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)
As she and Cain took the two seats that faced him, Adam continued to stare at her, pointedly ignoring her consort. She inwardly snorted. Did the Aeon honestly believe that Cain would be bothered by the petty snub? If so, he truly did not know her guy at all.
“Wynter Dellavale,” Adam drawled. “I would say ‘we meet at last,’ but I do recall seeing you at Aeon from time to time. I don’t believe we have ever before spoken to each other, though, have we?”
“No, we haven’t,” she replied. “To what do I owe this not-so-great honor?”
His lips slightly thinned, but he quickly blanked his expression. “You have caused me many problems. In cursing your homeland, you essentially betrayed it. Betrayed your people.”
“They betrayed me first.”
“Your old coven is now dead, though. It was in fact you who killed them.”
Actually, she’d killed most of them. She’d then trapped her old Priestess in the netherworld. Wynter wasn’t sure what had happened to the bitch in that place. Hopefully lots of dark and scary things. Fingers crossed.
“Likewise, the boys who hurt you long ago are dead. Those at Aeon who wronged you have paid the price,” Adam went on. “You could easily undo the curse rather than punish everyone else there.”
“But it wasn’t only my coven who made my life difficult. The mages did their fair share of that, and they were worse. You or any of the other Aeons could have put an end to it. You didn’t. Instead, I was the one who was exiled. Only an exile isn’t truly a banishment. It’s a straight-up execution. An execution I’d done nothing to deserve.
“Yet, Lailah ordered it anyway. And she couldn’t have done that without your say-so. Which means you’re also responsible for my near death. You had God only knows how many people unjustly ‘exiled’ over the eras. In truth, Aeon lost its true beauty a millennia ago, after it slowly became infected by the godly arrogance you Aeons have.”
Beside her, Cain chuckled.
Adam’s face hardened, but he still made a point of not looking at the Ancient. “Well, you certainly made the land and its people pay, Miss Dellavale. Is it really necessary to drag out this ‘lesson’ you wish to teach us?”
She cocked her head. “Necessary? No. Satisfying? Oh, yes.”
His green eyes briefly blazed at her. “You have no idea what you have done. None. If Aeon falls, we will all suffer for it.”
“I don’t see how.”
He opened his mouth but then quickly snapped it shut.
“It seems to me that if there was really some great big reason why Aeon shouldn’t fall, you’d have told everyone about it by now. Yet, you haven’t elaborated. So I’m pretty inclined to think that you’re talking out of your ass. But if I’m wrong, please do enlighten me.”
His fingers flexed. “Would you really die for the Ancients, Miss Dellavale? That is what will happen if you are still at Devil’s Cradle when the war begins. No one there will be left alive. But if you come to me and undo the curse, I will spare you. You will be free to leave Aeon and continue with your life.”
She shot him a look of pure disbelief. “You don’t honestly think I’ll believe that, do you?” He couldn’t. Surely not.
“I can draw up a binding contract, if you wish.”
“Yeah, and there’ll be loopholes galore. Sorry, I’m going to have to turn down your offer.”
“Then you are foolish.”
“Funny. I was thinking the same thing about you. But although you’re many things, Adam, you’re not foolish.” Which was a shame, really, because defeating the Aeons would otherwise have been so much easier. “You knew I wouldn’t accept your offer. Even if I had, the Ancients wouldn’t have let me leave Devil’s Cradle—you’re well aware of that, too. So why did you really call me here?”
He didn’t respond. Merely stared at her.
She tilted her head. “Let me guess . . . you wanted to get a good look at me; to get a sense of whether or not I truly am Favored by Kali. It doesn’t seem possible to you. You can’t see how you wouldn’t have sensed it long ago or how I’d be different from other revenants. But you can’t think why else the curse would be something you simply can’t beat.”
He flapped a dismissive hand. “You are not a revenant. I know that much for certain. I had hoped to here and now detect just what it is you really are.” He folded his arms and lifted his chin, all pompous. “I had some of my people look into your background. You have never met your father, have you? Your mother refused to speak of him to anyone who asked, but my people were able to find out who and where he is.”
“So?”
Adam’s brows dipped. “So wouldn’t you like to know the identity of your father?”