Page 83 of The Monsters We Are
“There’s only one definition of that word.” Anabel threw up a hand when he would have spoken again. “I’m done. Stop talking.” She cut her gaze to Wynter. “What is it you want to tell us?”
Wynter shifted slightly in her seat. “Okay, so you’re going to hear some news today. Cain will be making a speech about it. But I want you to hear it from me first. Now, let me just preface this by saying that I’ll understand if you feel let down that I said nothing about this before. I truly will. But Cain only told me because he trusted me not to speak of it to others. I couldn’t betray that trust.”
Delilah flicked a hand. “Of course you couldn’t. Now spit it out, the suspense is killing me.”
Wynter took a preparatory breath. “There’s an eighth Ancient here.”
“An eighth?” echoed Anabel, sitting straighter.
“Yes,” replied Wynter. “He came to Devil’s Cradle long ago with the other seven, but he was so deeply injured that he went to sleep in that way that the Ancients do. It wasn’t a standard Rest, though. It was similar to a coma. The others expected him to slip away in his sleep at some point, but he didn’t. He healed. He simply didn’t wake.”
“Until now,” added Anabel.
Wynter nodded. “Until now. The Ancients woke him so that he can partake in the upcoming battle.”
“Well,” began Delilah, leaning back in her seat, “that was, like, thelastthing I expected you to say.”
“Have you met him yet?” Hattie asked Wynter.
“Yes. I met him last night.” In a manner of speaking. Cain had introduced her to the other Ancient, but she hadn’t spoken to him. Since Cain had asked her to keep the detail of Abaddon being his uncle private, she kept that part to herself, only adding, “His name is Abaddon.”
Anabel’s brows flew up. “As intheAbaddon? A demon who some believe might actually be the devil?”
“Yeah, him. Except he’s neither of those things. Humans have a habit of mistaking Ancients for demons,” Wynter reminded her. “Probably because of how darkly powerful they are. Or maybe the Aeons embarked on a sort of hate campaign to ensure people feared and loathed them, I don’t know.”
“I think there are some here who do believe that the Ancients are demons of some kind,” said Delilah.
Wynter frowned. “Well, they’re not.”
“Weknow that,” said Xavier. “We saw a glimpse of Cain’s monster, remember? Well, we saw its eyes—they were serpentine. Demon eyes are pure black.”
Rubbing at her arm, Wynter blew out a breath. “I just hope the residents here don’t respond negatively to hearing that there’s another Ancient in Devil’s Cradle.”
“It will come as a surprise to them for sure,” said Anabel. “And given how many dark rumors are attached to Abaddon’s name, there’s a good chance that people will be wary of him. But I don’t think they’ll find this abadthing. Especially when having an additional Ancient fighting on their side in the upcoming battle will make all the difference.”
Xavier nodded. “I doubt people will line up to shake his hand, but I think they’ll accept his presence.”
Maybe, but . . . “They haven’t accepted Eve or the twins.”
“That’s different, they’re Aeons,” said Hattie.
Well, true.
“Where do you think Abaddon will live?” asked Delilah.
“No idea. He’ll probably build his own Keep after the battle is over.” Wynter suspected he’d stay with Cain in the interim, given that they were blood relatives, but it could be that he was close to another of the Ancients and would prefer to stay with them—she wasn’t yet sure. “Thank you all for not being upset that I didn’t tell you about Abaddon before today.”
Anabel waved that away. “Hey, I get it. The Ancients are a secretive bunch, so I’m sure there’s lots of things they don’t share. It was a no-brainer that Cain would trust you with some of that stuff but ask you to keep it to yourself.”
“I might like to know everything, being incredibly nosy and all, but I don’texpectyou to tell us everything,” said Delilah.
Xavier leaned back in his seat, nodding. “Everyone has their secrets.”
“Especially couples,” added Hattie. “It’s a natural thing.”
A relieved breath slipped out of Wynter. Although she hadn’t expected her coven to bitchily vilify her for keeping secrets, she’d worried that they’d be hurt by it. She adored them for being so understanding.
Hiding things from people was something she’d been doing for so long that it was a littletooeasy for her these days. But when it came to her coven, Wynter didn’t like holding back important things from them. She didn’t like that she couldn’t be fully open with them about everything.