“A new family.” The words were exhaled against her neck. “We’ve created something no one can break. I can feel you so deeply, Caro. All your turmoil, your worries, your pleasure, your heart.” He shuddered. “Fuck, I feel everything.”

“Me too,” she whispered.

All his hatred for Osiris.

Sethios’s fear that Caro wouldn’t accept him because he was a half-breed—something he didn’t even seem to realize himself.

His worry for their daughter’s future.

His innate need to always protect himself first and finding for the first time in his life that he cared about not one but two beings more than himself.

She quivered beneath him as her heart grew impossibly larger. Her worries about his fidelity were for naught. He might have a past, but he only saw her in his future.

“Mine forever,” he vowed.

“Forever,” she agreed.

Their daughter’s happiness vibrated down the line, interrupting the moment briefly but then leaving as Sethios took Caro’s mouth in a carnal kiss not meant for young minds.

He claimed Caro with his tongue and body, bringing her over the edge into another cataclysmic state of bliss that splintered her world. So much sensation. So much worship. So much heart.

Nothing.

No one.

Would ever take this away from them.

A bond built to withstand time and space.

The Fates be damned. Because Sethios and Caro would survive anything and everything. Even the darkest moments blossoming on the horizon.

22

The Beginning

Seven Years Later…

“Astasiya, what did I tell you about using your persuasive talent?” Sethios arched a single brow at the little blonde beside him.

She twisted her lips to the side, her green eyes thoughtful. “Not to use it on strangers,” she said slowly. “But I wanted that ice cream and he wouldn’t give it to me.”

“That’s not a reason to demand it.”

She folded her arms and tried to raise her brow back at him. “But you demand Mom do things alllll the time that she doesn’t want to do because you want something.”

Caro bit her lip to keep from smiling, but he felt her amusement through the bond.

Cute, he thought at her before kneeling to his daughter’s level. “What I do with your mom is very different and private. Do I persuade strangers?”

Yes, Caro sent through their bond. Or he assumed that’s what she was trying to say to him since he received a vision of her nodding repeatedly.

Not. Helping. He sent back to her.

Astasiya pinched her lips again and slowly shook her head. “We don’t show strangers.”

“And why don’t we persuade strangers?” he asked, voice gentle.

“ ’Cause they don’t understand and can make bad things happen.”

Close enough. “Good girl.” Having a daughter who could force people to do her bidding was not easy. Fortunately, Astasiya was far more intelligent than a typical human child. She didn’t fully understand her differences but grasped enough to keep her special talents hidden.