She swallowed. “I felteverything, but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream. Couldn’t cry out for help. So being paralyzed by power yet again made the ‘exile’ so much worse. Especially since the keeper intended to dismember me on behalf of the angry families of the boys who were executed after what they did to me—oh,andhe meant to gouge out one of my eyes for them to have as a souvenir. To put it simply, I was in a blind fury.”
“Anyone would have been.” Cain crossed to her, unable to do anything else when she looked so very alone. “It would be safe to conclude that the Aeons believe you’re behind the blight and intend to force you to fix it. They probably didn’t suspect you at first, since it wouldn’t initially seem like a magickal attack. But when the blight kept unnaturally spreading, they no doubt concluded that it had to be you who’d caused it, and now they want you to unravel what they will believe is a spell.”
“That would explain why they went from wanting you dead to wanting you alive,” Seth said to her.
Wynter’s brow creased. “You didn’t ask the bounty hunters?”
“We did,” said Seth. “They don’t know why the Aeons want you.”
She eyed Cain closely. “It’s possible that more hunters will come for me.”
“It’s unlikely, since I insisted that it be publicly known that you’re in my service—people are highly reluctant to harm the property of an Ancient. It’s a death sentence.”
“I doubt that will stop residents of Aeon from coming for me, though—they’ll be acting on orders from the Aeons; they won’t dare ignore said orders. Hell, you may even be visited by the Aeons themselves. If you’re not prepared to go up against them to keep me safe, I can understand that, but I’ll need to leave.”
She wasn’t going anywhere. His creature would never allow it, even if Cain would. He put his face closer to hers. “I told you I wouldn’t give you up. I meant it.”
“But can you speak for the other Ancients when you say that?”
“Oh, they won’t do the Aeons any favors. We loathe them even more than you do. The Aeons know that. So I doubt they would come for youpersonally. At least not initially. But they may send representatives.”
Pausing, Cain took a moment to study her face. “I see you’re skeptical that we’d protect you. I can understand why. I’ll be honest, it’s notallabout you or our verbal contract. The fact is …nothingwould please me and the other Ancients more than for Aeon to be uninhabitable. That was once our home, and they banished us much as they did you. For as long as you’re alive, their land will continue to waste away, and their people will continue to fall ill. For those reasons alone, we will never let them harm you.”
She glanced from him to Seth to Azazel. “You all want revenge, too.”
Cain nodded. “And together, we’ll get it.”
“One question,” Azazel said to her, raising his finger. “Will the curse only effect the surface of the town?”
“I can’t say for sure, but it’s possible that the city below will also suffer.”
A grin spread across Azazel’s face. “Best news I’ve heard in a long time. The other Ancients will be just as pleased to hear it.”
The four of them talked a little while longer but then, tossing Cain a look that said they’d at some point revisit the reason she’d originally come to the Keep, Wynter left.
As the solar room door closed behind her, Azazel smiled. “I like that girl.”
“You like what she did to Aeon,” Seth corrected.
“Same thing.” Azazel shook his head. “She really has no clue just how valuable she is to us. For the first time, we have something the Aeons want. We have a way to lure them here; a way to drag them into our path so we can kill them.”
Cain nodded. “And in doing so, we’ll finally destroy our cage.”
“We need to tell the others,” said Seth.
“We do.” So Cain called them to the Keep, and soon every Ancient was sprawled around the solar. He brought them all up to speed, watching as they went from bored to enlivened.
Grinning, Dantalion said, “You know what I love most about this? The Aeons actually brought this on themselves.Theyexiled her.Theysent hunters after her.Theydrove her here, serving the key to our freedom to us on a silver platter.”
“Oh, the irony.” Lilith’s mouth curved. “It almost feels like fate or some higher power had a hand in this, doesn’t it?”
“Or this is some trick,” said Ishtar, her voice clipped. “She could be working for them. Could be a spy.”
Lilith frowned. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
“She lived at Aeon for years; she was one of its people,” said Ishtar. “She couldstillbe one of them.”
Seth shook his head. “I felt her hatred for the residents there. It all but hummed in the air. Plus, the Aeons long ago ceased attempting to plant spies here. They got tired of us always sniffing them out and sending the bodies back in pieces—they hated giving us those victories. Wynter is no spy.”