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)
“Hear, hear,” said Dantalion before moving his gaze to Ishtar. “And if your ego wasn’t still smarting due to Wynter sharing Cain’s bed, you would not stoop to their level. No, don’t try claiming that this isn’t about your ego. Most everything you do or say is about your ego. Let this moment here and now be an exception. If you would only look at the situation from my point of view, you would see we have reason to be pleased that there is a revenant among us.”
“Pleased?” Ishtar echoed, her eyes bulging.
“It would seem that Kali has given us a weapon,” said Dantalion. “We deserve our revenge, do we not? Nothing delivers vengeance quite like a revenant.”
“Wynter isn’t a weapon,” Cain said to him, his voice hard.
His mouth curving, Dantalion raised his hands in a gesture of peace that had no real sincerity in it.
As it occurred to Cain that Wynter had been remarkably quiet for the past few minutes, he looked at her. Her arms folded, she was idly rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, the image of bored … even as that hunter stare tracked every person in the room.
Needing to be alone with her right now, Cain flicked his arm. “Everyone out. Except you,” he said to Wynter. “You stay.”
Ishtar gaped. “You cannot be serious. You still want her close after all you have just learned?”
His nostrils flaring, Cain stalked toward the bitch, liking the unease that flashed in her eyes. “You should be much nicer to Wynter. It is only the fact that she lives that means you live. If her death had been intentional, I would have destroyed you on the spot. Not even Inanna could have saved you.”
Inanna gently pulled on her sister’s arm. “Let us go. Now, before you do or say anything else that could well get you killed.”
One by one, the Ancients filed out of the office.
Pinning Maxim with a look, Cain said, “You will say nothing of what you saw and heard here.”
The aide nodded. “Understood, Sire.” He gave Wynter a quick dip of the chin and then closed the door, giving her and Cain privacy.
She puffed out a breath. “That could have gone better.” She let her arms fall to her sides. “Look, I’ll understand if you’re a little freaked out by all this. I admit, it’s a lot to take in and—”
Cain delved his hands into her hair and pressed his forehead to hers. “I thought you were gone. It all happened so fast. You were fine, and then you weren’t. Just like that. It took me a few seconds to process it. That delay in my response is the only reason Ishtar lives. She had struck out at Azazel and hit you accidentally. But that didn’t matter to me right then. I couldn’t think beyond the fact that you were dead.” A revenant. His woman was a revenant. Who kept coming back to life. “Not much about you makes any sense.”
“Tell me about it,” she muttered.
“You truly don’t know what Kali wants you to do for Her?”
“Truly. She didn’t even tell me that much until I turned eighteen. Before then, I thought maybe I had a certain amount of lives. Like a cat. Because I came back to life after accidentally drowning when I was fourteen.”
“You haven’t pushed Kali for answers?”
“I asked Her for clarification once or twice, but She blew me off each time. I haven’t bugged Her to tell me because it would only irritate Her. I’d rather not inspire Kali to get Herself a new sort-of-revenant who won’t ask questions.”
Cain studied her face closely. “There are some things you’re not telling me, aren’t there?”
“At Her insistence, yes. I have no choice in that.”
Fucking deities. “Does your coven know what you are? And no, don’t call them a crew.”
Wynter rolled her eyes. “They know. They saw my monster in action when I was taken by the same bounty hunters that caught them.”
“You freed them, and they chose to stay with you,” he guessed.
“Yes. A seemingly bad idea, really. But none of them have a strong sense of self-preservation, which I’m sure has not escaped your notice.”
No, it hadn’t. “I caught a glimpse of your monster when you woke just now. I wonder what Kali put inside you. Nothing harmless, I’d imagine. Did it kill the keeper who was told to execute you?”
“Yup. I don’t know exactly what it did to him, though. It’s like I black out whenever the monster takes over. I can only try to piece together what happened.”
“Guessing games are no fun.” Cain knew that well—he’d been playing them since he first met her. “You’ve kept many, many things from me, little witch.” He pressed a kiss to her throat. And another. And another. He scraped his teeth over her pulse, wanting to feel it beat against his mouth. “Hypocrite though it makes me, I find myself wanting to spank you for it.” He palmed her ass and gave it a squeeze.