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)
Azazel scratched his temple with his index finger. “I really don’t think you’re in a position to judge those consumed by anger and a need for revenge.”
Disregarding that comment, Saul’s gaze slid to Cain. “You certainly would not have made her your consort if you knew exactly what she was capable of. But I suppose like calls to like. Or unnatural calls to unnatural, as it were.”
Cain shrugged off the insult. “I’ve been called worse.”
“I have some questions for you, Saul,” Azazel declared. “Questions about Abel and Adam’s plans. Questions about why Aeon apparently cannot afford to fall. Questions about Rima, Noah, and Eve. Ah, I see you’re thinking that you won’t tell me anything. You’re wrong. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll tell me anything I want to know.”
Saul jutted out his chin. “Never.”
Lilith rolled her eyes. “We’ll leave you to it, Azazel. Don’t hesitate to call if you would like to take a break. I will happily take over.”
With that, all the Ancients other than Azazel began to exit the dungeon. Cain would have liked to stay to observe the interrogation, but it would be counterproductive. Saul’s hatred for Cain would make him all the more determined to hold out against any torture. The Aeon didn’t have a personal vendetta against Azazel, though.
Cain made his way to his Keep and up to his bedchamber. Something inside him settled when he found Wynter curled up on a chair reading a paperback. She’d come to him, just as she’d said she would.
Lifting her head, she smiled at him. “Hey.” So casual. Like she hadn’t met his monster for the first time mere minutes ago.
Cain crossed to her. “You will be pleased to know that Saul is now tucked away in Azazel’s dungeon, where he will be subjected to a boatload of pain.”
“That does please me.” Wynter set her book on the armrest. “So he’s alive, then? I wasn’t sure if he was dead or unconscious when Dantalion took him away.”
“Just unconscious.”
“So that’s what your monster’s venom does to people? Knocks them clean out?”
“Only to immortals. A bite to a mortal would be fatal.”
She squinted. “That explains why you were so insistent that I didn’t let it sink its teeth into me. I thought you said it wouldn’t want to hurt me, let alone kill me.”
“It wouldn’t want to harm you in any way. But, unlike me, it doesn’t fear that you wouldn’t one day return from death. It views the world in a much more simplistic way. To the monster, you are a revenant, therefore you will always cheat death. The end. So it doesn’t believe that a dose of its venom would lead to it permanently losing you. And territorial as the creature is, it wants its venom to live inside you.”
“But you’ve managed to convince it not to take that risk?”
“I merely pointed out that you are healed when you return from death and, as such, its venom would no longer flow in your veins when you woke. It now sees no real sense in injecting its venom into you, but it still wants to leave its mark on you. Consequently, if it was ever out of control around you, it might bite you.”
She licked the inside of her lower lip. “So it wasn’t out of control earlier? I couldn’t quite tell.”
“No, it wasn’t. It was feeling rather self-satisfied because Saul—a man who is not only one of our jailors but dared target you—is now incapacitated.”
“Well, whoever it was who had the idea to set a trap for Saul is a total genius.”
Cain felt his mouth twitch. “A genius?”
“Uh-huh. They deserve a reward from their consort. A very sexual reward, in fact.”
Smiling, Cain inwardly shook his head. He’d thought she might be a little awkward or wary of him for a short while, given what she’d earlier witnessed. But no, she was teasing and joking.
Her good humor would likely vanish in a sliver of an instant when she heard what he had to say. That thought was enough to make his smile falter.
It was tempting to put the whole thing off a little longer, but she’d met his monster, she hadn’t flinched away from it, and she’d come to him tonight. If that didn’t say she was fully committed to Cain, he didn’t know what would. To continue to keep so many secrets from her at this point would be a deep insult to her, plain and simple.
He had to trust that she’d handle the revelations the same way she’d handled his monster. Maybe that was wishful thinking on Cain’s part, but he had to know. He had to take the chance.
She’d never agree to sell him her soul if he didn’t answer the questions she’d posed to him. And if she didn’t handle all this well, there was still the option of chaining her to the bed until he could make her agree to stay with him. There was little he wouldn’t do to keep her at his side.