“You also insisted that she was under the protection of every Ancient. That therefore includes me. I did what was fair and just. You know that well. Or do you have it in your head that she doesn’t deserve to be protectedfromyou? From how you are toying with her affections to keep her close?”
“Don’t claim you did anything but act in your own selfish, petty interests. You care nothing for Wynter’s feelings. What is ‘fair’ to her has no relevance to you. You would not give a damn if I was ‘toying with her affections.’ Which I’m not.”
Ishtar flapped a dismissive hand. “Anyone can see that you are using her. Except for her, apparently—she stupidly trusts your word. Well, if you are looking for an apology from me, you will not get one. Twist my actions if you must, but I did what I thought was right.”
“Right for who?” Seth cut in. “You, I’m guessing. You certainly didn’t do right by Cain or Wynter. And don’t for one moment think we’ll truly believe otherwise. Cain’s not twisting your actions.Youare. But then, I suspected you would. Gaslighting is something you seem to enjoy.”
“Do not cast me into the role of ‘villain,’” she said, her tone tart. “Pretend to care about the witch’s itty bitty feelings if you wish. But if you truly did care, you would be hesitant about using her as bait to lure the Aeons here. You would be second-guessing your decision. You’re not, though, are you? No. Face it, we areallusing her to get what we want. She will realize that eventually, Cain. Then she will turn on you.”
Wynter had been right, he realized. Ishtar viewed her as a silly, naïve girl. She didn’t see that his little witch was as ruthless as they were. She didn’t see that Wynter would find some satisfaction in being the bait that lured the Aeons to their death, considering they’d blessed the execution of her mother.
Oh, Wynter might not be so pleased that no one had shared this with her. But if there was one person who understood the need for secrets, it was her—she had plenty of her own. She wouldn’t turn on him for holding certain things back from her.
“Does it not bother you that you’re a person who’d find so much satisfaction in seeing Cain suffer in any way?” Seth asked Ishtar. “You weren’t always so wrapped up in your own feelings that those of others rarely mattered to you. You’ve changed over time. You lost pieces of yourself somewhere along the way.”
Ishtar’s eyes glimmered with annoyance. “You like to think you are so much better than the rest of us, don’t you?”
Seth’s expression tightened. “Do not insinuate that my being different means I am not a true part of the circle. And do not think you can change the subject so easily, or that Cain and I don’t have a right to our anger.”
“You are both being dramatic and you know it.”
“Dramatic? You urged Wynter to not only run from him but to run tome. You didn’t care that it might have caused trouble between myself and Cain. You didn’t care how it would have made him feel. You didn’t care about anything but soothing your wounded ego. You want Wynter to reject him just as he rejected you. How much of a hypocrite does that make you, given you reject people all the time? You never care how those men feel about it. You’d never believe they have a right to be angry with you for turning them away.”
“Mortals, I turnmortalsaway,” she specified. “I made the mistake of getting a little too attached to one of them once-upon-a-time, as you may recall. I offered him immortality. He refused, and so I lost him. I had to watch him grow old with another. I will not put myself in that position again.”
“On the surface, it sounds like a tragic love story in which you were an innocent victim,” said Seth. “Maybe you did love him in your way. But if so, it was a selfish love. You hadn’t offered to make him your consort. You wouldn’t even consent to exclusivity. You expected him to be faithful to you, but you wouldn’t offer him that same loyalty. The main reason you wanted him was that he was so desired by everyone in the city. You treated him poorly, like a mere shiny bauble, and you know it.”
She looked from Seth to Cain, sneering. “As if either ofyouare better in how you treat your bedpartners. Neither of you agreed to exclusivity when I requested it.”
“Because you wouldn’t agree for that to be a two-way street,” Seth reminded her. “I wasn’t interested in offering you more commitment than you would offer me. I suspect the same applied with you and Cain. But I won’t ask him for clarification on that because, again, you’re simply trying to change the subject.”
“No, this topic is very much related to Wynter.” She glared at Cain, her chin jutting out. “You may treat her well, but you do it for the wrong reasons—to appease her, to keep her sweet, to give her a false picture of yourself.”
“If you truly believed I held so little regard for her, you wouldn’t care about my involvement with her,” said Cain. “You see that she matters to me, and you don’t like it.”
Ishtar shook her head. “You may have fooledherinto believing she is important to you, but you will not makemebelieve that.”
“I don’t care what you do or don’t believe.” Cain took yet another step closer to her. “All I want is to make one thing perfectly clear.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m to stay away from the witch, I suppose.”
A growl built in Cain’s throat. “Do not cross me on this, Ishtar. You will not hurt what’s mine; I absolutely forbid it.”
She pinned him with a furious glare. “What’syours?”
“Yes, mine. Wynter belongs to me.”
“Your monster—”
“Would wipe your existence from this planet if you took her from it,” he finished, his tone clipped. “I am not fucking around here, Ishtar. She is off-limits to you in every respect.”
Her eyes hardened to stone. “Is that so?”
“Yes, it is. No more games, no more visits to her house, no more making this about you. I won’t allow it. Work through whatever shit is going on in your head, and move on. If you don’t, if you ever again try to fuck with her, I will return the favor. You know I don’t make empty threats. Focus on your own life and stay out of mine.”
Her face red, she slowly stood, the image of composure. She sauntered to the door and swung it open, but then her gaze flicked back to Cain. “Such a shame that mortals have a short lifespan, isn’t it? Oh, I’m sure it feels long to them. But, really, their lives are over in a blink. You won’t keep her for long, Cain. You won’t want to. She appeals to you now, but it will not last. She will soon show signs of age that repulse you.”
Seth exhaled heavily. “Ishtar—”