it was close to noon.
“Several hours,” Gabriel confirmed. “Skye said your room is upstairs and two doors down on the left. Jacque and Owen are staying across the hall. I’m sleeping here.” He stretched out on his back along the four-cushion couch and tucked his hands behind his head. “We need to talk tomorrow” was the only other thing he said before his eyes fell closed.
Yeah, Sethios imagined there was a lot everyone needed to say. But his first priority was taking care of the now dozing woman in his arms. She’d tucked her head against his shoulder, her blonde hair tangled and unwashed. That didn’t stop him from pressing a kiss to her forehead. I’ve got you, angel, he told her.
I know, she replied, sighing against him.
He took a moment just to study her, amazed that he held her.
She was here.
His Caro.
His life.
His heart.
In his arms, against his chest, warm and fragile and beautiful and strong. Such a conundrum. He felt her vulnerability, her exhaustion and exposed mind, yet power emanated beneath the surface, his warrior refusing to stand down even in her weakest state.
I love you, Caro.
I love you, too, she whispered, the fatigue in her mental voice rivaling the one exuded by her body.
He carried her upstairs and to the bedroom Gabriel had indicated was theirs for now. Inside, he found a warm bath already poured, the scents of eucalyptus strong and encouraging.
Laying Caro on the bed, he stripped out of his clothes and hid the blade in the nightstand. Then he lifted up his angel and took her to bathe.
She didn’t stir, not even when he used a shower head to wash her hair. It wasn’t an easy task, her body dead weight against his, but he took his time, cleaning her thoroughly and combing her hair afterward. Then he tucked her into the sheets and slid in beside her, determined not to let her go ever again.
You’re mine forever, Caro. When you’re awake, I’ll remind you of what that means. For now, sleep well.
“Clara isn’t the mole.”
Balthazar’s statement reverberated in Issac’s head as he considered what that meant. When he and Lucian said they needed to have a conversation with him and Astasiya, he hadn’t known what to expect. With everything going on, the commentary could have been regarding anything. But this proclamation hadn’t even made his list of possibilities.
What did it say about him that the female he once adored like a sister hadn’t even graced his thoughts?
That you have a lot on your mind, Aya replied softly. We all do.
“How do you know she’s not the mole?” she asked out loud.
“Sethios somehow undid the compulsion around her.” Lucian stood with his arms folded across his chest, his gray T-shirt stretching across his pronounced biceps.
He’d been channeling his grief over Aidan’s death by spending more hours working out rather than sleeping. Amelia had expressed her concern to Issac that her big brother wasn’t grieving properly. He was starting to agree with her. And not just because of the dark bags beneath Lucian’s emerald eyes.
“He said it was crudely done, and he suspected that Osiris had left it for you to dismantle as practice,” Balthazar added.
“Has Clara been able to give us any leads on who the mole might be?” Issac asked.
Both men shook their heads. “But now that we know it was all a ruse, we can use it to our advantage,” Lucian replied. “We’ve left her in the cell, albeit with much more comfortable accommodations. As far as everyone else is concerned, she’s still guilty and not to be spoken to.”
“Alik knows. But no one else.” Balthazar ran his fingers through his dark hair, fixing what the outside breeze had done to his artfully messy strands. “We’ll tell Jay when he has less on his mind.”
“So that means the person reporting to Jonathan is still roaming among us,” Aya said, frowning. “Or has the culprit tried to flee?”
“Jacque’s the only one not on the island right now, but he’s with Owen and your parents at Ezekiel’s undisclosed location.” Lucian didn’t sound pleased by that. “But everyone else is still here.”
“Who do you suspect?” Issac asked. “Originally, you insisted on testing Nadia, Clara, and Tristan.”
“We also suspected Ezekiel. Ash and Jacque were mentioned as well.” Balthazar’s tone held a lack of emotion, which was uncharacteristic of the mind reader. Perhaps he didn’t want to let his opinion show either way on the topic.
Lucian’s eyes narrowed. “We know it’s not Jacque or Ash.”
“We also knew