Blood Seeker (Immortal Curse #7) - Lexi C. Foss Page 0,13

pain remained as a visceral scar against her heart.

She crept forward, wishing to leave another footprint, hoping to be able to alter a sentence or a phrase.

How many times had she died and regenerated?

The loop only showed a handful of memories, causing her to wonder how long she’d actually been at the bottom of the ocean. Minutes? Hours? Days? Months?

Did it truly matter?

No. Not really. She had a mission in mind, a memory to tweak, a way to—

A spike of presence had Caro blanking her mind once more.

One of them was checking on her increased mental activity.

Seraphim do not feel.

Seraphim do not love.

Seraphim do not react.

She took a shallow breath, falling back into line, far away from that precious place. There would be no altering today. Not with him in her mind, poking around to search for any faults in her rehabilitation.

Silence overcame her.

Calmness.

Nothingness.

Caro no longer existed.

No bonds.

No family.

No love.

Just a Seraphim soul, floating… floating away.

Time no longer held meaning.

Caro was reborn. Died. Reborn again.

Drowning without water.

Flushed from her body and reattached once more.

Did it hurt? Maybe. She couldn’t sense anything, her mind existing in a stratosphere removed from her spirit.

Not true. They were connected in a way. Blinking. Swaying. Dying again.

A strand of light caught her focus, so subtle and slight, a sliver of insanity brightening her shadows. She carefully, quietly, clandestinely swam toward it, seeking the outlet her soul desired.

No one was watching today. Not closely, anyway. Her restoration was almost complete. Soon she would wake with a renewed purpose. She felt nothing in regard to that development, just acceptance.

They would provide her with a task.

She would fulfill it.

To disobey was impractical.

Just like following this tarnished, barbed thread. Visions of the past swirled around her. She hid her intentions, choosing to watch them through a passive mind’s eye.

No one stopped her.

Not even a prick in her conscious.

She was fully reformed now and no longer a concern.

Which allowed her to play, to subtly alter the message once more. They’d established this memory loop to play over the strands, to pass on to those she couldn’t name—not without risking discovery.

Subtly, subtly, subtly, she touched and stroked, adding her own words, blinks, and sounds.

She remained alone, unbothered, her mind still deep beneath the spells of Seraphim power, but not openly monitored.

Caro added another blur. Tweaked another detail. Removed the water from one loop. Waited.

Nothing.

Were her visions even working? Was this all just a trick of the mind established by those meant to guide her through the reformation? What if this was a test? Was she failing even now?

She mentally touched the loop once more, seeking the memory from the day of her drowning. The blurs were too fast, imperceptible.

It was a risk.

But she needed them to see.

Rightness settled over her, a subtle shift that almost bled warmth into her forever frozen state. A trick of the mind? Another experiment?

If she didn’t pass, they would just start over.

If she didn’t try, she might never escape.

Sacrifice wasn’t new to her. She could withstand more pain if it provided her with a chance.

She slipped deeper into the memory loop, careful to avoid detection by the one who had created it, and entered the mental maze deep inside.

This cycle fed into a link somewhere. And that connection was her key to survival.

She had to warn them.

Before it was too late.

“Osiris released Skye from his compulsion as a gift?” Astasiya looked as incredulous as she sounded. “For me?”

Sethios dipped his chin in confirmation. “Gabriel convinced him that you required a sign of good faith in order to consider working with him.”

“I will never work with him,” she replied immediately.

“Obviously,” Gabriel said from the recliner chair in his great room. He had his eyes closed and one ankle crossed over his opposite knee, the picture of ease. The rising sun outside indicated the very early hour, confirming yet another sleepless night for all of them.

“Osiris doesn’t know you or your resolve,” Sethios added when the Seraphim in the chair remained stoic and silent. “Your brother played on that because, I believe, he wanted Osiris to provide us with your mother’s current location. But he gave us Skye instead.”

“So he thinks by undoing one evil thing, I’ll forgive him?”

“My father is a master strategist. Therefore, I suspect he also removed his compulsion for a self-serving reason.” Something that his comment regarding it being a practical course had indicated. “He stated we needed her more than he did, suggesting he intends for her to deliver some sort of prophecy