Page 95 of Wicked Bonds

Issac’s hands were magical.His thumbs found pressure points Stas had never even known existed as he massaged the knots from her shoulders.

I’m supposed to be immortal. How am I sore?she wondered.

Maybe because you’ve not let yourself properly rest,Issac suggested.Our bodies heal quickly, but that doesn’t mean we don’t still hurt.

She sighed, knowing he was right.

She’d paused her training today only long enough to learn about Mateo’s reasoning and to console Issac on his impossible decision—one he hadn’t yet made.

He could no longer trust Mateo, but he was still his progeny. Did he exile him? Kill him? Allow him a chance to redeem himself?

Those were the questions rolling through Issac’s mind, his thoughts open to Stas through their mental link. She couldn’t help him other than to offer her own perspective.

Osiris had his claws in all of them in some way. But Mateo had made it clear he’d monitored the tech willingly. Except it’d been done to keep them all safe.

Which added a strange layer to this whole mess.

Because it implied Osiris had been trying to protect Issac’s and Aidan’s connections with the Hydraians by keeping it a secret.

“Why create a Conclave with rules about Hydraian and Ichorian interactions, just to allow some of his constituents to break those rules and, moreover, to also aid them in doing so?” Issac had asked Luc earlier.

The Hydraian King hadn’t replied, his emerald eyes taking on that faraway gleam they did whenever he engaged his omniscience ability.

However, Stas’s father had arrived right at that point in the conversation and had added his two cents. “My father plays every potential angle available to him. He’s cultivated power throughout several millennia for a reason. If he felt your alliance was a strong one, he’d seek to use it, not destroy it.”

“Yet he created rules and punished Ichorians for seeking similar alliances,” Issac had pointed out.

Which had prompted Stas to mutter, “He skinned Sierra alive before forcing her maker to light her on fire, just for knowing Owen was in the city without reporting his presence to Osiris.”

“Because that showed a lack of loyalty to the cause,” her dad had replied. “My father would not take that behavior lightly.”

“Yet we’ve spent the last three hundred years maintaining this alliance in secret.” Issac had frowned. “Unless…”

“Unless Aidan had already told him,” Luc had finished for him, his expression giving nothing away. “As head of the line, it would have been his duty to do so. And he never promised to stop seeing me. Actually, he told Osiris long ago that he would not choose politics over his own son.”

Everyone had fallen silent after that.

Then Luc had left, saying he wanted to talk to Mateo alone.

That’d been three hours ago.

No one knew what he was going to do. Typically, he conferred with the others, especially the Elders, but neither Jay nor Alik had heard from him since taking Mateo to his house. Not to the dungeon like he’d done with Clara. But to his own home.

Concern radiated from Issac, but he continued to massage Stas’s shoulders rather than voice his worries aloud. He trusted Luc to do what was right. And he wasn’t ready to make his own decision yet anyway.

All thoughts she could hear clearly because he didn’t shy away from her, not even for a moment. His streaming consciousness remained open to her through their link, allowing her to hear every word.

It almost made her smile, as their relationship definitely hadn’t always been like this. He used to adore his secrets.

She sighed, leaning back into him, loving their closeness and the momentary reprieve he provided her with.

Their moments alone seemed to be few and far between, but he’d held her back at Balthazar’s home for just a few extra minutes. Then he’d begun working magic on her shoulders, and, well, she’d already forgotten where she needed to be.

Well, not really.

Her mother and Stark were working on the wards again now that night had fallen. And Stas planned to join them.

Except…She yawned.Except I’m probably too exhausted to be useful.She didn’t know enough about the wards or ethereal energy to truly help. It was more of a learning exercise, which would be poorly retained in her current state.