Page 120 of The Wicked In Me


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Of all the scenarios he’d considered when he tried making sense of why he couldn’t properly touch Annette’s soul, this hadn’t been one of them. His monster was thoroughly impressed by Wynter’s ability. Cain, however, didn’t like the thought of her having any such connection to a separate realm—it felt too much like she wasn’t fully inthisrealm. “You made it look like she’d left?”

“It wasn’t hard. She’d already packed up her stuff and stashed it in a car she’d parked outside of the town’s boundary. It was just a matter of moving said car so it looked as if she headed off somewhere.” Wynter bit her lip. “You mad?”

“At you for what you did to protect your secrets? No. Particularly since Annette took it upon herself to end your life, forfeiting her own. But Iamangry. Angry that she dared put her hands on you. Angry that I didn’t foresee she’d do such a thing. Angry that I’m only learning of it now.” He didn’t bother asking Wynter why she hadn’t told him before today—the answer was obvious. “I will explain to Azazel about Bowen. He will understand; there’ll be no reprisals.”

“Bowen was one of his aides,” she reminded him.

“Not a prized one. In any case, Azazel wouldn’t punish you for protecting yourself. That was all you really did. And I wouldn’t dare allow it if he tried, so there’s that. Can you bring both berserkers back out of the netherworld?”

“Only if they haven’t died there. A soul can’t, obviously, but a living being can. I can go look, but it might not be so easy to find them—”

“Then leave them where they are.” Cain didn’t want her roaming around that realm when he’d have no way of getting to her if need be. He didn’t trust that Kali wouldn’t decide to keep Her there. “I would only seek to punish them anyway. They’ll suffer plenty in their present location.” He’d heard enough about the netherworld to know that there was nothing pleasant about it. “Are any other residents roaming there?”

“Nope, just them.”

“You certainly keep things interesting, little witch. Just full of surprises, aren’t you?” He cocked his head. “Did anyone at Aeon ever discover your secrets and find themselves subsequently dumped in the netherworld?”

“Only one. Nobody suspected I had anything to do with his ‘disappearance,’ thankfully. Being an absolute asshole who regularly beat up women, he had a whole host of enemies. It was believed that a relative of one of those women probably killed him. The investigation into his death went nowhere, though. The Aeons didn’t pursue the matter. They don’t care much what happens to the mortals there.”

“What did he do to earn that fate?”

“He stumbled upon me covered in blood and gore after I let my monster chomp down some dude who tried raping me.”

Cain felt his jaw harden as rage shot through him. “I see.”

“No one ever traced that death back to me. The guy who tried raping me was actually a keeper. Aeon … it’s not like here. You and the other Ancients all run a tight ship. Although there are plenty of rules at Aeon and a high number of keepers to enforce them, the Aeons themselves don’t keep a close watch over ‘mortal matters.’ They don’t oversee the activities of the keepers or make sure justice is always served. The keepers exploit that and get up to all sorts of shit, confident there’ll be no repercussions.”

“So our source often says.”

Her brows lifted. “You have a spy there?”

“There isn’t much he’s able to tell us, since he has no access to the underground city, but he occasionally passes on helpful information.”

“That’s how you knew about the blight.”

“Yes. I didn’t believe it at first, or that people there could possibly be falling sick. But our source was adamant. And, according to Azazel, very afraid.”

She twisted her mouth. “How come you need a source? You once said you have ways of getting glimpses of the world outside of Devil’s Cradle. Can you not spy on Aeon that way?”

“No. The town is shielded from view by the Aeons’ power, hence why it’s never been detected by human satellites. It’s just as shielded from preternatural surveillance. Devil’s Cradle is similarly shielded by myself and the other Ancients.”

“Speaking of the Aeons … you never told me what Lailah offered to give you in exchange for my life.”

“You didn’t ask.”

“I didn’t want to ask too many questions because it might have prompted you to do the same, and there was a lot that I wasn’t ready to tell you back then.”

He nodded, understanding, since he’d been in exactly the same boat. He still was, really. There was so much he could never tell her if he truly meant to keep her.

“But you know one of my secrets now,” she went on. “That doesn’t mean you owe it to me to tell me any of your own, but I was hoping you could at least tell me this.”

Cain toyed with the ends of her hair. “Lailah offered to hand over Eve.”

“Your mother? She’s a captive at Aeon?”

“In a sense. She lives in comfort and is able to go about her daily life, but she has many restrictions and wouldn’t be permitted to leave. As they say, a gilded cage is still a cage.” Cain tensed when Wynter pressed herself against him, giving him a comfort that was as foreign to him as the offer of it. Forcing his muscles to relax, he curved his arms around her.

“Were you close to Eve?” she asked.

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