up to her feet and went straight for the door, refusing to waste time. It was unlocked, making it easy for the Seraphim to walk in and check on the pod victim inside.
They built this facility with the mindset that the pods would hold the prisoners steady. Therefore, additional measures weren’t required.
Which was why she found the hallway vacant and the stairwell at the end unlocked and unguarded.
She tested her weight and found her footing light as she scaled the stairs upward, her body rejuvenated, thanks to her freshly awakened gift. But the sun gave her pause as she reached the ground level, her eyes unaccustomed to the brilliance.
Her gift triggered, mending whatever she required to see, and then she was moving once more.
Did you just kill Chanara, angel? Sethios asked softly.
Yes. She didn’t bother pointing out that her mother would be fine in an hour or so. Sethios would already know that.
Without your knives?
Yes, she repeated.
Hmm.
She frowned at that hum inside her mind. What’s wrong?
I’m just intrigued, he admitted, a warm note in his voice. We’ll play later.
I just broke out of a reformation pod, and you’re talking about playing.
Does that surprise you?
She considered it. No, actually it doesn’t. While her memories still hadn’t fully formed or returned to her, her instincts guided her thought process.
A pair of glass doors was all that separated her from the outside.
She ran for them, bursting outward and ready to take off, when a myriad of alarms went up around her. Caro spun in a circle, then engaged her misting ability, preparing to leave the primary islands.
Only, a familiar sight about a hundred yards away gave her pause.
Gabriel. She started toward him in her angelic state, using her wings to propel her forward. They ached from disuse, her magic triggering again to begin healing and taking away from the work in her mind.
It was all too much. She needed somewhere safe to fully recover. A place where she could sleep off the headache forming behind her eyes.
Her son said something to her about a shirt. She ignored him and said, “Take me to Sethios.” Her voice was surprisingly strong for her lack of use over the last however many years.
“I’d rather him meet us elsewhere,” her son replied as he pulled out a small device from his pocket. He studied the screen, his fingers moving over it in rapid succession before he returned the item to his jeans. “Let’s go.”
Is Gabriel still on our side? she asked Sethios, confused by his behavior.
Unless the council changed his mind in the last few hours, yes.
Council? She knew he meant the High Council of Seraph, but wanted more details.
He received an edict to meet with them. He intended to more or less trick them into freeing you.
But they didn’t free me, she replied. I freed myself. Did that mean she couldn’t trust him? What if—
Fire encircled her, the heat lashing out at her skin and causing her to draw a hiss through her teeth. She misted away from it, only to be engulfed in a fiery net that stirred a scream from her lungs.
Caro! Sethios cried out in her mind. Send me a visual. Show me where you are.
It was a demand that forced her compliance, her eyes opening to capture the buildings around her, all mingled with burning embers that seared her retinas.
The persuasion left her in an instant, her mate immediately sensing the pain he’d caused. He didn’t apologize, his mind whirring through hers as he tried to find a way to reach her, to help, to take down those harming her.
She fell to her knees, her lungs burning with the need to grasp clean air.
But in the next breath, it all disappeared.
The warmth.
The fire.
Everything.
She opened her eyes and blinked at the sight of Gabriel in full warrior mode, taking down a horde of Seraphim in one swipe of his sword.
They bellowed, cries of pain gracing the air, but he was on a warpath, his destructive side engaged. It wasn’t a proper sword that he’d wielded, but a weapon made of power. He’d called it to him using the talents from his paternal side.
Awe swept over Caro at watching her son annihilate the others without a single misstep. I created him, she thought, her eyebrows lifting. The Fates mandated this.
Most Seraphim were over five hundred before their bodies were considered viable for procreation. Caro had been significantly younger when the call came for her to mate with Adriel. She’d followed through on the edict