Page 151 of Wicked Bonds

Forget all that we’ve just learned. Everything we’ve just been through together.

He won’t remember me at all. I’ll lose what little memories I have of Brazil. And I won’t be able to help protect Lizzie or baby Aidyn.

I’ve failed everyone.

I’ve… I’ve failedhim.

He nearly shifted backward to grab her neck, to comfort her once more, but he couldn’t risk the distraction.

We need a plan, he thought. Because Melanythos likely wasn’t here alone.

“You’re usually quite shocked to see me,” she said, taking a step forward, that look of confusion still marring her features. “Sometimes you’re even happy about it. You’ve even kissed me before, something that always kills poor Leela.” She canted her head again. “What’s different this time? You’re not even surprised I’m here.”

A spike of hurt drilled at his heart, the comment about kissing pulling Leela from her thoughts long enough to react to the painful notion of him embracing another woman.

And not just any woman, but her half sister.

Anger soon followed, the emotion seeming to ground Leela in the present and help pull her from the worrying spiral in her mind.

Her thoughts changed from failure to fury.

She wanted to kill her half sister, which wasn’t possible since she was a Seraphim, but that didn’t stop Leela from fantasizing about it.

So many lies.

So much trickery.

All to control a Seraphim and to keep her from her bonded mate.

Is Dian nearby?Balthazar wondered.Is he watching to ensure the sanctity of his millennia-old vendetta?

Because clearly the Seraphim was obsessed with Leela and fed off her pain.

All because she’d denied him a child?

How very un-Seraphim-like of him.

But Balthazar suspected there was a lot more to it than just this one bout of desired revenge. The Seraphim were being controlled by a select few, their society founded on the values of stoicism when, in reality, those in charge absolutely felt something.

An evil dynamic.

With Dian heavily involved.

And sweet Leela being played as a victim.

Perhaps she’d known about the dynamic early on but had chosen a life with Balthazar over her purpose on the council?

Had Nythos replaced her as a pet of some kind? The sadistic bitch certainly didn’t seem all that stoic now as she continued to study him through narrowed eyes.

Stark was the model of unfeeling, at least until recently.

Nythos, however, embodied emotion in every way.

“Are you starting to remember?” Nythos guessed when he didn’t immediately reply. She frowned. “No, that’s impossible. Unless you…?”

Unless I’ve bitten her, Balthazar finished for her, aware of what she’d intended to say.

It was a telling statement that indicated Patreel was likely right—if Balthazar finished the bond, he and Leela might be able to unravel everything else.