Page 116 of Wicked Bonds

“She bonded him,” Luc translated. “When?”

“She partially bonded him,” she corrected him. “He never bit her back.” Had he bitten her, reformation would have been that much worse.

Or maybe he would have provided her with a mental anchor.

It was hard to say, and Vera didn’t want to waste time pondering what-ifswhen the damage was already done.

“As to when it happened, it took place at some point after he left the brothel and shortly before he met you for the first time.”

“How do you know when we met?” He didn’t sound suspicious so much as genuinely curious.

“Because your mind was altered to an extent as a result of all this,” she told him. And now that she knew what to look for, she could confirm the truth of Patreel’s claims.

Not that she’d really doubted it.

The story had rung too true to be fake.

“My half sister, Melanythos, has been in your head,” she went on, her gaze on Luc. “She established an elaborate affair with Balthazar to sink her mental claws deep into his psyche to alter all his memories of Leela. Including their partial bond.”

All while Leela underwent reformation.

“Melanythos?” Luc repeated, his gaze sharpening. “As in,Nythos?”

“It’s the name she assumed while seducing Balthazar, yes,” she replied. “She inherited her memory-altering abilities from my maternal side of the family. Meaning we share a mother. And she shares her desirability with Leela’s paternal bloodline, as they both share a father.”

Not the Seraphim line of fertility.

But a different one.

“Their father is Adonis. And there’s a reason his name has become popular in human myths. He’s the Seraphim of Beauty and Desire.” Leela often attributed her sensuality to her mother’s side of the family. But Vera knew better. It was an intoxicating mix of both bloodlines that made her irresistible to everyone in her path.

Including Dian.

“Patreel said Dian required Leela to remember the council’s decision regarding their intended procreation, but to weave it in a way that the date for said event had not yet been determined. He claimed it would be a good way to test her reformation. When she goes to him during a fertility cycle to see the edict through, she’ll be considered cured.”

Instead, she was terrified of him and what he represented.

“She’s undergone three different reformations and has had countless memories altered over the last three thousand years. Balthazar, too.” Just thinking about it made Vera want to kill everyone involved in this harsh fate.

Melanythos and Dian being at the top of that list.

Because the reformation and memory altering had been Dian’s idea. And her half sister had willingly allowed it.

Not to mention the involvement of Vera’s own mother. “The council had some of my memories altered as well. By my own mother. And I never noticed because I don’t make it a habit to fuck around in my best friend’s head.”

She hadn’t noticed the alterations in Balthazar’s mind either because she’d been hyper-focused on Brazil and altering his memories in a way that he would subtly remember Leela.

Vera had thought she was helping out her best friend—Balthazar and Leela were clearly meant for each other.

The irony was, had Vera pried just a little more, she might have discovered how right she was about their fate.

And the only reason she’d noticed any of this in Patreel’s mind was because of his link to Leela’s blood. Had she not followed that strand, she wouldn’t have learned any of this.

“The council mandated everything in an effort to reform Leela,” she continued. “Which brings me to Osiris.”

This was the part she’d been able to use to recruit Patreel to their side.

It was also the reason she’d aligned herself with Osiris lately.