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“It’s warded with containment runes and spells,” the keeper added patiently. “She would not be able to break out of it.”
“It won’t hold her, because she won’t be stepping foot in it.” Even if Cain had handed her over, she’d have escaped the tow box easily. It was incredible that despite all she’d done and that the Aeons couldn’t fight the curse she placed on their homeland, the fools continued to underestimate her. They refused to believe that she could possibly be Favored by Kali merely because she wasn’t a standard revenant.
But that was the problem with the Aeons—things had to fit neatly into a box. They didn’t like anything they couldn’t explain or label.
“She’ll be staying in Devil’s Cradle,” Cain added.
The keeper’s lips thinned. “Wynter Dellavale is dangerous. She could ruin your town. There’s something very wrong with her magick. It would be better for everyone here if she was gone.”
“Your concern is touching,” said Cain, his tone dry. “But she stays.”
The other male clenched his teeth. “If her curse isn’t lifted, Aeon will eventually fall.”
“Most likely. But that isn’t my problem, is it?”
The keeper glanced away, rubbing at his jaw. “It won’t just be the Aeons who suffer, it will be the townspeople.”
“Also not my problem.”
A heavy sigh. “I don’t know the entirety of what happened between the Ancients and the Aeons long ago. But I know enough to understand why there would be bitterness on your part. I don’t ask you to hand the witch over to us for their sake, I ask that you do it for the sake of Aeon itself. It is home to many who played no part in the first war. A fair number of mortals have already left to escape the sickness that now runs rampant there.”
Cain shrugged. “They’re better off away from the Aeons.”
The keeper studied him for a long moment. “Our plight means nothing to you, does it?”
“No,” Cain confirmed. He wasn’t quite sure why the keeper had assumed differently.
“Just as ours has never meant anything to you or those in your town,” added Azazel. “I doubt any of you ever gave a thought to our circumstances.”
The keeper scratched the back of his head. “At least hand over Eve, Rima, and Noah. They have done you no harm. They don’t deserve to be imprisoned.”
Well, neither did Cain and the other Ancients.
“Don’t make innocent people pay the price for the actions of others,” the keeper went on. “Your mother and the twins—”
“Will stay with us,” Seth stated. “That was already made clear to my father and brother. It was senseless of them to send you here.”
A long moment of silence followed. “May we at least see Eve and the twins so that we can know they are alive and well?”
“Not possible,” said Azazel. “They are . . . indisposed right now.”
The keeper tensed at the implication that the three Aeons might be suffering. “Are they even alive?”
“Yes,” said Cain. “But they may be wishing they weren’t.”
A quiet curse. “Look, they are—”
“Staying here,” Cain finished. “As is Wynter Dellavale. Nothing you say will sway me on that, so I’d quit trying if I were you.”
“Don’t,” Azazel said to the keeper when he went to object. “You’ll be wasting your breath. We’ve heard you out, we’ve told you how it is, now it’s time for you to leave. You will not get what you seek. All you’ll gain if you stay will be an execution. I doubt any of you want that.”
His shoulders sagging in defeat, the keeper sighed. He muttered what could have been “fine” and then returned to the off-road vehicle he’d arrived in.
Watching as the three vehicles drove away, Seth said, “I suppose it was too much to hope for that Adam and Abel would come here themselves.”
Cain skimmed his gaze along the town. “No alarm has been sounded, so the keepers must have come alone.” He’d sent out groups to check for any sign that other residents of Aeon were lurking around. It wouldn’t be the first time they sent a second and much more discreet party to hunt Wynter while the Ancients were distracted.
“Do you think Abel and Adam will be surprised when the keepers return emptyhanded?” asked Azazel.
