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)
She shot him a look that called him ridiculous. “You would never harm me, Cain.”
He blinked. “I can’t imagine why you would think that.” In fact, in that moment, nothing would bring him more pleasure than to snap her slender neck.
“I do not think it. I know it. And I have no idea why you are so angry about what I did. I realize that you like this particular toy very much, but she’s still a toy at the end of the day. Replaceable. Breakable. Sure to lose its novelty.”
Was she serious? “Toys aren’t claimed as consorts.”
“She is a mere temporary addition in your life. It will not last. It cannot. You and I, though? We will always be part of each other’s lives. We have been through much together. Things are strained between us now, but that does not change the reality that you care for me in your way.”
Pure astonishment zipped through Cain, battling with his anger for supremacy.
Seth looked at him, gaping. “She genuinely believes that.”
Azazel flicked a look at the ceiling. “Just when you think someone couldn’t get more delusional . . .”
Cain idly tapped his fingers on the table. “The trouble with reality, Ishtar, is that it is subjective. Not fixed. Not factual. Not unbiased. Your reality may be that I care for you. But my reality? The only woman I’ve ever given even a sliver of a shit about is Wynter. I would not only kill to keep her, I would kill anyone—and I mean anyone—who took her from me. Do not doubt that that includes you.”
Her cheeks flamed. “You are lying to yourself. If you were honestly angry about what I’d said to the witch, you would have forced your way into my Keep last night and taken me to task. You didn’t.”
He let a taunting smile curve his mouth and asked, “What, choose an evening of yelling at you over fucking my consort until she can’t walk? I think not.”
Ishtar’s gaze went as diamond hard as her face. “Bastard,” she spat.
“You’ve always had a habit of provoking me into confronting you—it was the only way you could get me to come to you. Lately, you’ve taken to pushing my buttons using Wynter, loving that you might drag me away from her; that you might be on my mind while I’m with her . . . as if it could even be possible that she wouldn’t take up my entire focus. But you went too far this time, Ishtar.”
She sighed, as if he were being dramatic. “It’s not as if she did as I suggested, is it?”
And so he should let it go? That was what she believed? Unreal. “Doesn’t matter. You essentially fucked me over. I was raging when I first heard. But once I’d calmed down, I could see why Wynter found the whole thing so petty and amusing. We had a good laugh about it. About you. About how pathetically obsessed you’ve become with separating me and my consort just to assuage your own ego.”
Her eyes fairly twinkled with fury. “You think too much of yourself, Cain.”
“Pot, kettle, black,” muttered Azazel.
Indeed, but Ishtar’s sense of self-awareness wasn’t finely tuned. “I don’t think you realize how utterly transparent you are,” Cain told her. “I also don’t care. What I do care about is that I evidently can’t trust you not to betray me.”
Her brows snapped together. “I did not betray you!”
“What else would you call going behind my back to sneakily coerce my consort into putting herself in danger?”
“I was thinking of the Ancients as a whole.”
Bullshit. “You were thinking of yourself, as usual. And if you’ll so carelessly betray me, I don’t trust that you won’t betray anyone else in this room. You’re either with us or you’re against us, Ishtar. There’s no in-between.”
“Don’t blow this out of proportion,” clipped Ishtar. “I did what needed to be done. None of you might care to admit it, but you all understand my reasons.”
Inanna shook her head sadly. “Oh, Ishtar. A person cannot help what they feel, so I cannot blame you for feeling that we should fold under the demands of the Aeons. I understand your fears. But a person is fully responsible for how they act on what they feel. Cain’s right, you betrayed him.”
Ishtar gaped. “You would side with him over me?”
“There shouldn’t be a need for sides,” Seth cut in, his jaw tight.
Lilith nodded. “Especially now, when it’s imperative that we band together.”
Inanna let out a weary sigh. “You let us all down, Ishtar. You let yourself down.”
Her chest rising and falling fast, Ishtar thrust her hands into her hair. “I cannot take the thought of this cage getting smaller. I already feel like I cannot breathe sometimes.”
“That’s not an excuse,” said Azazel. “It doesn’t justify what you did.”