None of it made sense.

But it fucking hurt. His entire body vibrated with it, shaking with the need to inhale and burning when salt penetrated his insides.

I’m dying, he realized.

Drowning.

In his own room.

He curled into a ball as tears streamed down his face because it wasn’t the agony of life slipping through his fingertips that hurt most, but the sense of loss that filled him. A connection breaking that he cherished so deeply yet knew nothing about.

As the last vestiges of his consciousness melted away, a foreign name drifted through his thoughts. One that would forever live inside his heart.

Caro…

Epilogue

Gabriel flinched as the bond with his mother broke yet again.

He’d hoped to use their connection to find her, to release her from her prison, but Osiris dropped her in the ocean somewhere, and Gabriel had no chance of determining her location alone. It would require a far more powerful being, that of the young girl holding his hand.

After a week of gaining her trust and reaffirming their bond through the fealty he’d pledged to her as an infant, she’d finally stopped crying. Watching her parents’ bodies go up in flames had not been part of the plan, but her curious mind and strong heart had pulled her from the hiding place and toward her parents’ agony. Had Gabriel not shown up when he did, the results could have been catastrophic.

Alas, he had her safe and sound in Havre, Montana.

The home was one of his choosing, a family who knew everything about him and the special girl he was about to leave in their care.

No one else knew, not even Caro and Sethios. He couldn’t risk Osiris breaking them and obtaining the location of their daughter. As far as everyone else knew—including Ezekiel for now—Gabriel would be the one to raise her, but his part would come into play later.

“Ready?” he asked softly.

She shook her head, her little body shaking.

“They’ll protect you, just like your parents did.”

She bit her lip and eyed the home. “But Momma keeps talking to me. She needs help.”

He grimaced in understanding. His mother, despite likely trying not to telegraph, kept sending agonizing images of her repeated deaths through the bond. It would dwindle as time went on, hopefully only pestering Astasiya in her dreams. If not, he would alter the rune on her back enough to help give her a semblance of peace.

“I’ll search for your mom,” he vowed. “While you live here, okay? And then one day, we’ll go find her together.”

“Promise?” she asked, those green eyes holding his with an intensity unusual for a seven-year-old.

“I vow it,” he replied, squeezing her hand. “We’ll find her.”

“Together,” she demanded.

“Together,” he agreed. When you’re ready.

“Gabriel,” a soft voice whispered. The hint of navy wings touched his vision as the Seraphim he recruited for this necessary task appeared beside him.