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“We do not really have much choice,” Noah said to his sister. “People at Aeon are distracted right now, especially Abel and Adam. But we still only have a week at most before it’s discovered that the three of us aren’t where we said we would be. Someone will head to the fishing cabin to check how we are holding up while ‘deep in grief over Lailah’s loss,’ even if only to be nosy. We’ll be hunted by the Aeons when it becomes clear that we have fled. We won’t be safe out there.”
“But I’m not so sure we’ll be any safer here,” Rima fired back.
Eve looked up at her grandchildren. “I wish to stay. But I will leave with you if you cannot agree to pay the price for a place here. I will not abandon you. You are my grandchildren, I owe you both my life, and I will not see you alone.”
The three Aeons went forwards and backwards for a while, bouncing from being inclined to stay to being too fearful of what may happen to their souls. Eventually, they declared that they would like to stay at Devil’s Cradle, but they had a condition of their own—they did not wish to be made to fight against the other Aeons if there was a second battle. That was fine with Cain and the other Ancients, because none would trust that the three Aeons wouldn’t turn on them at some point during the battle anyway.
Once the trio had officially ceded partial rights to their souls to Dantalion and were subsequently marked, Seth announced that he would take them to his Keep and get them settled. The three Aeons moved to follow him out of the room.
Eve lingered and palmed Cain’s cheek. “It has been far too long since I looked upon this face. I hope you will visit me at Seth’s home. I get the feeling that I will rarely be allowed to leave it. At least for now.”
“I will visit,” Cain told her.
She smiled. “Thank you.” With that, she left.
Ishtar threw Cain a hard look. “I do hope you know what you’re doing. Because I strongly suspect that this will backfire on all of us.” She then marched out of the parlor.
Azazel exhaled heavily. “I’d like to say she’s being a bitch by being so negative, but she’s got every reason to doubt the motives of the Aeons.”
“She has,” Cain allowed. “That’s why I don’t want them near Wynter.” He wondered what his witch’s opinions would be on the matter. She had a different way of looking at things. And, being unbiased when it came to Cain’s family, she wouldn’t hold opinions that would be tainted by the same level of distrust that the Ancients felt toward them.
“Their presence here will cause some discomfort among the townspeople,” Lilith predicted.
“Good,” said Dantalion. “It will make them stay alert around the trio.”
“If Saul continues to linger, he will hear that they are here,” said Inanna. “He might have even seen them arrive, if he’s close by. He could take that information back to Aeon. But if he really has detached himself from the others, I doubt he will do them any favors.”
Azazel shrugged. “It won’t matter if he does or he doesn’t. The people at Aeon are likely to assume that Eve and her grandchildren came to us, considering we’re the only people who are powerful enough to keep them safe.”
“Even if they were truthful, we’ll have to consider that the information they gave us on Abel and Adam’s plans could be literally worth shit,” said Cain.
Azazel’s brows dipped. “Worth shit? Why?”
“Because it will be assumed by Adam that said information was relayed to us,” Cain replied. “Battle tactics will change in the hope of catching us by surprise.”
“So we gained nothing from them coming here,” groused Inanna.
“Untrue,” said Cain. “We know now that the decay has spread to the underground city, where it will eventually run rampant and ensure that the place is inhabitable. We know that the Aeons haven’t given up on the idea of getting their hands on Wynter, believing she can undo the curse. We also know that there may be an additional reason why the Aeons can’t afford for the city to fall.” And Cain couldn’t help but wonder if that reason was somehow connected to Kali’s goals.
It was shortly after she and her coven had dinner that Wynter made her way to Cain’s Keep. She knew her way around, so his aides no longer escorted her to him. They just said hi and told her where to find him.
As she headed for Cain’s bedchamber, she let out a tired sigh. Throughout the day—in between running their shop, pausing for breaks, and having dinner—she and her coven had taken turns at trying to scry for Saul using various mediums, including water, crystals, and wax.
Their efforts had unfortunately come to nothing.
Searching for people via scrying wasn’t the most reliable practice. And the more powerful the person you were trying to locate, the harder they were to pinpoint.
Anabel intended to create some of her “Finders Potions” tonight, but there was no saying they’d work well. They helped people locate a lost object that belonged to them, not a murderous asshole who needed his throat slit.
Finally reaching the door of Cain’s chamber, Wynter rapped her knuckles on it even as she walked inside. At his insistence, she didn’t wait for an invitation to enter anymore. It had reached a point where it offended him that she’d felt she needed one.
The gorgeous bastard stood near the window, a glass tumbler in hand half-filled with amber liquid. Her hackles rose, because he looked . . . She couldn’t quite describe it. Not tired. Not weary. But something along those lines.
Concern tightened her chest. One thing she’d learned fast about Cain was that he wasn’t easily affected by things on a deeply emotional level. As if his feelings struggled to mentally latch on and have any real impact on him. For something to evidently put a dent in his normal coolly composed state, it couldn’t be something small. “What’s wrong?”
He set his glass down on the nearby table. “Come.”
It was nothing short of an order, but she didn’t bristle, too intent on finding out what was messing with his head. Crossing to him, she studied his face, trying and failing to see past the inscrutable mask he wore.
