life. “I look forward to the future, Stas. Please give Elizabeth and her daughter my best.”
He disappeared without another word, causing Caro to frown. “That’s his second anticlimactic exit today.”
“Yes,” Sethios agreed, his gaze lifting to the darkening sky. “It seems his goal for now is to convince Astasiya to work with him via pleasant methods. But that will change if she proves too stubborn for his manipulative games.”
“I’m never going to work with him,” Aya said at the same time Caro replied, “It will never happen.”
The two females looked at each other then, Aya’s green eyes widening a fraction as Caro’s blue irises flared.
Mom, Aya thought, causing Issac’s heart to skip a beat at the emotion underlining that single word.
Silence fell between them, Aya just staring as Caro stared back.
And in the next second, they were in each other’s arms, hugging one another as though they feared the other wasn’t real.
Love and affection poured through Issac’s bond from Aya, followed by a deep-seated ache that was finally healing after years of agony. Visions of drowning flooded his mind, Astasiya reliving each one as she clung to her mother harder. Tears fell from her eyes, the reunion one of joy and sorrow and defined by their joint pain.
Issac cleared his throat, his own emotions rising at the sight of so much love flaring to life between a mother and her daughter. He looked at Sethios and found him in a similar state, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. They didn’t fall, but the love was there. Pride, too.
And then he looked at Issac and it all disappeared in a heartbeat.
A darkness returned to the green depths of his gaze. His lips flattened. And power raged around him.
“You stood up to my father,” he said. “Told him to choose his words carefully.”
Ah, so they’d been watching the entire exchange. That didn’t surprise Issac. They’d all known Osiris would be waiting for Astasiya, and her parents never would have allowed him to take her after all the sacrifices they’d made to keep her safe.
“Yes,” Issac confirmed, unwilling to back down. “And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Sethios studied him in silence, his expression giving nothing away. Then, after a beat, he dipped his chin. “Good. Make sure it stays that way.”
Caro giggled, causing Sethios to narrow his gaze at her. But the look lacked heat, unlike when he’d scrutinized Issac.
“Are you laughing at me again, angel?”
“Yes,” she said, her eyes filled with tears from her reunion with Aya. She released her daughter just enough to hold out an arm. “Join us.”
Sethios didn’t hesitate, moving toward them and wrapping them both in his embrace. So many Ichorians believed this male lacked a heart, that he was just as cryptic and cruel as his maker. But in that moment, Issac witnessed the truth.
This man absolutely had a heart.
But it didn’t belong to him.
It belonged to Aya and Caro.
They were his world, which made him just as dangerous as everyone claimed. Because if anyone ever touched either of those two females, he’d destroy them.
Issac understood then why his response to Osiris had mattered so much to Sethios. They’d just become allies. Two men caught up in the love of the women who made them whole, and would do anything to protect them, even take on the most powerful being in existence without blinking.
Sethios met his gaze then, his chin dipping once more in a gesture of respect—one Issac returned.
Aya meant everything to him.
He would do whatever was needed to protect her.
Even if it meant sacrificing himself.
Which was exactly what her parents had done all those years ago. They’d given up everything for her safety. And now they were together once more, a family reunited.
Take your time with them, love, Issac whispered into Aya’s mind. I’ll update you on Elizabeth’s progress.
Thank you, she murmured back to him.
Always, Aya, he vowed, speaking their special version of love, the one only they seemed to understand.
Always, she replied, the single word a kiss to his mind.
He smiled and ventured inside to find Balthazar and Leela for an update.
It didn’t take him long to locate them, Elizabeth’s screams a beacon that led him directly to the second floor. One look inside the room confirmed Issac’s future.
He and Aya were never having kids. Ever.
A bellow from the house had Sethios pulling away from Caro and Astasiya, the hairs along his neck rising. “What the hell was that?”
Caro responded by grabbing his hand, her opposite arm still around their daughter, and