Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 125083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
He was feeling fierce. Closing the distance between them, he said, “Stand.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she slowly set her book down on the bulky armrest and then just as slowly pushed out of her chair.
“I hear you ran into some keepers in the woods,” said Cain, unable to keep the thread of ire out of his voice. He peeled off her tee and examined both her left shoulder and her chest. Whatever wounds she’d earlier sported were gone. The skin was completely unmarred.
“My injuries weren’t too bad. Nothing Anabel’s brews couldn’t fix.”
Cain’s back teeth locked at the easy way she’d dismissed the wounds. “Yes, this time. Next time you might not be so lucky.”
She frowned. “It wasn’t luck. It was skill. And I’m not sure why you’re mad at me, but shake it off. It’s not like I want keepers on my ass. Or like I took on a whole squadron of them by myself. I had backup, and there weren’t many to take down.”
Irritation buzzed through Cain. He slid his hand up her chest to collar her throat while bunching his free hand in the hair at the back of her head. “Don’t make light of this. Don’t act as if the incident was a minor issue. An attack on you will always be far from minor to me, no matter how much backup you have.” He paused, his nostrils flaring. “That’s twice now I’ve been notified that you were targeted while I was none the wiser.”
Her frown smoothing out, she played her fingers through his hair. “The protective routine shouldn’t make me all tingly, should it?”
A ribbon of amusement unfurled inside him. “You know, most people get nervous when I’m pissed off.”
“Most people don’t have my perverse libido.”
He let out a long breath and shook his head, releasing her. “The keepers weren’t the only ‘visitors’ we had from Aeon today. Two males also came, though the parties seem to have traveled here separately. One was sent to convince you to come home—a male witch by the name of Rafe.”
Her face brightened. “Rafe is here?”
A black jealousy threatened to rear up inside Cain, and his creature coiled as every muscle tightened. “This man means something to you?”
“Not in that way,” she said with a shudder. “He’s like family. I owe how well-trained I am to him. In which case, I also owe him my life ten times over. You didn’t kill him, did you?”
“No, purely because I sensed that he didn’t want you to return to Aeon. He asked me to tell you to take care of yourself, and to pass on an apology for his failure to alter Esther’s plans.”
“What? That’s dumb, I don’t hold him responsible.”
“He seems to feel that he could have done more for you. I sent him and his conduit friend home. But not before I had a talk with Lailah via the conduit.”
Wynter’s eyes sharpened. “Interesting. What did you and Lailah talk about?”
“Several things. Mostly you. The Aeons have worked out that a curse is at the source of the environmental degradation.”
“I figured they would eventually.”
Cain studied her face carefully as he expanded, “Someone whose magick is dark like yours told them that your death wouldn’t be enough to undo it; that more than dark magick weaved it.”
Wynter didn’t betray her emotions with even a flicker of a micro-expression. It was as impressive as it was frustrating.
“You said that only your destruction would end it.”
“Uh, no, Azazel said that. Or presumed it, I should say. I simply never corrected him. And before you ride my ass about lying by omission, bear in mind that it will only make you a hypocrite—you do the omission thing, like, all the time.”
Cain snapped his mouth shut. “If Azazel had asked if your life-force was tied to the hex, would you have answered him truthfully?”
“No, because he would have asked how it was otherwise possible for a mere witch to afflict protected land with such a curse.”
“I’d already sensed that you aren’t a mere witch.” If she was surprised that he’d already reached that conclusion, she didn’t show it. “What exactly are you?”
“What exactly are you?”
“I asked first.”
“I’ll answer if you will.”
He sighed, having already expected that would be her response. Nothing could be easy with this woman. “I don’t like that I had to find out the truth about this from Lailah. I don’t like that there’s so much about you I don’t know.”
Her expression went blank. “Does this mean you’re done? That you want to end it?”
Cain frowned. “Fuck, no.” He caught her face with his hands. “It will take time for you to trust me with all you hold inside—I know that. The same applies to me. But we’ll get there eventually. Until then, well, I suspect neither of us are going to like the gaps in our knowledge of the other. I can complain about it even as I accept it.”