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)
Wynter felt her brows hike up. “That’s true.” And a very good idea.
“I have one question,” said Anabel. “Whose was the voice that led you to Abaddon?”
Wynter gave a clueless shrug. “I know that, having heard Abaddon speak, it definitely wasn’t him.”
A knock sounded at the front door.
“I’ll get it.” Wynter pushed out of her seat, crossed the living room, and opened the front door. She blinked at the sight of Maxim. “Oh, hi.” Wynter stepped aside to let him enter.
“Thank you,” he said. “I came to pass on a message from Cain. He asked that you have dinner with him this evening. He’d like you to more officially meet Abaddon and . . .” Maxim trailed off, his eyes drifting to something behind her.
Wynter twisted to see Anabel lighting the candles on the living room altar.
The blonde must have felt their attention settle on her, because her gaze flew to them. “What?” she asked, frowning . . . which only served to pull down those thick, drawn eyebrows even more.
Maxim cleared his throat. “I’m just wondering why you look like a pirate.”
Her muscles stiffening, she swiftly turned to glance at her reflection in the triple moon mirror. Her hands balled up into fists. “Xavier, you shit!”
“Karma spares no one!” he yelled from the kitchen.
“Amen to that,” said Delilah . . . at which point Anabel began to rip them both a new asshole while Hattie cackled.
Sighing, Wynter turned back to Maxim. “Would you believe me if I told you that this kind of thing is unusual?”
He gave her a long look. “No. No, I would not.”
She’d figured as much.
*
It was shortly after Cain had finished giving his uncle a tour of the Keep that he called the other Ancients there. All were pleasantly surprised to see Abaddon awake, particularly Dantalion, whose deceased brother was a close friend of his.
Ishtar made a point of flirting with him, possibly hoping it would annoy Cain to see her dreamily sighing over his own uncle, but the newly woken Ancient wasn’t responsive. He seemed more interested in Lilith—each eyed the other closely as they sat across from each other in the solar room, their expressions giving nothing away. If Cain remembered rightly, the two had . . . interesting history.
Elegantly perched on one of the plush sofas beside Lilith, Inanna looked at Abaddon and said, “For you to wake without us chanting over your place of Rest . . . All I can think is that our efforts to wake you did in fact work but simply took their time to come into effect.”
Lounging on the opposite sofa, Abaddon said, “Your efforts may have helped, but I do not believe they were solely responsible for my waking. I was disturbed by a foreign power. Kali, to be exact.”
Ishtar’s shoulders tensed. “Kali?”
“It seems that the deity has been trying to lead Cain’s consort to the grotto in her sleep for some time,” said Abaddon. “He always woke her and then led her back to their chamber. Last night, he didn’t. I suspect Kali needed to use her to wake me, since there are only certain things that She and some of the other deities can do in this realm—hence why they Favor and use people to achieve their own ends.”
Cain suspected the same. He intended to get the full story from her later.
“Why did Kali wake you?” asked Dantalion, standing in front of the elaborate fireplace.
“I do not yet know,” replied Abaddon. “I’m sure that Cain’s consort will explain if she has answers. As I understand it, having spoken to Cain in depth about her, she doesn’t always have answers or Kali’s permission to share them.”
“Whatever the deity’s reason, I am grateful for Her assistance,” said Seth, who sat in the chair beside which Cain stood.
The others nodded, other than Ishtar, who studied Cain hard and then said, “You never mentioned her habit of sleepwalking to us.”
Actually, he’d mentioned it to Azazel, sure that the other male wouldn’t repeat it. Cain would have similarly trusted his brother with the information but had felt that the less people who knew the better. Cain had said nothing about it to the others because he’d known that—given Wynter only ever went to the garden during such times—they might be suspicious of it and, as such, be distrustful of Wynter. Such distrust might have given Ishtar the fuel she needed to convince the others to give his consort up to the Aeons.
Cain gave an aloof shrug and said, “It bore no relevance to anyone here. Many people sleepwalk. What Wynter does or doesn’t do is the business of no one in this room but me.”
Ishtar’s lips flattened. “She was sleepwalking in your garden.”
“From what I’ve heard, sleepwalkers often head to places they feel comfortable,” said Cain. “The garden relaxes her.”