Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
“Cain didn’t need to convince me of anything,” Seth told him. “You are no mystery, Abel. The fact is that you’re twisted deep inside. You come by it honestly.” Seth slid a meaningful look Adam’s way.
Adam’s back snapped straight. “If you have only come here to insult us, Seth, you should simply—”
“You worshipped me once,” Abel spat, leaning toward Seth.
Seth’s brow pinched even as an amused smile flirted with the edges of his mouth. “‘Worshipped’ isn’t the word I would use.”
“We were close,” Abel insisted. “You looked up to me. You loved me. Or have you forgotten all that? Has it been flushed from your memory?”
“No, I remember,” Seth calmly replied. “But I remember other things from my childhood, too. I remember the time you punched me so hard you fractured my cheekbone purely for suggesting we could ask Cain to play with us. I remember the time you spat on and slapped our sister because she refused to lie that he’d tried to rape her. I remember how you killed my dog when you found out that I often talked to Cain in secret. More, I remember you partook in a massacre and laughed as you killed innocent children—”
“None of his kind are innocent,” Abel snapped. “They needed to die. None should have been allowed to live. The world would be better off without them in it.”
“So you often say. But God didn’t agree that culling their numbers was some holy mission, did He? No. Your actions backfired. Such is the life of a fuckup.”
“Stop,” Adam barked. “This is not productive. We have a meeting to hold.”
“What happened to the Ancients having thirty days before you demand an answer from us?” asked Seth.
“That luxury vanished when you decided to keep your own mother, nephew, and niece captive.” Adam looked from Cain to Seth. “I am assuming that you are done playing games and are ready to cooperate.”
Cain pursed his lips. “I can’t imagine why you’d make any such assumption. I made my stance very clear.”
Adam let out a tired sigh. “You have taken this as far as you can. There is no more room for defiance unless you wish us to follow through on our threat.”
Seth’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Don’t you get it yet?” he asked Adam. “We don’t care if you shrink the prison. A cage is a cage—its size doesn’t matter. You could do any number of things to us, but we would survive and remain united purely to spite you.”
“In imprisoning us, you’ve done the worst to us that you could possibly do,” Cain added. “There’s nothing you could threaten us with that would bother us at this point.”
Abel’s jaw tightened. “It would bother you to lose your life.”
Cain let a taunting smile curve his lips. “But you’re not going to kill us,” he said, ensuring he sounded smug about it. “Not now. Not ever.”
“I am uncertain why you would believe such a thing,” said Adam. “We sent Lailah and Saul to Devil’s Cradle.”
“No, you didn’t,” Cain objected. “You vetoed her request to launch an attack on us. She acted without your knowledge or permission. Saul helpfully told us all about it. Yes, he’s in our custody now. He confessed a great many things while screaming in agony.”
Adam clamped his mouth shut, looking close to spewing a rant.
Abel sat very still, his hands fisted so tight that his knuckles were white.
Seth raised his hands. “Let’s be honest. You might not like that we’re refusing to hand over Eve, the twins, or Wynter Dellavale, but you’re not going to do anything about it. So drop the bluster and ease off with the pointless threats—they’re just boring at this point.”
Adam’s upper lip curled. “You insolent little shit.”
“Insolent, but not wrong,” said Seth, lifting his index finger.
Abel ground his teeth. “Don’t be so sure—”
“Abel,” Adam cautioned, raising a hand for silence. He then glared at Cain. “If our threats don’t concern you, why did you not say so in the beginning?”
Cain smiled. “It was more fun this way. For me, at least. Small pleasures and all that. Besides, you wouldn’t have believed me anyway. You’d have accused me of bluffing, so sure I’d back down when it counted. I think now you’re realizing that that isn’t the case.”
Adam honestly looked close to lunging at him.
Unconcerned, Cain switched his attention back to Abel. “Oh, I heard about the prisoner you have in your cellar who presumably looks like me. You really need to have someone to beat on who you can imagine is me? That’s just sad, Abel. Truly pathetic. I barely ever think of you, let alone need to vent about you.”
The asshole’s face flushed. “Fuck you.”
Seth glanced at Cain. “He does seem to have a hair trigger temper where you’re concerned. As you said, pathetic.”
Abel scowled at Seth. “And fuck you too, you piece of shit.”