been taken by the Seraphim, it’s possible they’ve been trying to rehabilitate her, and during that process, they may have put her memories on a loop.”
“But why would they do that?”
“To ensure those connected to her didn’t sense the change in her location,” Sethios replied. “Unfortunately, if this is true, it implies Gabriel is no longer within their circle of trust.”
“It also implies they know about my fealty pledge to Astasiya, something they’ve not indicated in any disciplinary hearings yet.” The Seraphim spoke without taking his gaze away from Issac. “However, if we’re right about this, then we’re being monitored. Which means we’re not safe here.”
“Jesus, slow down,” Issac said, sounding breathless. “You’re quite literally drowning me in details.”
“Work faster.”
Issac’s eyes narrowed, and the Seraphim suddenly choked. “Fast enough for you, mate?”
Gabriel coughed and sputtered as though he were drowning himself while power poured off of Issac, his expression one of astute concentration.
“That’s a very useful ability,” Sethios mused.
“Indeed,” he returned. “And I can already tell this is a manipulated loop. Her movements are restricted.”
“She’s tied to a chair,” Gabriel pointed out, his voice hoarse.
“That’s not what I mean. Look. Watch her eyes and mouth. They move in the same sequence on repeat.”
Caro populated Sethios’s mind, so real and tangible and not two feet away from him. He reached for her on instinct, his fingers brushing air. A vision. And a horrid one at that.
Agony etched a scar into her pretty face, her screams muted yet present in the way her mouth formed wordless sounds. She began to choke, causing his heart to beat faster, his own anguish pouring out of him in waves.
“No!” He dove toward her, going through her and landing on the floor.
“Stop!” Astasiya demanded.
The vision vanished, Caro’s pain disappearing into mist and revealing Gabriel’s great room. Sethios wheezed on the ground, his chest vacant, his heart no longer beating.
His angel… Oh, fuck…
He curled into himself, the pain threatening to shred him inside.
All of Osiris’s tortures combined hadn’t compared to this. Oh, how she’d suffered. He searched for her, his soul in tatters, his blood refusing to flow. Goddammit, Caro. Talk to me! He shouted the command through their bond, his fury a whiplash to his senses. Talk to me now!
Shh, her voice hushed him in reply. They’ll hear you.
Sethios froze. Caro? he breathed, worried his mind might be playing a cruel trick on him.
When she didn’t reply, he growled both through the bond and out loud. If you don’t start talking—
Stop, she whispered urgently, then he felt her tug on his soul, yanking him closer. An odd sensation, considering he remained in Gabriel’s house. They know you’re here. Oh, Fates! They’re coming. You need to run. Run!
But it was already too late.
A Seraphim with translucent gold feathers misted into the room before Sethios could even speak.
Fuck.
The world swam around Stas, her vision whirling in a cacophony of colors. One minute, she’d been kneeling on the floor trying to talk to her father, and in the next second, she was flying.
Not of her own volition. Not with her own wings, either. But a black blur she couldn’t decipher.
When her feet touched sand, she shoved herself away from a body much larger than her own and froze upon meeting a pair of tired black eyes. The gold flecks of his irises swirled with a touch of insanity, his long, dark hair pulled back into an uncharacteristic ponytail. He was also missing his trademark leather coat.
“Ezekiel?” It came out as a question. Of course she knew the assassin’s name. She just didn’t understand why he’d—she frowned, taking in her surroundings—yeah, she didn’t understand why he’d taken her to Hydria. “What the hell?”
“Skye,” he rasped. “She had a vision and I reacted.”
“A vision? What kind of vision?”
“One involving golden feathers and your capture,” he explained as Jacque appeared beside them with Luc and Alik on either side. “I need to trace back, but stay here.”
“What about Issac?”
“He can handle himself.”
“And I can’t?” she demanded.
Silence.
Because the damn Ichorian was already gone.
She had half a mind to follow him back to Stark’s house and teach him a lesson, but her intelligent side held her in place.
If he’d traced her here, it’d been for a reason. One Issac confirmed less than a second later as he murmured, I assume Ezekiel kidnapped you because of the golden-winged Seraphim in Gabriel’s great room?
He said Skye had a vision of golden feathers and my capture.
I see, he replied, his English accent thicker inside her thoughts than