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)
“More like ‘concerning’.”
His inner alarms were blaring, warning him that her revelation would be far more than concerning, despite what she claimed. His consort had a tendency to downplay certain things.
He did not whatsoever like that he’d be magickly bound to not react freely to what he would learn, but there was no way he could turn her down. He needed to know what had put that grave look on her face, and his presently uneasy creature wouldn’t rest until it knew.
Shifting in his seat so that he better faced her, Cain clasped her hand and vowed, “I promise not to contact Kali after hearing what you tell me.” Black flecks of magick swirled around their joined palms, and he felt the restriction click into place. His creature didn’t much like it, but it only grumbled its disapproval.
Cain didn’t release her hand. He instead gave it a supportive squeeze and urged, “Tell me.”
Both surprised and pleased that he hadn’t put up a struggle to back his promise with magick, Wynter rubbed nervously at her thigh. “First, I want to explain why I didn’t say anything about this last night. It was a threefold thing.”
“Threefold?”
“Yes. One, I was spooked and struggling to take it all in. Two, I knew it was going to piss you off—I wasn’t ready for that conversation; wasn’t able to fully explain to you what I hadn’t yet managed to process. Three, you hadn’t seen your uncle in eons, I wanted the reunion to be something good. You didn’t have that when Eve came here, your relationship with her is too complicated. But I could see that it was different with you and Abaddon. I didn’t want to spoil it.”
His face went all warm and lazy. “My sweet witch.” He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “How about I make this easier for you? I suspect that what you’re going to tell me is that Kali has been leading you to the grotto all along and She possessed you last night to wake Abaddon. Am I right?”
She dragged in a deep breath, wishing it were that simple. “Uh, no. She wanted to wake him. She played a part in it. But so did I. Sort of.”
He squinted. “Sort of?”
“I didn’t do it alone. The voice that led me to the grotto and spoke to me when I woke from my sleepwalking escapade was the male voice from my dreams. It coaxed me to put my hand into the spring. I wasn’t keen on the idea. I thought about going back to the Keep and telling you I’d been led there. But I wanted to know what the voice was so damn interested in showing me.”
“So you did as it asked.”
She nodded. “And then something weird happened. Like seriously weird. There was a brief interaction between Kali and my monster—I couldn’t make out what message She gave it. But mere moments later, my entity rose up and . . . well, it joined its soul with mine.”
Every muscle in his body locked tight, Cain blinked. “Say that latter part again.”
“Our souls joined. Only for a few moments but—”
“When you say ‘joined’,” he began, dread building in his gut, “you don’t mean it merely pressed its soul tightly against yours?”
She slowly shook her head. “The two merged. Fused into one.”
Cain’s insides seized and twisted. He wanted to say it wasn’t possible. Wanted to believe she must have been mistaken. But he’d never been one to blind himself to something simply because he didn’t like what he’d heard. “Then what?” he bit out.
“The entity’s power poured into me, reacted with mine like two chemicals crazily clashing . . . and I guess that then caused Abaddon to wake.”
Unable to sit still, Cain abruptly pushed out of his chair and stalked away from the table. Pain pulsed through his jaw at how tightly he clenched it. His creature predictably lost its mind, not a rational thought in its head. “You should have told me this before.”
“I already explained why I waited.”
He shot her a hard look. “None of your reasons fully justify keeping something as serious as this from me. Especially your claim to have been spooked. Nothing spooks you—an assertion you yourself made several times.”
“No, I said I’m not easily spooked. And I’m not. But last night, I was a little freaked. My monster has always been separate from me. It’s never done anything like that before. I felt a whole bunch of things—confused, violated, weirded out, even betrayed. I wanted a little time to process it all.”
His blood hot, his body tight, Cain paced up and down. He tasted anger with every breath. Felt it course through his system with every beat of his heart. “You know what this means, don’t you? It means Kali can still take you from me. All She’d need to do is instruct the entity to merge its soul with yours, and then She could drag you both to the netherworld.”