Aidan made her. And she betrayed us all to Jonathan.” The anger in Lucian’s voice rivaled the green flames flaring in his vibrant irises. “She’s locked up in the utility hut off the beach. I suppose we could have B read the reaction from her mind, if you think that’ll be sufficient enough. But she’s not being all that forthcoming with information.”
Sethios considered him. “Is she the reason my daughter was shot and subsequently buried alive?” Technically, Gabriel possessed some of the fault in that sequence of events. But the burial wouldn’t have been needed without the initial attack.
“Yes,” Lucian replied. “She told Jonathan about the wedding.”
“Then perhaps I should tag along,” he suggested. “If there’s one thing my maker taught me, it’s how to intimidate someone into cooperating.” Sethios’s reputation for cruelty spanned millennia, something they could use to their advantage now.
Unless she failed to fear him like the immortals inside Jayson’s home.
His lips curled down at the thought. He’d only been out of the game for twenty-five years. That was a few blinks in their overall life spans. Did they all assume he’d reformed himself while under his father’s version of house arrest?
“Actually, that might help us,” Lucian said, his expression thoughtful. “She’s old enough to know who you are. That she placed your daughter in harm’s way should also sway her to cooperate at least a little. And you bring the added benefit of having no history with her. Which means she’ll know you won’t go easy on her.”
“Yes, and as an empath, she’ll be able to feel my rage.” Of which he had plenty to go around. Particularly as Caro had shut him out again and he was getting really tired of not being able to feel her.
“When do you need to report to the council?” Lucian asked.
“Edicts are expected to be followed. They’ll anticipate my swift compliance, but I have a few hours, or perhaps days, before another messenger arrives. They may allow me more time due to the request to handle the abomination problem on my property.”
Sethios snorted. “What happens when Issac and I grow wings? Will we still be considered abominations?” The blood bond would eventually turn both of them into Seraphim.
Eventually, Sethios repeated to himself, annoyed. He should already have his wings, at least according to what Caro had told him twenty-five years ago.
“It’s not a precedented situation, so I imagine the council will need to meet to declare your fates.”
“And they haven’t already decided mine?” Sethios asked, surprised.
“Not that I’m aware of. But as my grandmother may have been awakened without my knowledge or consultation, my expertise on the matter is likely null.”
Always so practical and stoic.
Sethios really thought Ezekiel would have loosened him up over the years, but the Gabriel before him was just as bland as ever.
“Right. Shall we go chat with the empath?” Sethios suggested, needing a distraction.
Balthazar appeared on the path in a T-shirt and shorts. “Let’s go” was all he said, leading the way without another word.
Lucian must have communicated the plan to the mind reader. As his fellow Elder, it made sense. There were five of them who essentially led the Hydraian race. Or there were five the last time Sethios had checked.
Lucian, Balthazar, Alik, Jedrick—who now went by Jayson—and Eli.
Sethios considered the last one with a frown. He hadn’t seen the giant immortal anywhere. Alik had been playing sentry on the beach. Jayson was inside dealing with his pregnant wife. So where was Eli? Off with Amelia, perhaps?
Only, hadn’t Gabriel mentioned Jonathan’s son being important to her? Sethios hadn’t bothered to ask why, his concern with the prick revolving around an entirely different matter—telling his daughter about the Arcadia.
Rather than ponder it all damn day, Sethios asked, “Where’s Eli? I haven’t seen him yet.” And he rather liked the big brute. He could kill with a single touch. A very useful trait.
Lucian and Balthazar stopped walking, both of them turning to study him closely.
Sethios’s eyebrows lifted. “That’s a pair of ominous looks.”
“Eli’s dead,” Lucian replied flatly. “Jonathan killed him.”
The world fell silent with that announcement, Sethios’s heart skipping a beat in his chest. “Jonathan killed Eli? How the fuck did that imbecile take down a Hydraian Elder?”
“By taking advantage of our trust.”
“Why would you trust him?” Then it dawned on him, the reason it’d been so simple for him to infiltrate their world and cause all this havoc. “Right. Aidan took him in as a stray immortal.” And as Issac’s maker, and Luc’s father,