Page 126 of The Monsters We Are

“So, it’s finally over,” said Wynter. “With the exception of your mother and Rima, the guardians are dead. Aeon has been leveled. And you and the other Ancients are free.”

“I spent the entire journey back to Devil’s Cradle processing it all. Or trying to. My mind has not yet fully absorbed this new reality, or that Inanna has gone, or that my consort hosts an actual Rephaim.”

“But you meant it when you said that you’re not freaked out about the latter, right?” Because it would be a problem if he was. And she’d be tempted to punch him in the junk, considering she’d acceptedhiscreature without a qualm.

“Of course I meant it.”

Junk-punching averted. “I’m kind of bummed that I didn’t get to see your monster. It’s not fair. You saw mine.” She knew she sounded like a whiner, but whatever.

He draped one arm over her shoulders. “I’ll let it free sometime soon so that you can officially meet it.”

“Awesome.”

“I don’t think many people would find the thought of being face to face with a Leviathan ‘awesome’.”

“We’ve already established that ‘normal’ and I long ago got divorced.”

His lips twitched. “I suppose that’s one way to put it.”

As they exited the temple and began walking along the garden’s twisting path, Wynter cast him a sideways glance. “Are you truly not mad at me for keeping so much from you?” she asked, her voice unintentionally hesitant.

“I’m pissed that you withheld things from me, but I’m not pissed atyou. I’m pissed at Kali for giving you so many conditions.” He jerked slightly as the deity then brushed over them both in her breeze-form in a sort oftsk, tskgesture. “Wait, She’s still hanging around?”

“Don’t worry, She has no other plans for me. She just . . .”

“Cares for you in Her way and wishes to be near you,” he guessed.

“Kind of. I think She’s also lonely. Anyway. As for Her imposing conditions on me, I didn’t like it much either. But She swore that things had to happen a certain way. And I wasnotgoing to cross Her on that, because She also said that She’d allow me to stay with you after the battle was over if I followed Her orders to the letter.”

Cain blinked, his brows snapping together in affront. “Allowyou to stay with me? As if She had a choice in the matter?”

“I didn’t like how She worded it either. But you and I both know that, while it doesn’t seem fair, Shedidhave a choice in the matter. Anyway, Her original plan was apparently to bring my soul back to the netherworld after I’d achieved Her goals so that it could move on and begin a new life. But She promised that She wouldn’t if I did as I was told, although it would mean I’d have to permanently keep the entity I host.”

“Why?”

“Without a monster inside me, I wouldn’t be a revenant anymore. And if I wasn’t a revenant, I’d be nothing at all. Dead rather than undead.”

“Ah, I see.” They slowed their pace as a snake slithered across the path in front of them. “So it was Apep who repeatedly called you here, hmm?”

“Yup.”

“It explains why the snakes stayed close but didn’t harm you while you were sleepwalking. Apep is a serpentine deity; He can communicate with any serpent. He would have ordered them to leave you alone.”

“Kali told me a lot about Him. There wassuch griefin Her voice when she spoke of Him.” Wynter swallowed. “She mourns Him, in a way. Mourns what they once had until they were separated. All that grief and rage and bitterness and spite brewed inside Her until She couldn’t take it anymore. And I get it. I’d have become just as twisted up inside if someone took you from me.”

Cain gave a soft nod, lightly squeezing her hand. “As would I have been if someone dared try to separate us. What the deities did to avenge themselves . . . I wouldn’t have done any differently in their shoes.”

“Me neither.”

“And it was Nyx’s idea to put one of the Rephaim in you?”

“According to Kali, yes. The deities needed something powerful. Fearless. Monstrous. But also obedient. The Rephaim inhabit the area of purgatory that Nyx oversees, and She sort of leads them. She sent one Kali’s way, ensuring that it knew it had to obey Her.” Wynter felt her lips faintly curve as a snake lunged at a white moth and missed.

“Did you know it was one of the Rephaim?”

“Yes. I just didn’t know that Nyx basically gave it to Kali. Not until recently, anyway.”

Reaching the gate, he pushed it open and waved her out of the garden. “Will it bother you to keep the entity with you permanently?” he asked as he closed the gate behind them.

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