what since she was alone here. He hadn’t bothered to ask, his first and only question being about Caro’s location.
Astasiya and Issac had followed him. Now they sat on the couch in the living area, watching Sethios battle with Leela’s logic.
Battle and lose, he thought, irritated. “I can’t just sit here, Leela. We know where she is. Just mist me into her cell, and I’ll take it from there.”
“Yes, that requires me to know her cell.” She rolled her eyes at the notion. “Oh, and as I’ve said three times now, get you past the barriers. Which is impossible. You’re not an inducted member of society. The wards will fire defensively. They may not kill you, but they will break you.”
“Gabriel is taking care of it,” a voice chimed in as dark blue feathers appeared in his peripheral vision. “He’s meeting with the council right now,” Vera added, her body turning corporeal in an instant. “Also...” She touched Leela’s head, causing the female to jolt.
“What are you doing?” Balthazar demanded, his gaze locking on Leela as he stepped into the house with Lucian right behind him. He started toward Vera, but she held up a hand—the one not touching Leela—to halt him. Her authoritative aura had both Elders pausing beside the couch.
“Why didn’t you tell us the council has Caro?” Sethios asked her, spoiling for a fight. “And what the fuck are you doing here now?”
“We told her to erase our memories of it,” Leela breathed, her blue-green eyes rimmed with tears. “Oh, Vera.”
“Yeah, yeah. Almost done.”
“She can manipulate memories?” Balthazar asked, his eyes narrowing.
Vera grinned at him. “You’re not the only one who dabbles in mind play, sweetheart.”
His brown irises swirled with suspicion as he looked at Leela. “We have met before.”
Sethios glanced between them, his brow furrowing. Then he shook his head. “Tell me about Caro, Vera. Now.” He underlined each word with persuasion, causing the memory-manipulating Seraphim to sputter in annoyance.
“She was born in—”
“Tell me where she is right now,” he rephrased, not wanting a historical summary of Caro’s being, but her current location.
“In a Seraphim rehabilitation chamber that you can’t reach, so don’t even think about trying.”
“I could compel you to take me to her,” he growled, his patience long gone.
She shrugged. “Fine. But it’ll kill us both.”
“We’ll regenerate.”
“Yes. In our own rehabilitation chambers,” she drawled, rolling her eyes in a similar fashion to Leela moments ago. “Use reason, Sethios. Let me explain. If you still feel like persuading me to take you to Caro after that, then we’ll go to war and see which of us is stronger in battle. But keep in mind, you are significantly younger than I am. And I was able to incapacitate your father long enough for your daughter to save you.”
“I want to hear what she has to say,” Astasiya said softly before Sethios could react.
His jaw tensed, annoyance thick in his veins.
They’d wasted so much time while his angel suffered. Now that they knew her location, he wanted to save her. It physically hurt not to go to her. But one look at his daughter had him nodding. Because a tender part of him—one that existed only for her and Caro—understood the practicality surrounding her request.
“Speak quickly,” Sethios gritted out through his clenched teeth.
“Caro’s mission twenty-five years ago was to find and deliver an edict to Osiris. She failed and never reported back. The council never attempted to locate her because of her concealment line—they knew it was futile to even try—but they did meet to discuss whether or not to wake up her mother. However, the Fates’ prophecy regarding Astasiya changed that debate.”
“So all this happened twenty-five years ago?” Sethios asked.
“It happened soon after Astasiya’s birth, when you and Caro bonded,” Leela whispered, her eyes wide with what was likely a new remembrance, thanks to Vera’s tampering. “The council realized Caro wasn’t going to bring the child back with her—which we all know was the real reason for her mission—and they met to discuss their options in locating her. Only, the prophecy changed.”
“Yes,” Vera confirmed. “I witnessed everything and reported back to you all.”
“Then you told Vera to remove the memories,” Leela added.
“I what?” Yeah, that sounded like utter bullshit to him. “Why the fuck would I do that?”
“To protect Astasiya,” Vera replied. “The council didn’t wake up Chanara to find Caro. They woke her up to locate your daughter.”
His lips worked without words. He had no recollection of any of this. Because, apparently, he’d asked for