Page 165 of Wicked Bonds

His head canted a bit to the side, reminding her of a perplexed bird. “You choose them over your own kind?”

“I choose my family over a council that kills without mercy or just cause,” she returned, arching a brow. “If they’re willing to negotiate, I’d be willing to meet with them.” She let that sentence hang between them for him to consider, but his green eyes stared blankly at her.

A beat passed.

Followed by another.

And a third.

When he finally said, “If you will not come willingly, then we will escort you after we finish our task here.” He lifted a hand up, causing six more Seraphim to appear in the clouds. “Unless you wish to hand over the abominations now? Then we will leave the island with them, and you, to return to the council. They would live in that situation. At least until we finish studying them.”

“Subject my best friend and her daughter to experimentation and eventual death, and meet with the council that mandated it,” she reiterated, her voice sarcastically thoughtful.

Something that was clearly lost on Adriel because he replied, “Yes.”

“Hmm,” she hummed, tilting her head. “Yeah, I think I’ll pass.”

“Then you subject this island to a consequence of destruction,” Adriel replied.

“On what grounds?” her mother interjected, appearing on her opposite side.

Her presence gave Adriel momentary pause, his green eyes flickering with an emotion that disappeared in a flash. “Caro.”

“Adriel.”

Stas’s father snorted. “What a touching reunion.”

“Has the council mandated extermination of the abominations?” her mother pressed, her focus on Adriel.

“We are here for the lab-created Seraphim and the illegitimate child,” he replied. “We will exterminate all those who stand in our way.”

“Including me?” her mother asked.

“You will return to reform.”

“That’s not happening,” her father said, his tone ice cold. “Ever.”

“Her programming is flawed,” Adriel replied, finally addressing her father. “As is yours.”

“So you want to put me in a box, too?” Her father grunted. “My father recently forced me to drown myself in a block of cement. So, to echo my daughter, I think I’m going topasson your claustrophobic opportunity. Thanks, anyway, though.”

Adriel glanced at Stas. “Your fate can be saved if you allow the council to help guide you. You’re a child in our eyes. Your sins are not your own.”

“My fate is directly tied to a destruction prophecy,” Stas deadpanned. “I think I’ll take my chances with those I love.”

“Love,” Adriel repeated, his eyebrows lifting. “That’s impractical.”

She studied him. “Love is far more powerful than any of you realize.”

“Adriel,” her mother interjected again. “There’s so much you don’t understand here. So much you don’tknow.”

“You dare speak such things to an elder?” he asked, his tone not exactly offended but borderline shocked.

Emotion, Stas thought.Adriel shows signs of emotion.

He was Osiris’s first candidate for reformation,Issac replied.Perhaps this is why.

“Osiris—”