“Seven years?” Sethios pulled a maroon shirt over his head and joined them. “That’s rather specific.”

“Skye had another prophecy.”

“Another one,” Sethios mused. “Great. Do we have all the details on the first yet?” He settled beside Caro and wrapped an arm around her lower back, offering support right where she needed it.

How does he always seem to know?

“Yes,” Gabriel replied. “But it’s so much greater than that. The prophecy isn’t about you or Caro so much as your child. According to Skye, your progeny will have the strength and will to destroy Osiris and his bloodline.”

The words sat heavily between them as Caro dissected their meaning. “His bloodline,” she repeated slowly. “As in Ichorians and Hydraians.”

“Yes.” Gabriel locked gazes with Sethios. “Unless you convince the child otherwise.”

Sethios’s eyebrows rose. “You mean, use my gift for persuasion to tell her not to?”

“Her?” Gabriel glanced at Caro and she nodded, confirming the gender. She was certain they were having a girl. Motherly intuition and all that. Gabriel’s gaze brightened infinitesimally before he refocused on Sethios’s question.

“No. Your humanity is what will ground her and potentially alter her destiny.” He held up his hand to indicate he wasn’t done explaining. “Osiris has created a problem, and she is the solution, thereby making her the perfect weapon. That’s why the Seraphim want Caro to return and raise her among our kind. They wish to craft her logical frame of mind and use her to fulfill one potential future path.”

“What’s the other potential?” Caro asked, knowing various alternatives always existed. That’s why the seers played this game; they enjoyed altering the future to meet their needs.

“Osiris’s demise is prevalent in all potential outcomes, but the destruction of Ichorians and Hydraians only exists in one thus far. The one where you raise her among our kind, without Sethios’s influence.”

“I see,” Sethios replied, his arm leaving her back as he stood. “And which path do you prefer, Gabriel?”

Tension radiated between the two males, causing Caro to frown. “It’s not up to him,” she murmured. “We will decide her fate.”

“No.” Sethios took a step toward her son. “He’s already chosen. I can see it in his eyes. The question is, which path? Because we both know the only way Caro will raise our child without me is if I’m not in the picture. So what did you decide, Gabriel?”

Her son met Sethios’s gaze without flinching. “Skye’s second prophecy involves a betrayal of the worst kind, one that ends badly for both of you. And you both will suffer. Horribly.”

“Meaning you’ve chosen path one to save Caro and dispense of me, as well as all of Osiris’s bloodline.”

“It is the logical choice,” Gabriel replied, his green eyes intensifying. “Alas, no. That is not what I have chosen.”

Caro’s brow crinkled in confusion as Sethios asked, “Why?”

“While it is the logical recourse with the most desired of outcomes, it will hurt my mother.” His gaze shifted to Caro. “At one point, you would have agreed with this path to destroy Osiris and his abominations. I sense that has changed. Am I wrong?”