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)
“Yup.”
“It explains why the snakes stayed close but didn’t harm you while you were sleepwalking. Apep is a serpentine deity; He can communicate with any serpent. He would have ordered them to leave you alone.”
“Kali told me a lot about Him. There was such grief in Her voice when she spoke of Him.” Wynter swallowed. “She mourns Him, in a way. Mourns what they once had until they were separated. All that grief and rage and bitterness and spite brewed inside Her until She couldn’t take it anymore. And I get it. I’d have become just as twisted up inside if someone took you from me.”
Cain gave a soft nod, lightly squeezing her hand. “As would I have been if someone dared try to separate us. What the deities did to avenge themselves . . . I wouldn’t have done any differently in their shoes.”
“Me neither.”
“And it was Nyx’s idea to put one of the Rephaim in you?”
“According to Kali, yes. The deities needed something powerful. Fearless. Monstrous. But also obedient. The Rephaim inhabit the area of purgatory that Nyx oversees, and She sort of leads them. She sent one Kali’s way, ensuring that it knew it had to obey Her.” Wynter felt her lips faintly curve as a snake lunged at a white moth and missed.
“Did you know it was one of the Rephaim?”
“Yes. I just didn’t know that Nyx basically gave it to Kali. Not until recently, anyway.”
Reaching the gate, he pushed it open and waved her out of the garden. “Will it bother you to keep the entity with you permanently?” he asked as he closed the gate behind them.
“Nah, I’m used to it at this point. Plus, you said it didn’t kill you when it might have tried, which I find very reassuring. I wouldn’t have believed it would ever have hesitated to hurt you or anyone else. All I can think is that it recognized you. Recognized that you’re mine. Or something. Maybe.”
“I think it did, but not before Kali all but barreled into it. She might have told it who I am to you. My creature likes that you have something so powerful inside you.” While Cain personally had nothing against the Rephaim, he would prefer—for her sake—that his consort wasn’t a vessel for something that was pure darkness. Leading her into the Keep, he asked, “Does it usually call on other Rephaim like it did tonight?”
Her nose wrinkled. “I don’t think so. But then, I black out when it takes over. I’m a little jealous that you see everything your monster does when you set it free. So, when do I get to meet it?”
He felt his lips quirk at her eagerness. “Soon. It will be more than happy to spend time with you. And bind with you, which you won’t fight us on.”
“No, I won’t fight the binding.”
He blinked. “You won’t?” He hadn’t expected such easy capitulation, given he hadn’t uncovered the answers to her questions.
“Kali made it clear to me last night that twining my life-force with that of your monster would have no ill-effects on it or you. She was also adamant that your death wouldn’t drain or weaken me as, given I’m undead, death doesn’t really have as much of an impact on me as it does others.”
Both Cain and his creature settled on hearing all that. “Good. Because I won’t be satisfied until the binding is done.” Once they were inside their bedchamber, Cain tugged her close. “Why didn’t you tell me that Kali promised not to drag your soul back to the netherworld if you followed Her orders?”
“Two reasons. One, I knew you’d get all cranky at the whole Her ‘allowing’ me to stay with you thing—you hate that She feels She has more of a claim to me than you do.”
“Because she doesn’t,” he clipped.
Wynter rolled her eyes at his tone. “Easy there, I’m not disputing that. Anyway . . . my second reason was that it would have felt like I could be giving you false hope, since I wasn’t sure I could trust that She’d live up to her promise. Deities are a law unto themselves.”
“That they are,” he conceded. “Ishtar accused me more than once of playing games, using you and others as pawns and positioning you all exactly as I pleased. But in this instance, the chessboard was never mine. It was the deities’ board. They were in charge of the game all along.”
Wynter wrapped her arms around his waist. “But the game is now over. We’re not pawns anymore. Our choices are our own. So . . . what do you want to do next?”
“Honestly?” He slid a hand up her back. “Toss you on the bed and fuck your brains out.”
She chuckled. “Okay, let me rephrase. What do you want to do now that you’re free? Or, more to the point, where do you want to go?”