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)
Inanna folded her arms. “Why didn’t you tell us what you are?”
“You know why,” said Wynter. “You’re all at the top of the power food chain. You don’t have natural predators. You’re not used to having people around you that could be a danger to you. Revenants can kill anything.”
Why yes, they could. In truth, they could do many, many things—cause diseases, plagues, blight, misfortune, and physical defects but to name a few. They could also curse absolutely anything or anyone.
“That’s why no one can fight the curse you placed on Aeon,” Dantalion realized. “Does anyone there know what you are?”
Wynter shook her head. “Kali told me I mustn’t tell, so I didn’t.”
Ishtar’s eyes narrowed. “She didn’t want us to know the truth either?”
“She said She’d reveal to you all that I was one of her Favored if She felt it necessary,” Wynter told her. “It would appear that She felt it necessary.”
“She talks to you?” Ishtar asked Wynter, her tone doubtful.
“Sometimes,” Wynter replied.
“And what is it that She says to you?”
Wynter’s expression shuttered. “Nothing you need to know.”
Ishtar’s face hardened. “I would have to disagree.”
“Disagree all you want. I don’t owe you explanations, and I won’t give you any.”
“You should if you wish to stay here. You cannot expect us to allow you to live among us when we do not fully understand what you are.”
Wynter snorted. “That’s rich coming from an Ancient. Everyone in Devil’s Cradle is expected to accept that there are things we can’t know about all of you.”
“You are not an Ancient, so that rule does not apply to you. You will tell us what we want to know.”
“Enough, Ishtar,” Cain cut in, his rage still on a low simmer inside him.
Ishtar sliced her gaze to him. “You cannot tell me you are happy for her to hold back from us. We are due an explanation.”
“She has explained,” he pointed out. “It is not her fault that she does not possess all the answers.”
“She knows more than what she says.”
“Perhaps. But if Kali has ordered her to keep such things to herself, no amount of pressuring her will achieve anything.” Not only would Wynter stand firm out of loyalty, but the deity would interfere as She saw fit. “Other than annoy Kali, that is.”
Azazel nodded, staring at Ishtar. “And considering you’ve pissed Her off enough by killing one of Her Favored, I’d say that bitching at Wynter wouldn’t be the best idea.”
Ishtar frowned at him. “You are not concerned about what you’ve learned here?” She searched every face. “It bothers no one here that we have a revenant among us?”
“It was a shock, of course,” said Seth. “A huge shock. It is not every day you meet a revenant, and I hadn’t thought it was possible for one to be so … different. But I don’t feel a need to be concerned, no. Her being a revenant doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t negatively impact me. And the situation we have with the Aeons remains the same. It is them I intend to focus on. You should do the same.”
“But, as she herself proclaimed, a revenant can kill anything,” Ishtar reminded him. “Even us.”
“Yes,” he allowed, “but just because she can hurt us doesn’t mean she intends to. Wynter is not our enemy.”
“You don’t know that. The Aeons could have sent her here.”
“If she meant to kill us, she would have attempted it already.”
“Agreed,” Lilith interjected. “Wynter has had plenty of opportunities to end Cain’s life, I’m sure, given they sleep in the same bed. Yet, he remains unharmed. She has made no overt moves on the rest of us either.”
Ishtar’s lips flattened. “You cannot tell me it is fine with you that she insists on being so mysterious.”
“I see no need to hold her accountable for not being able to answer our questions,” said Lilith. “Whether it’s because she has no answers or because Kali forbids her from sharing certain things, the fact of the matter remains the same—it is out of Wynter’s hands.”
Ishtar’s gaze danced from face to face, narrowing as it settled on Azazel. “You are uneasy with this.”
Azazel sighed. “I am. I don’t like that Kali seems to be working off-script and keeping the whys of that to Herself. But … do I care that Wynter’s a revenant? No. Do I believe she’s here on behalf of the Aeons? No. Do I see the point in getting het up about any of this? No.”
Letting out a little growl, Ishtar whirled to face her sister. “Tell me at least you have concerns.”
Inanna rubbed at her wrist. “I admit, I am not comfortable with how little we understand of Wynter. But it is senseless to hold what she is against her. And if we did that, it would make us too much like the Aeons themselves, who do not like or accept what they struggle to understand.”