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)
A low growl slipped out of him. “You matter to me. You matter a fuck of a lot to me. She knows that. She ignored it. And she needs to answer for it.”
“But what I said before still applies—you can’t afford to lose any Ancients when you might soon be coming up against the Aeons again. And it wouldn’t only be Ishtar you’d be without. Inanna wouldn’t exactly take her sister’s death well. She’d probably seek to avenge her. You’d kill Inanna, of course. But then you’d be two Ancients down.”
He stopped pacing, his teeth grinding. “I can’t—I won’t—let what Ishtar did slide.”
“I’m not asking you to. I’m simply asking you not to kill her.” Wynter would rather do that herself, though of course not yet.
“She knew what she was risking.”
“But my point still applies.”
Cain cursed. “It never even occurred to me that she would make such an illogical move,” he said, crossing to the bed. “She couldn’t have honestly thought that you would agree to surrender yourself to the Aeons.”
“You’re forgetting that she doesn’t know me. She thinks she does. In truth, she decided I’m a naïve girl so blinded by you, your fabulous cock, and your level of hotness that I make idiotic choices.”
“Fabulous cock?”
“It’s nothing short of fabulous. Anyway, due to her insistence on viewing me as dumb and easily manipulated, yes, she truly thought I’d agree to leave in order to spare you the consequences of a shrunken cage.”
He bent over and caught Wynter’s face in his hands. “It would spare me nothing. I would lose my mind if you were in the hands of Adam and Abel, especially when I had no way to get to you. I’d want to scorch the fucking Earth, and I’d settle for scorching the one part I can touch. Devil’s Cradle would soon be no more, and there would be no survivors. Giving yourself up wouldn’t save anyone, Wynter. It would only guarantee both our deaths. Promise me you won’t do it.”
It probably made her a little messed up that she felt pretty damn tingly at hearing what a serious overreaction he’d have to her being gone, didn’t it?
Wynter placed a hand on his chest. “I’m surprised you feel the need to extract such a vow from me, considering I’m no one’s idea of a martyr, but I’ll make you one anyway. I promise I won’t follow her advice.”
“Good.” He pressed a rough kiss to her forehead and then righted himself. “Keep that promise.”
“Do you think she genuinely believes that obliging the Aeons would stop them from retaliating over Lailah’s death?”
Cain sighed. “I think she wants to believe it. War she could handle. Losing more territory? That she’d struggle to deal with. To you, Devil’s Cradle is vast. But that’s only because you’re not trapped here. It’s amazing how small and restrictive a place can feel when you’re unable to leave it.”
Wynter supposed it would be similar to the plight of someone who was housebound. No matter how big or comfortable their home was, it would still drive them nuts that they were unable to leave it. “You know, you should consider that—taking into account how pissed both Adam and Abel currently are—the vindictive shits might alter the size of the prison no matter what happens going forward. Assuming they can even do it, of course. But if not that, they might do something else that’s just as cruel. They’ll be feeling outmaneuvered right now, and I don’t think they’ll respond well to that.” She paused as she studied his expression. “You’ve already thought of that.”
“I’m of the opinion that they’ll want to reestablish their dominance over us by making a harsh statement, regardless of what we do, yes. The other Ancients agree it’s a probability, with the exception of Ishtar—she feels it’s best to cooperate with the Aeons; that they’ll leave us alone from then on if we do.”
“And so because she wasn’t able to convince the rest of you to see things her way, she took a shot at manipulating me,” Wynter surmised.
The reminder made Cain’s back teeth lock. He had expected Ishtar to act out in some way, considering that nothing was going as she wanted right now—it was what she did in such circumstances. Like a child who felt that their wants and needs were unmet choosing to lash out. But this was so much more than a petty notice me tantrum. In urging his consort to do something that would lead to her being hurt and then later executed, Ishtar had betrayed him.
Kali had warned him that someone might, but he hadn’t anticipated that She’d meant this. He hadn’t thought Ishtar would go this far. And that was his mistake.
It was one thing for her to be bitchy toward Wynter and play petty games. It was a whole other thing for Ishtar to encourage her to commit what was essentially a suicidal act. She might not like that he’d claimed Wynter, she might not even understand it or see any value in a mortal witch, but Ishtar should have respected that he saw value in Wynter. The Ancient should have respected that, whether she liked it or not, Wynter was his choice of consort and therefore not to be fucked with.