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Wynter worried her lower lip. “Did you really once try to kill him?”
“Yes. But that’s a story for another time.”
So mysterious.“I’ll want to hear it,” she cautioned.
“You will eventually.”
“If you didn’t kill him all those years ago, why are you known as the originator of murder?”
“Oh, people had killed others before I was born. I was by no means the first person to attempt to, or successfully commit, murder. But I was the first to target a brother. And that’s the end of that story for tonight.” He combed his fingers through her hair again. “Right now, you need to sleep. We both do.”
Cain held her close, something he’d gotten so used to that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to sleep without her right there next to him. He hadn’t known her long, no, but he’d walked the Earth long enough to be certain that what he felt for her was no temporary attraction; that what they had was worth keeping. Protecting. Nurturing.
He’d never had someone like Wynter in his life before. It was almost like she’d been designed to intrigue, attract, and enchant him. He’d be a fool to let her go … but if he meant to keep her permanently, he’d need to one day be honest with her.
There were so many things she didn’t know about him. So many things he would like to think she could accept, but he simply couldn’t be sure. He did know one thing. He would only tell her when he felt sure she wasn’t going anywhere; that she’d feel too attached to Cain to leave him; that she’d feel he was worth the trouble his creature would give her.
It would likely take time for her to get to that point. Cynical as he was, a part of him doubted that she really ever would. But he had to hope that part of him was wrong, because he had absolutely no idea how he’d give her up. And he didn’t believe that his monster would let him anyway.
Closing his eyes, Cain forced his mind to rest. Sleep took him fairly fast, but his creature later woke him abruptly. And, sure enough, Wynter was gone again. Cain called out her name, softly cursing when he received no response. He jumped out of bed and dragged on a pair of sweatpants, making a mental note that locking the door to his chamber wouldn’t be enough to keep her from wandering out of it in her sleep.
Just as he’d expected, he found her stiffly walking toward the gates to his garden. He sighed. He really had no idea what it was about the garden that—
He stopped breathing and stumbled to a halt. Because the padlock dropped to the fucking ground, and the iron gates creaked open in welcome. She hadn’t eventouchedthem.
What. The. Fuck?
Wynter walked into the garden, slow and mechanical.
“Wynter!” He hurried toward her, but instinct made him slow to a stop. This clearly wasn’t a simple case of her being subconsciously drawn here in her sleep. Not if the gates had opened for her like that. Something else was at work. Something had to be leading her here somehow. He wouldn’t find out what was going on if he woke her and took her back inside the Keep.
So, instead, he trailed behind her, remaining close to ensure that the snakes did her no harm. But, like the last time she came sleepwalking here, they didn’t even try. They simply followed her, rustling the long grass either side of the path. Protecting her? Drawn by her? He didn’t know.
The cool artificial breeze ruffled her hair and the long tee that he’d earlier slipped on her simply because he liked the look of her in his clothes. She didn’t shiver or otherwise react. Didn’t jump or jerk at the sounds of crickets or the frogs croaking. She just kept moving forward.
Soon, they neared the temple. Fuck, he couldn’t let her go in there. He was about to reach forward and cuff her arm with his hand, but then she stopped right at the base of the stone steps.
He sidled up to her and studied her face. She was staring up at the temple, unseeing.
“I know what you hide here.”
The hairs on his arms stood on end. The words had come from her mouth, but it wasn’t Wynter’s voice. It was thicker. Rang with power.Deity.
“Kali,” he greeted through gritted teeth, not bothering to bow or any such shit. Should he have showed some respect? Yes. But this being wasinsidehis witch, and he didn’t fucking like it. His creature wasfurious. “So it’s you who keeps leading her out here.”
“No. Something else draws her to this place.”
He wasn’t buying that. “Hmm.”
Kali laughed, meeting his eyes. “I sense you do not like that I am using her body. She is more mine than she is yours, darkling.”
The latter word startled him so much he could only blink. He hadn’t heard it in a long time. It was an affectionate term often used to describe the children of his kind. Not that it had ever been used on him before—affection hadn’t been a big part of his upbringing.
Since he hadn’t been a child in a very long time, he didn’t appreciateHerusing it, but he wasn’t about to rise to the deity’s attempt to provoke him for fun.
“You need not worry for Wynter,” said Kali. “I mean her no harm. I also mean you no harm. We have similar goals, you and I.”
“Goals,” he echoed. “Are you planning to use Wynter to reach those goals? Is that why you didn’t make her an average revenant? Is that why you keep sending her back to this realm?”
