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 really have no clue if Kali would do that, or even if She could. Nemesis is a deity, too. Surely She wouldn’t stand for anyone interfering like that, not even another deity.”
“I would have thought the same, but no messages are coming through.” Demetria sighed. “Perhaps you could reach out to Kali and request that She unblock the mental pathway.”
“I can try.” But Wynter wouldn’t actually make such an attempt. If Kali was doing as Demetria believed, She had a good reason for it.
“Thank you.” Demetria smiled again. “I really do hope that you and I can be friends, Wynter. Not many people understand the difficulties and pressures that come with being Favored. They can imagine how it must be, but they can’t know. I believe it would be nice for us both to have someone around who knows.”
Maybe so, Wynter pondered as the oracle left, but that was the thing—their circumstances were entirely different. They couldn’t truly “know” how the other felt in regards to being Favored. And since there was much that Wynter couldn’t share, there was no way she could even make Demetria understand.
Wynter quickly locked up the shed and then headed into the cottage via the back door. Hattie was chopping vegetables while Delilah and Xavier sat at the table sorting through the items they’d been given in trade—not everyone paid for their stuff with cash. Anabel was nowhere to be seen but, given her reluctance to venture outside, was probably somewhere in the cottage.
Wynter added her own wad of cash to the pile. “Looks like we had yet another profitable day.”
Xavier grinned. “We did indeed.”
She took a seat at the table and smoothed her hand over the surface of the barn wood. “I had myself a visit from a woman called Demetria.”
“The oracle?” asked Hattie. “I’ve seen her around.”
Xavier nodded. “She’s Favored by Nemesis, right?”
“Hm,” said Delilah, all attitude. “She also refused to employ me when I went looking for a job at her herbalist store when we first moved to Devil’s Cradle. Not that I wish she hadn’t refused. I much prefer being part of running our one-stop shop. But she and her coven are snotty little bitches.”
“What did Demetria want?” Xavier asked Wynter. “You said she visited you, which doesn’t sound like she was a customer.”
“She said she wanted us to be friends, but the overture didn’t feel all that sincere,” replied Wynter. “I think she was just hoping I’d help her if she was nice.”
Xavier’s brows lowered. “Help her with what?”
“Since I’ve been here, she’s had no visions of the future via Nemesis. She thinks Kali’s to blame.”
Hattie turned away from the counter, a chopping knife in hand. “Could Kali really stop someone from receiving visions from another deity?”
Wynter shrugged. “I haven’t a clue. But if She is doing it, She’s not doing it for shits and giggles. She has a reason. So I’m not gonna ask Her to stop. Deities do whatever the hell they want anyway.”
Footfalls came stomping down the stairs and then Anabel charged into the room.
Wynter recoiled at the sight of her red, blistered flesh. “What in the world happened to you?”
Anabel shifted from foot to foot. “Uh . . .”
“You were using yourself as a test subject while whipping up new potions again, weren’t you?” Wynter swore. “Jesus, woman, will you never learn?”
The blonde cringed. “Tell me we have a bottle of after-sun lotion somewhere. I am in so much pain right now.”
“There’s an aloe vera plant in the backyard,” Hattie told her. “The leaves on it will do the trick. Probably.”
“Why probably?” asked Anabel.
“That’s not natural sunburn, so it might not be soothed in a natural way,” the old woman explained.
Whimpering, Anabel stiffly walked out into the yard.
Xavier sighed, his face creasing. “I remember I fell asleep in the sun once after putting on tanning oil. Rookie mistake. I ended up in hospital because I got sunstroke.”
“Aw, really?” asked Delilah.
“No, not really.”
Her face hardening, Delilah threw up her hands. “Then why say it? Why make shit up all the time?”
He pursed his lips. “Maybe eating at your sanity makes me feel whole.”
Wynter exchanged an eyeroll with Hattie as the other two began squabbling like siblings.
Soon, Anabel came staggering back into the kitchen. “I don’t think the leaf’s working.” She sniffed. “God, now I reek.”
Just then, one of the blisters on her arm burst. Sprinkles of water erupted out of it like a mini geyser.
Everyone jerked back.
“Ew,” said Xavier, shuddering. “No, don’t come sit over here.”
But Anabel ignored him and perched herself on a chair, the height of misery.
“You won’t get any sympathy from my corner,” said Delilah. “I tell you—hell, we all tell you—over and over and over to use the test bowl. It ain’t rocket science.”
Hattie let out a low whistle, peering out of the window. “Oh, what an ass.”