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)
His gaze quickly sought out Wynter, scanning the line of—there. She was facing off against Esther … who promptly disappeared into the ground like it was water. The fuck?
The rest of the Moonstar coven was quickly dispatched, at which point Wynter rolled her shoulders and blew out a breath. Either she felt the weight of his gaze or merely wanted to check on him, because she twisted to look up at the manor roof. Cain took an easy breath as he saw that she was fine. Oh, she was covered in blood spatter, minor wounds, and bruises, but she was otherwise okay.
His creature was too wound up to be settled by that. It wanted her close. Now.
Anabel started poking at Xavier’s forehead with what appeared to be a severed finger. Wynter whispered something into the ear of the blonde, who then tensed. And dropped the finger with a squeal.
“So,” began Inanna, “how long do we think it will be before more Aeons come?”
“Hopefully not long,” said Dantalion. “I’m not sure who will lead them. Maybe Saul. Maybe Abel. Maybe Adam. Maybe all of them. I believe we can be certain of one thing—whoever comes will bring a bigger army, and they’ll be better prepared for us.”
“They’ll still all die,” said Cain.
The other Ancients nodded. Because no other scenario was acceptable unless they wanted to remain caged forever.
“Do you have any intention of freeing Esther from the netherworld at any point?”
Humming as Cain drifted his fingers through her hair, Wynter replied, “At present, no. I’d like her to suffer some, and I feel no need to go traipsing through the place in search of her. But I might later change my mind, you never know.” They’d been talking for a while as they lay in bed, exchanging stories of their personal battles during the war. “Are you sure you don’t want me to free Annette and Bowen?”
“There’s no real point. Both will be killed for committing what was effectively treason, so neither avenue involves mercy.” He stroked over her arm, where she’d earlier been wounded. Anabel’s healing brews had worked wonders, as usual, so there wasn’t a single scratch on Wynter now.
“Was it difficult to hold back your monster during the battle?” he asked.
“No, because it won’t disobey Kali—She has a great deal of influence over it. Thankfully. But it certainly wasn’t pleased that it couldn’t ‘play.’ I couldn’t have let it out, though. It would have killed anything in its path, including my own coven.”
“So you’re finally admitting it’s a coven.”
Wynter narrowed her eyes at his teasing smile. “Anyway … how long do you think it will take to repair all the damage to the town?”
“We have a lot of people here to work on it, so hopefully not long.”
“But there’ll later be more damage, won’t there? When other Aeons come, I mean. You do think they will, right?”
“Some will come, yes. Saul will certainly be one of them as he’ll wish to avenge his sister. Considering she was Abel’s consort, he should technically want to do the same. I’m not sure if they had a tight relationship, though. People claim consorts for all sorts of reasons. It doesn’t always mean that they value that person.”
“Lailah and Abel never seemed close to me. And I heard that their relationship was an on-and-off thing that involved a lot of conflict and drama. They weren’t faithful to each other either, or maybe they simply weren’t exclusive—I don’t really know. But if he kept reinstating her as his consort, she had to have meant something to him, right? Then again, if that was the case, he would have either been at her side tonight or he would have sent someone else to lead the army in her place. I wouldn’t have wanted you to partake in a battle without me, even if I thought said battle would be easy to win.”
Cain’s face softened slightly. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He squeezed the side of her neck. “Same goes. So, I’d say we can conclude that Abel didn’t feel as strongly for Lailah as another person would for their consort. He might still wish to get even with us. However, he wouldn’t wish to be part of a battle that would mean fighting against Seth—they were once very close. But I suppose it is worth considering that Seth fought against Abel’s consort tonight, so perhaps that will be enough for Abel to turn on him. We shall have to wait and see.”
“Would it bother you to go to war with Abel?”
“No. He was never really a brother to me.”
Wynter worried her lower lip. “Did you really once try to kill him?”
“Yes. But that’s a story for another time.”
So mysterious. “I’ll want to hear it,” she cautioned.
“You will eventually.”
“If you didn’t kill him all those years ago, why are you known as the originator of murder?”