Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 125179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“So can Eve and the twins,” Ishtar pointed out.
“But I’ll bet they can’t tell you about the non-Aeons who live there,” hedged Wynter, and neither Eve nor her grandchildren objected. “I can. It only makes sense to know what kind of force you’ll be facing.”
“She’s right,” said Dantalion. “Eve and the twins can give us details on the underground utopia and the people who live there, but not the town above it or its residents.”
“How many people live in the town?” Abaddon asked Wynter.
“Nowhere near as many as can be found in the town here,” she replied. “Especially since some died in recent battles or fled Aeon to seek safety elsewhere. There won’t be many underground either. Aeons don’t have several packs and covens and conclaves etc. below the surface. They only permit one of each group to reside down there.”
Azazel frowned. “Why only one?”
“They consider it an honor,” Wynter told him. “It’s an honor they’ll only bestow to few. Every member of each group has to be trained to fight, protect, and defend. No individuals who they consider a weak link are allowed to live among them, so they must either be cast out of their group, or said group must accept that they will never directly serve the Aeons.”
“So they’re still all about ‘perfection’,” said Abaddon. “I suppose they still view themselves as holy and expect to be treated as such.”
Rima bristled. “Not all are like that.”
Noah sighed. “Most do expect mortals to worship them, though. They don’t claim to be gods, but they want the awe, fear, and devotion that gods receive.”
“Which isn’t something I see a present need to complain about,” began Lilith, “because the limitations they have on how many can reside among them in the underground city works for us quite nicely. I suspect we will meet more resistance when on Aeon’s surface than we will beneath ground.”
“If you can get down there,” said Rima. “Aeon itself isn’t preternaturally shielded, but the entrance to the utopia beneath it is—it had to be to protect Eden’s place of Rest.”
“Yes, we know,” Cain told her. “But there must be another way in and out of the underground city. I heard that there was a separate entrance, but I was never able to learn where it was. I firmly believe it exists. Adam would want a bolt hole.”
Rima blinked. “There were whispers of another entrance existing, but I never met anybody who claimed to know if it truly exists, let alone where it could be located.”
“Same here,” said Noah, who then slid his gaze to Eve. “Do you know of one?”
Eve shook her head. “If such an entrance does in fact exist, Adam would not share it with many. He certainly wouldn’t share it with me. He never trusted me with any information he wished to keep private. He knew my loyalty would never be to him.”
“I never heard whispers about there being a second way into the city,” said Wynter. “But that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.”
“We could search for it while there,” Inanna suggested. “And if we fail to find one, we will simply have to do our best to flush the Aeons out.”
“I have an idea of how we might do that,” said Cain.
Abaddon gave a satisfied nod. “Then let us all talk war.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Pulling on her boots the following evening, Wynter looked up as Cain stalked into their chamber with a casually menacing grace, a sense of battle-readiness clinging to him like a cloak. This was so not the time for her hormones to get all excited, considering they were about to invade Aeon, but her body gave not one single shit about that.
She’d known he’d gone to speak with an aide who, along with some other hirelings, would watch over the Keep while he was gone. There were a number of residents who wouldn’t partake in the battle—it was important not to leave Devil’s Cradle vulnerable, and not all who lived here were fighters anyway.
“Any issues?” Wynter asked.
Cain shook his head. “All is moving along exactly as it should.” He slowly raked his gaze over her in a very predatory and assessing way, as if searching for weaknesses. “I see no weapons. You assured me that you’d be armed.”
An unnatural breeze brushed over her skin, humming with amusement. Kali found it laughable that he would be so overprotective of a being that was almost impossible to kill. Wynter found it sweet. Until he started doing dumb shit like threatening to keep her confined “for her own safety” when, really, it would be to give him peace of mind.
Cain narrowed his eyes. “I don’t like how often She intrudes on our private moments.”
He was getting much better at sensing Kali’s presence, though he didn’t always pick up on it. Wynter was so used to the deity being close by that she didn’t think much of it. “I wouldn’t bother whining about it, if I were you. It would be a waste of time. Deities do whatever they want—the end.”