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“It is a correct assumption,” Cain interrupted.
Standing, she shook her head wildly. “This is about how utterly unwilling I am to let our situation worsen.” She swept her panicked gaze over the others. “Do you all really want to risk that Abel is bluffing? He was right on one thing. Her life is not worth any further suffering on our part.”
Cain unfurled from his seat and stalked toward her, his jaw tight, his monster furious. “Let me make myself very clear,” he said slowly, emphasizing every word. “No one will be relinquishing Wynter to the Aeons. Not under any circumstances.” He’d kill anyone who tried.
“But she—”
“Is mine. I will not give her up to Abel.”
“You are not considering the long-term consequences,” Ishtar clipped. “If Abel manages to shrink this cage, we will finally all lose our minds. We will eventually turn on each other. We’ll all die, Cain. And everyone in Devil’s Cradle will get caught up in our personal battle—they will then all die along with us, including your precious witch. If she was anyone else, you would consider sacrificing her.”
“But she isn’t anyone else. She’s Wynter. My consort.”
“Yours, not mine. So do not expect me to put her safety before my own wellbeing. No one else in this room will do it either.”
Cain kept his eyes on Ishtar as he called out, “Lilith, in my position, would you have ever given up your consort?”
“Not for anything,” Lilith replied, no hesitation. “Not even to prevent our prison from being resized in such a way.”
Ishtar whirled on her. “You cannot possibly mean that.”
Lilith folded her arms. “So you would sacrifice Inanna?”
Ishtar spluttered. “Of course not, but that is different.”
“Why?” asked Lilith, winging up a brow. “Because it’s you who would then be affected?”
“It is not simply that. What would be the point in us enduring the trauma of a smaller prison merely to save the life of a mortal? She will be dead within a few decades. But us? We will still be here, suffering for our sacrifice. Assuming we have not already killed each other by that point.” Ishtar straightened her shoulders. “I say we take a vote.”
“Go for it,” Cain invited, sounding dangerous even to him. “The outcome of any such vote won’t make an ounce of difference. No one will force me to give Wynter up.”
“You would truly prioritize her over us?” asked Ishtar.
“Yes,” he told her, unapologetic. “That said, I don’t at all feel that that is what I am doing here as, unlike you, I don’t believe that handing Wynter to the Aeons would be the answer to our problem. I also don’t believe that the majority of the people here will back you on this.” Seth and Lilith certainly wouldn’t, and he highly doubted that Azazel would either.
“Then you’re a fool. A vote will prove that I have the support I need.”
It wouldn’t matter if she had it or not. His consort wasn’t going anywhere, least of all to Aeon. “If you insist on this, all that will happen is that we’ll find ourselves divided and eventually turn on each other . . . just like the Aeons always wanted.”
“He’s right,” Seth cut in. “This isn’t the answer. And I’m not going to ask him to sacrifice his consort in any case.”
Cain’s gut unclenched at that.
Ishtar fired an impatient look at Seth. “Of course you won’t; he is your brother.”
“I won’t be asking Cain to do it either,” Azazel declared. “It would not only make me a shitty friend, it would make me stupid. Handing Wynter over to Abel wouldn’t lead to anything good.”
Ishtar frowned. “How can you even say that?”
“Because it’s true,” Azazel maintained. “It makes no sense to give up what the Aeons so desperately want when we wish to lure them here. And before you say that Eve and the twins will make juicy enough bait, consider that once Abel realizes they’re here he will make it a condition of the deal that they be relinquished along with Wynter. So long as we have Cain’s witch, there’s a chance that we can be free. To give her up would be to also say to ourselves that we’ll accept that we are forever caged.”
Exhaling a long breath, Dantalion nodded. “We’ve stayed strong and united all these years because we never lost hope that we would one day free ourselves. The moment we submit to our situation is the moment we give up the hope that has so far sustained us.”
“Exactly,” said Azazel. “It would then only be a matter of time before we actually did go insane and turn on each other.”
Inanna sighed. “Yes, it is vital we stick together.” Ignoring the “traitor” look her sister sent her, Inanna added, “I agree that our best chance of gaining freedom is still by keeping Wynter here and protecting her from the Aeons.”
Lilith nodded. “Even if it wasn’t, we could not truly hand her over to them. Not unless Cain okayed it, which he will never do, so it is pointless to argue about this.”
