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And so he should let it go? That was what she believed? Unreal. “Doesn’t matter. You essentially fucked me over. I was raging when I first heard. But once I’d calmed down, I could see why Wynter found the whole thing so petty and amusing. We had a good laugh about it. About you. About how pathetically obsessed you’ve become with separating me and my consort just to assuage your own ego.”
Her eyes fairly twinkled with fury. “You think too much of yourself, Cain.”
“Pot, kettle, black,” muttered Azazel.
Indeed, but Ishtar’s sense of self-awareness wasn’t finely tuned. “I don’t think you realize how utterly transparent you are,” Cain told her. “I also don’t care. What I do care about is that I evidently can’t trust you not to betray me.”
Her brows snapped together. “I did not betray you!”
“What else would you call going behind my back to sneakily coerce my consort into putting herself in danger?”
“I was thinking of the Ancients as a whole.”
Bullshit. “You were thinking of yourself, as usual. And if you’ll so carelessly betray me, I don’t trust that you won’t betray anyone else in this room. You’re either with us or you’re against us, Ishtar. There’s no in-between.”
“Don’t blow this out of proportion,” clipped Ishtar. “I did what needed to be done. None of you might care to admit it, but you all understand my reasons.”
Inanna shook her head sadly. “Oh, Ishtar. A person cannot help what they feel, so I cannot blame you for feeling that we should fold under the demands of the Aeons. I understand your fears. But a person is fully responsible for how they act on what they feel. Cain’s right, you betrayed him.”
Ishtar gaped. “You would side with him over me?”
“There shouldn’t be a need for sides,” Seth cut in, his jaw tight.
Lilith nodded. “Especially now, when it’s imperative that we band together.”
Inanna let out a weary sigh. “You let us all down, Ishtar. You let yourself down.”
Her chest rising and falling fast, Ishtar thrust her hands into her hair. “I cannot take the thought of this cage getting smaller. I already feel like I cannot breathe sometimes.”
“That’s not an excuse,” said Azazel. “It doesn’t justify what you did.”
Ishtar met Azazel’s glare. “You would really trade a mortal’s life for our sanity? Because we will lose that sanity if the Aeons do as they have threatened.”
Cain frowned at her. “You keep talking as if this is some sort of democracy. It wouldn’t matter if all six of you wanted to succumb to the Aeons’ demands, I would not hand over my consort to them or anyone else.”
“You will not be asked to do so,” said Dantalion. “As we’ve already discussed, rolling over for the Aeons and showing them our belly isn’t the answer to any of our problems.”
The other Ancients nodded, bar Ishtar.
She hissed. “You cannot all be serious.”
“You know,” began Cain, “it was Wynter who convinced me not to kill you. She’s right in that all seven of us need to be standing together against the Aeons if they come. But if you step another foot wrong where she’s concerned, I will make you suffer, Ishtar. Gravely. I don’t have to kill you to do that.”
She swallowed. “Cain—”
“Not one person here would object. Not if you betrayed me a second time. If you truly value your life, you will heed me in this.” Cain paused. “Oh, and I’d advise you not to kick up a fuss about the punishment I administered.”
She froze. “Punishment?”
“As I said, I don’t need to kill you to make you suffer.”
Ishtar stared at him for a long moment. “What have you done?”
“Well, I asked myself . . . what does Ishtar value most other than herself and Inanna? You like to surround yourself with things that make you feel good about you, don’t you? Shallow and materialistic though it might be, the contents of your bedchamber matter more to you than any of the people in your life. The collection—made up of the old, the new, the fashionable, and the sentimental—is your pride and joy. So many dresses, so many shoes, so many purses, so many collectibles, so many keepsakes. All are now ashes.”
She paled. “You’re lying.”
“I warned you countless times to leave Wynter be. You really should have listened.”
