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)
That was when Delilah lost it. The woman literally doubled over with laughter.
Wynter shook her head. “This kinda pain isn’t merely about spice, Hattie. Figging is generally for those who really get off on pain. I personally don’t see the appeal in this particular act, but to each their own.”
“So you’ve been figged yourself?” Hattie asked.
Wynter jerked back. “What? No. Never.”
“Then how do you know you won’t like it?”
“Because I know I’ll never find anything likeable about having a piece of ginger peel pushed into my ass.”
Hattie’s felt went slack. “Ginger peel? In your rear end? Dear Lord. That sounds like torture.”
“It was a form of torture at one time,” Anabel cut in. “The Romans were pretty big on it, actually.”
Hattie puffed out a breath. “No wonder the heroine’s so against it. Masochism is so not her thing.” She tapped the book’s spine, adding, “I don’t like this hero much. Don’t get me wrong, he’s delightfully hardcore in bed. But he has no compassion or sensitivity. He’s been teasing her because she has red eye.”
“Ah, I used to get that when I was a kid,” said Anabel. “I had super bad allergies back then.”
“The heroine doesn’t seem to have allergies or anything, she . . . I don’t know, it’s strange. There was nothing wrong with her eyes the day before. But she and the hero had sex last night, he introduced her to anal, and then she woke with red—why are you grinning, Xavier? What am I missing?”
“Nothing, Hattie,” Anabel quickly said, shooting him a pointed look. “He’s just happy. Right, Xavier?”
He smirked at Hattie. “It’s not actually the heroine’s eye that’s red. It’s her asshole.”
“But he—oh.” The old woman’s eyes went wide.
Anabel shook her head at him. “All you had to do was lie. You do it frequently. Why, this one time, did you break the habit?”
Xavier blinked. “I gotta admit, I don’t know.”
Delilah knocked back the last of her cocktail. “Come on, let’s try the maze.”
It took a lot of convincing, but they eventually managed to talk Anabel into giving it a go, though she made it clear that she was there under protest. Her fear shot up a level when they began to wander through the labyrinth. There was fog everywhere, and the straw walls were too high for any of them to see over.
The first time someone jumped out of the fog, Anabel screamed. The second time, she almost climbed on Xavier’s back. The third time, she ran. Ran like death truly was stalking her ass.
Losing sight of her in the fog, they jogged after her, calling out her name while also chuckling.
Wynter lagged behind, laughing so hard she could barely walk. That laughter faded as an otherworldly breeze ghosted over her face, screaming with warning. Before Wynter could react, a hand shot out of the fog, gripped her arm, and spun her around. Kyra. She blew dust into Wynter’s face and . . . oh shit, everything got real blurry and weird.
Wynter yawned, inexplicably tired all of a sudden. She blinked hard to fight the urge to sleep. But the world spun, her legs crumbled beneath her, and then everything went dark.
*
Cain led the way down the twisting path as he and the other Ancients strolled through his garden toward the temple. It could be said that it was not your typical garden. Not with its gothic tone and the many snakes that roamed it. They dangled from tree branches, slithered up the wall ruins, curled around the moss-covered statues, swam in the bog-like pond, and slinked along the ground. There were no vividly colored plants to brighten the place up. The flowers only came in shades of black, red, and burgundy.
Most people, aside from he and the other Ancients, were uncomfortable out here. Not Wynter. She often sat in the garden with him, unbothered by the snakes, since they paid her no mind.
They didn’t even harm her when she walked out here in her sleep. Something he still couldn’t understand. He hadn’t been at her side so, by rights, they should have swarmed her for intruding. Instead, they’d followed her—curious? Protective? He wasn’t sure. He was simply grateful for it, because she would otherwise have been attacked by them on multiple occasions.
Reaching the temple, the Ancients walked up the pitted steps and strode between the main stone pillars. Inside, Cain couldn’t help but grimace at the scents of mildew, dust, and cold stone. He lit the wall torches with a mere wave of his hand. The whoosh of the flames whirring to life stirred the cobwebs and dust motes. Said flames danced in the air, casting shadows over the statues.
“It has been so long since I was last here,” said Inanna.
And not only because, until some months ago, she’d been at Rest for a long time. The truth was that she’d never been a frequent visitor of Cain. She’d always kept a certain distance between them. No doubt to placate her sister, whose jealousy was easily whipped up.