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)
She blinked. “Are you … are you thinking about sex right now?”
He felt his mouth curve. “Do I find it strangely arousing that you could kill me if you so wished? Yes, I do.” As did his monster. And they both needed to remind themselves that she was here, alive. “So I’d say it’s time that I fucked you.”
She gaped at him. “You can’t honestly be serious.”
“Oh, I’m very serious.”
“But … you’re supposed to be weirded out. Freaked. Put-off by the fact that I’m not even really alive—at least not in a natural way.”
Cain almost snorted. She might be a revenant, but he was a far worse creature. In any case … “Nothing about you could put me off.”
Her mouth bopped open and closed. She put her hands to her head. “I have no clue what to say to you right now.”
He cupped her jaw. “Did you want me to be ‘freaked,’ as you put it?”
“Of course not.”
“Then all is good.” He took her mouth, swallowing anything else she might have said. “Get naked. Now.”
Giving him a look that called him crazy, she nonetheless began to strip. “You need help. Like professional help.”
“I warned you that you’d one day want to run from me. You told me it wouldn’t happen. If you truly believe that there’s nothing I could tell you about myself that would make you no longer want me, why can’t the same apply to me when it comes to you?”
She stilled, her expression pensive.
“You don’t have the same faith in me that you have in yourself?”
“It’s not that, it’s … ugh, you know what? Fine. If you say you’re not freaked, I believe you. But I still say you need professional help.”
“Noted. Now you’re still not naked. Let’s fix that.”
Silence fell in the cottage the next morning after Wynter dropped the “Unfortunately, the Ancients now know what I am” bomb on her crew. Sprawled around the living area, they shifted uncomfortably and exchanged glances.
“It goes without saying that this isn’t good,” said Anabel.
“I had no choice but to come clean. There was no way I could pretend I hadn’t just died, or any way for me to hide Kali’s mark.” Cradling her cup with both hands, Wynter sipped at her tea. “I told myself when we first came here that I’d be able to keep the truth from the Ancients, but I knew deep down that they would likely find out sooner or later.”
“I suspected they would too, but I was all for ‘later.’” Anabel nervously rubbed at her shoulder. “At least we now know that an Ancient can’t permanently kill you—I know you worried they could.”
“I don’t know for certain that they can’t. Ishtar’s strike wasn’t meant to be fatal. It was more like a swat. An Ancient would have no more than winced. I freaking died. If one—or all of them combined—really put their back into it, they might well manage to wipe me out for good.”
Hattie flicked her hand. “They’d be fools to harm one of Kali’s Favored.”
“That Ishtar woman is a complete fool,” said Delilah. “I can totally see her doing something so stupid.”
“Yeah, she’s one spiteful little bitch,” said Xavier, idly shuffling his tarot cards. He glanced at Wynter. “I’ll bet she felt all smug when her power killed you. It meant you were not only dead but that she could cry ‘accident.’”
“I think she was more furious that I came back from death than she was that I’m a not a mere witch. Although it will undoubtedly gall her that she can’t brand me weak any longer.” Wynter took another sip of her tea. “She pounced on my being a revenant, trying to use it to turn the others against me.”
“Did it work?” asked Anabel.
“Not with Cain,” replied Wynter. “It didn’t seem to work with the rest either. They don’t like that they have so many unanswered questions, but they don’t seem to view me as a potential enemy. Still, I doubt they’ll like being around me much.”
Anabel nodded. “They don’t have an ‘edge’ around you the way they do others; they can’t say and do whatever they like to you with no fear of repercussions because you can actually kill them. They won’t be used to that. It’ll annoy them, if nothing else.”
“They’re mostly focused on the upcoming battle with the Aeons. My worry is that when the war has passed and they can give my being a revenant more mental space, they might suddenly share Ishtar’s apparent concerns.”
“They might,” mused Xavier. “But if it looks like they’re going to turn on you, we’ll go before they have a chance to act on it. At the moment, I don’t think there’s a risk that they’ll attempt to kill you. They need you to lure the Aeons here.”
“Not necessarily,” said Anabel. “Wynter has already succeeded in luring them here—it won’t be long before they make their move. The Ancients don’t need her alive at this point. It’s not like they’d have to prove to the Aeons that she’s safe and well.”