Page 30 of Wicked Bonds

She grabbed Caro’s arm without warning, but she didn’t appear disturbed or shocked by it. She simply watched as Vera worked.

How is she checking her?Aya asked, the question more of an internal musing than anything else.

Perhaps she’s checking her memories?Issac suggested.

Maybe, Aya murmured, then flinched before reaching around to scratch her lower back.

Still tingling?he guessed.

Yeah. Her tone expressed irritation.

He slid his hand beneath her jacket to rest his palm near her spine and began massaging the area with his thumb.Any better?

She melted into his side in a nonverbal response, her head naturally finding his shoulder.

Caro glanced at them before frowning down at Vera. “I’m not enjoying these memories.”

“Neither am I,” Vera gritted out. “But if they put a tracker on you, it was during reformation.”

Some of the images filtered through Issac’s mind, the isolation pod one that made him feel immediately claustrophobic. He shivered in response, not enjoying the sensation that had evoked at all.

Understanding the concept of reformation vastly differed fromseeingit. Caro had been trapped in that small, sterile space for years. It was almost worse than drowning—a state they all had originally thought she’d been in for nearly two decades.

Alas, no.

She’d been inside a pod.

Your mother is quite strong, Issac decided, his words for Aya.Admirably so.

What memories are you seeing?

Some from her reform—

Another jolt struck the compound, this one harsher than before. Vera cursed, her wings flaring to life as she disappeared.

“What just happened?” Aya asked, her own feathers appearing as a loud snap sounded through the air.

“They’ve just breached the initial wards,” Caro explained, her tone flat. However, her expression turned grave as she met her daughter’s gaze. “The Seraphim are coming.”

Chapter6

Balthazar

“Stark brought her,”Ezekiel said, answering Balthazar’s question about why Clara was in Northern Iceland.

To say her presence here had shocked him would be an understatement. The last he’d heard, she was still locked up in a Hydraian prison cell.

“Then he disappeared to work on the wards,” Ezekiel continued, referring to Stark, otherwise known as Gabriel. “Or perhaps he had anotherengagement.” The final word held a wealth of knowledge that Balthazar could only begin to understand.

What have you two been up to?he wondered, his focus on an oddly muted Clara. She typically exuded powerful emotions, as she possessed a natural affinity for reading the feelings of others. As an Ichorian, she only had the one ability, but it was a strong one.

Yet she seemed mysteriously stoic now. Unfeeling. As though she weren’t evenhere.Even her mind was vacant.

His clear scrutiny drew her gaze to his, her blue eyes rimmed with a plea he couldn’t hear.

Which was troubling indeed.

“Why did Stark bring her here?” Balthazar asked slowly, his question for Ezekiel while he continued to assess Clara’s silent mind.Why can’t I hear you?