“There will be no dating.” She was a baby. His baby. “That’s just never happening.” Even when she became an adult. He’d lock her away and kill all her suitors. Problem solved.

“Oh, on that we agree.” Gabriel eyed Astasiya with a protective gleam in his gaze.

Leela shook her head. “She’s not even two hours old, and you’re both slapping her with a chastity belt.”

“I have a few years to work on them,” Caro murmured, her index finger brushing Astasiya’s little button nose. “Don’t worry.” Her blue eyes grinned at Sethios. “Give her to Gabriel and let him pass on his brotherly wisdom. We’ll discuss the rune and a few other things.”

Sethios considered which point he wanted to argue first but caved to her request to hand Astasiya over to Gabriel. Mostly because he sensed his daughter’s contentedness at going to her brother.

“How do I sense her?” he asked quietly as the two Seraphim left the room with his daughter cocooned safely in Gabriel’s arms. A more pertinent thought hit him square in the chest. “Wait, can Osiris sense her? Can she be tracked? Did—”

Caro pressed a finger to his lips, her gaze alight with humor. “Our daughter is safe, Sethios. You are tied to her by blood, which is why you can feel her.”

“But Osiris is my father. Can he feel her too?” Because his father’s blood ran through Sethios and Astasiya.

Her lips pursed. “If they met, he may pick up on her familiarity without knowing why. As for finding her, he can’t locate you, right? The same applies to her.”

His shoulders loosened slightly, but tension still lined his limbs. “You’re sure?”

“Yes. Blood bonds are most prevalent in those who commit to them, and between a parent and child. You’re far more tied to Osiris then Astasiya ever will be.”

He snorted. “If I could fix my connection to him, I would.” Because he did not want to be linked to his father at all. About the only benefit was his gift of persuasion.

“There is…” She trailed off, her mouth twitching to the side. He raised a brow, waiting for her to finish as she battled whatever it was she wanted to say. She cleared her throat and sat up straighter while still clutching the sheet to her chest. “There’s a way to fix it, but it would require a commitment.”

That caught his attention. “A commitment to what?”

“Not to what, but to whom.” She took a deep breath, her expression regressing to one he’d seen on her the night they met. A look of indifference. “Seraphim can form blood bonds with one another. It’s rare, but it’s a way of joining the lines and creating a new family of sorts. The sensations you’re experiencing with Astasiya could apply to another, but it’s not a temporary binding. It’s… eternal.”

“And it would break the link to my father.”

“Essentially, yes. Because you would be establishing a new familial branch.” Even her voice maintained an air of indifference, yet a slight flicker of emotion escaped through her eyes.