“You think I’m keeping them here against their will?” Cain slowly shook his head. “Incorrect. They came here looking for somewhere new to live. I simply obliged them. I’m helpful that way.”
Abel snorted. “My mother might have wanted to go to Devil’s Cradle—she always did love you best, for some unfathomable reason. But my children? No. She might have talked them into escorting her to you, but she would not have managed to convince them to stay. Now send them home.”
“I would. Genuinely.” Cain shrugged, adding, “But, well, they don’t want to go.”
“They would never willingly stay with you.”
“You know them so well, do you? That’s not the impression that I got. They don’t much like you, as it happens.”
Watching as Abel’s body turned impossibly stiffer and his nostrils flared, Cain strongly believed that this was no act. If Eve and her grandchildren were here at Adam’s say-so, Abel was oblivious to it—Cain would put money on it.
Adam shifted on his seat. “Even if Rima and Noah do wish to remain at Devil’s Cradle—which I will never for one moment believe—they do not belong there. Nor does Eve. You will send all three of them back to Aeon immediately.” The expectancy of obedience in his tone was as familiar as it was amusing.
“I’m not feeling inclined to do that.” Cain tipped his head to the side. “Unlike you, I’m not much into banishing people from their homes. It doesn’t seem right.”
“Are they alive?” Abel demanded. “My children, are they alive?”
Cain frowned. “Why wouldn’t they be?”
“Because you hate me,” spat Abel. “Because you would love nothing more than to end my life. You would happily kill them in lieu of me.” And it was clear that—just as Seth had predicted—Abel wouldn’t be particularly cut up to hear that Rima and Noah were dead, but he would hate that Cain was instrumental in killing them.
Cain gave him a bored look. “I don’t despise you, Abel. My monster hates you. Me? I never considered you important enough to be worth any such emotional investment.”
Abel gave a quick shake of the head. “Nonsense. You have loathed me since we were children. Trust me, the feeling has always been mutual. Now answer my question: Are they alive?”
“Yes, they’re alive.”
“And my mother?”
Cain pursed his lips. “I believe she’s having dinner with Seth at the moment.”
Abel flinched, no doubt stung by the happy picture that Cain’s reply had painted. That was the thing . . . Abel had no real respect for Eve, but he didn’t see why she shouldn’t still make him the center of her world. It was an attitude he’d inherited from his father.
“Hear me now, Cain,” said Adam, inching up his chin. “You will send her and my grandchildren home when—”
“They are home,” Cain told him. “I explained that already.”
Abel swore beneath his breath. “It’s not enough for you that you took Seth from me?”
It really was ridiculous how Abel persisted in believing that. “Seth did what you wanted,” said Cain. “He picked a side. He just didn’t pick the one you expected. I told you not to make him choose between us. You wouldn’t listen.”
Abel went to bark a retort, but he held back his words when Adam raised a hand for silence.
“We are not here to argue about the past or hash out any personal issues,” Adam upheld, shooting Abel a brief look. “We are here to discuss Eve, Rima, and Noah.”
Abel snapped his mouth shut and stiffly inclined his head. He was always so eager to please the one person who didn’t deserve his devotion. Cain had never truly understood it.
“Some of my people will soon arrive at Devil’s Cradle to take them home,” Adam told Cain. “Be smart, cause no fuss, and let them go.”
Folding his arms, Cain cocked his head. “What, exactly, is in it for me?”
Adam’s expression hardened. “You need—”
“To have some respect? To learn to obey you without question? To remember who my betters are? Yes, you have said such things on many, many occasions. The problem—well, it’s an issue for you, but not whatsoever for me—is that I’ll never feel an inclination to do what you want. You have never given me one reason to think I should respect, obey, or consider you better than me, so I wouldn’t bother with any lectures or threats. If you want me to do as you wish, I’m going to need some incentive. And that incentive will also have to appeal to the other Ancients.”
His face hard as rock, Adam flicked his gaze upwards. Long moments of silence ticked by before he finally said, “We will refrain from retaliating over Lailah’s death.”
“Hmm.” Cain licked his front teeth. “When you lie, you scratch at your jaw.”
Adam paused in the aforementioned act and dropped his hand from his face. A muscle in his cheek jumped. “I spoke no lie. There will be no retaliation if you cooperate, although I will also demand that you hand over the witch. But before I agree to this deal, I want to speak to Eve, Rima, and Noah. Here and now.”