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)
“Yesterday morning. I didn’t report it to you straight away because I had hoped a vision would come to me if I waited. But it didn’t.” She sighed. “Being unable to see what lies ahead … it feels like I have been cut off from a part of myself. I worry that Nemesis has forsaken me.”
“I doubt it’s anything as dramatic as that. If it was, you would no longer have that mark on your face.”
“I tried reaching out to Her. She did not respond to my calls.”
Cain shrugged. “Deities tend to do as they please.” He pursed his lips. “We’ll keep an eye on the situation. It’s all we really can do.”
Swallowing, she nodded. “I will let you know if …” She trailed off at the sound of Maxim’s muted voice and the click-clacking of heels along the paving stones.
Cain barely resisted the urge to grind his teeth. He knew the rhythm of that walk. Knew exactly who was coming. And he wasn’t in the mood to deal with them.
Mere moments later, Ishtar sauntered into view, a furious Maxim close behind her.
She beamed at Cain. “Such a lovely afternoon, isn’t it?” She spared Demetria a disinterested glance.
Recognizing the female Ancient’s voice, the monster inside Cain opened one eye. At one time, it might have perked up in interest. Now, utterly indifferent to her presence, it allowed its eyelid to once more drift shut.
His cheeks red, Maxim looked at him. “I’m sorry, Sire, I explained that you had company but—”
“It is not you who needs to apologize,” Cain told him, a thread of menace in his voice.
Ishtar let out an airy chuckle. “I merely saw no reason why I couldn’t announce my own arrival. It seems silly when I’ve spent so much time here over the eras.”
No, she’d intruded because she’d wanted to know who his ‘company’ was and if said company was female. “You will apologize to Maxim.”
Ishtar stared at Cain for a long moment. “You are not serious.”
“Oh, I’m very serious. You don’t get to be dismissive toward my hirelings. You don’t get to make their jobs difficult. You will treat them with respect, or you will not come here at all. Now, apologize to Maxim.”
Twin flags of red stained her cheeks as her cornflower-blue eyes bore into Cain, hard as diamonds. There was the smallest hint of arousal in their depths. She hated when he made any demands of her, but a part of her got off on it. Which was an annoyance for him, since he didn’t wish to have such an effect on her.
“Do it now, or leave,” he said.
Ishtar gave the aide a sickly sweet mockery of a smile. “I am so very, very sorry, Maximus. Yes, yes, that isn’t actually your name, but it suits you so much better than Maxim. Or Maxie could work, if you’re open to that.”
As apologies went, that was probably the best Maxim would get, even if there wasn’t a droplet of sincerity in it.
Demetria cleared her throat. “I will take my leave, Sire.” She inclined her head at Ishtar, who didn’t deign her a glance.
“Maxim will escort you out.” Once the two had disappeared down the path, Cain cut his gaze to Ishtar, his jaw hardening. “You go too far.”
“And you used to be more fun,” she shot back. She bent slightly, making her blonde ringlets tumble forward, as she smiled at a snake that zipped through the long grass. Cain inwardly snorted. If she thought she was subtle in her attempt to flash her cleavage, she was wrong.
She returned her focus to him. “You are obviously in a frightful mood, so I will not bother staying long. I came to see if perhaps you would like to escort me to the festivities tomorrow evening.”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
She frowned. “Whyever not? It would give us a chance to catch up. We haven’t spoken much since I woke. We have arrived at events together before.”
“That was a very long time ago.”
“A time when we were … close, yes.”
They’d never really been ‘close.’ Not in an emotional sense, at least. Neither had ever cared for the other. What brought them together had been simple: He’d been attracted to the untamed passion for life she’d once had, and she’d enjoyed that he didn’t fall all over himself to please her the way so many other men did.
The trouble was that Ishtar wasn’t interested in an equal partnership, and Cain wasn’t interested in being a mere consort who obeyed her every directive. In that sense, their on-and-off relationship had been more of a battle for dominance. But it had given them both a reprieve from the relentless boredom that plagued every Ancient. For a while, anyway. He’d soon tired of it. Of her. Of things always ending the same way.
“It’s not a time in my life that I intend to repeat,” he told her. “I’ve been clear on that.”