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Abel ground his teeth. “Don’t be so sure—”
“Abel,” Adam cautioned, raising a hand for silence. He then glared at Cain. “If our threats don’t concern you, why did you not say so in the beginning?”
Cain smiled. “It was more fun this way. For me, at least. Small pleasures and all that. Besides, you wouldn’t have believed me anyway. You’d have accused me of bluffing, so sure I’d back down when it counted. I think now you’re realizing that that isn’t the case.”
Adam honestly looked close to lunging at him.
Unconcerned, Cain switched his attention back to Abel. “Oh, I heard about the prisoner you have in your cellar who presumably looks like me. You really need to have someone to beat on who you can imagine is me? That’s just sad, Abel. Truly pathetic. I barely ever think of you, let alone need to vent about you.”
The asshole’s face flushed. “Fuck you.”
Seth glanced at Cain. “He does seem to have a hair trigger temper where you’re concerned. As you said, pathetic.”
Abel scowled at Seth. “And fuck you too, you piece of shit.”
“Charming, Abel. Just charming.” Seth rubbed his thighs, letting out an airy sigh. “Well, I think we’ve had a nice talk. We should do this again sometime. I’m almost sorry we didn’t do it sooner.” As one, he and Cain stood.
“Last chance,” said Adam. “Agree to our requests.”
Cain’s brow creasing, he asked, “Or you’ll do what, exactly? Oh yes, that’s right . . .” He smiled. “You’ll do absolutely nothing.”
Once the conduit was escorted out of the parlor, Seth turned to Cain. “Do you think we did enough to get all the way under Abel’s skin and prompt him to act against not only Adam but his own better judgement?”
Cain pursed his lips. “Abel was exponentially pissed at us both, more-so you. Pissed enough to do something extremely stupid. But Adam might well manage to calm him down or, at the very least, stop the leash he has on Abel from snapping. Only time will tell.”
Seth folded his arms. “There’s one thing I’m certain of. They both bought that we wouldn’t care if they adjusted the size of the prison.”
Cain nodded. “And that really stomped on Adam’s buttons, because it shattered his belief that he had something he could hold over us.”
“He’ll want to retaliate and teach us some sort of lesson—or maybe even finally rid the world of us—so just maybe he won’t bother holding Abel back. He does like others to do his dirty deeds for him.”
“Good point.” Cain turned for the door. “Let’s bring the others up to speed.”
As they both walked into the neighboring parlor, Lilith immediately spoke from the piano stool. “How did it go?”
“We achieved what we hoped to achieve,” said Seth. “We riled Abel up in an epic way.” He and Cain then relayed the conversation they’d had with the two Aeons.
On the sofa, Dantalion let out a pleased hum. “It was a good idea for you both to meet with them. They clearly weren’t prepared for that.”
Seth nodded. “They were so taken off-guard it was easy to see that it had flung whatever they’d practiced saying to Cain right out of the window.”
“And now they want blood,” Cain added. “There’s just no saying for sure that they’ll come get it.”
“Still, I am feeling cautiously optimistic right now,” said Inanna from the loveseat.
Perched on the arm of the sofa, Azazel rubbed at his jaw. “I have to say, so am I—if for no other reason than that Abel didn’t report Lailah when she made plans that went against Adam’s wishes. That in and of itself was a minor rebellion on Abel’s part. Plus, Saul was very clear that Abel wants us all dead. I do think we’ve given him enough to push him into finally acting on that.”
“I hope you are right,” said Ishtar, sitting stiffly beside her sister. “All we can do at this point is wait and see what happens.”
Dantalion looked at Cain. “Ishtar told us that you revealed all to your consort and that she took it well.”
Surprised that the female Ancient had spoken of it, Cain dipped his chin. “Wynter handled the truth better than I ever would have anticipated. When I told her what I was, she said it could be worse; that I could be a cherubim.”
Chuckling, Azazel crossed to Cain and lightly slapped his back. “I’d have to agree with her.”
“After the way she handled your monster,” began Seth, “I had a feeling she’d take the rest of your news in her stride. She’s a steady one.”
“And you are sure she will keep our secrets, Cain?” asked Inanna.
