Page 194 of Infernal Bonds

“Oh. I didn’t mention that. The whole reason this happened was because Cornaith threatened to kill Roandra if they didn’t do what he said.”

I clenched my teeth, not even a little bit surprised that Cornaith threatened someone’s life to get what he wanted. He did it to us all the time.

The wind picked up, swirling her comforting scent all around me.

“I’ve never met Rinlora’s mom. Why does she have you if Cornaith doesn’t know about her tests?”

Rae lifted her head. “To give me to the Sephra clan after they make me better.”

“Better?”

“Cornaith’s vallants are working on potions to break our incomplete tethers without harming us more than the separation has.”

“But Ash’s tether is bound,” I said, and her body went rigid in my arms. “Rae?”

Her voice sounded distant and monotone when she said, “Sacrifices can be made.”

Before I could question the eerie statement, the forest trembled with a low rumble, and the sound of logs snapping and popping filled the air, as if the damned forest were alive. Moments later, a violent gust tore through the clearing, forcing Rae and me apart.

She rolled across the ground until she slammed against a fallen log.

I rushed to her as dozens of vines coiled around her body while she reached for me. Before she could even call out, they’d encased her like prey caught in a spider’s web.

“Rae!” I used my claws to rip and tear at the vines, but it was useless. More vines took their place, pulling her down.

The soil beneath us gave as more vines coiled around her, dragging her down under the log.

I tore at the cursed ground, desperate to save her. I didn’t know what would happen if Feranzis took her while she was dreaming.

This couldn’t happen.

I couldn’t lose her again.

51

NIGHTMARE

RAE

Asickening dread moved through me as I opened my eyes to see gnarled branches stretching overhead.

I’d been in the basement with Zeke when an unseen force launched me from the bed across the room. Before I could right myself, dozens of vines emerged from beneath the bed, cocooning me and dragging me across the floor while Zeke screamed.

I sat up, breathing in the damp scent of decaying vines, rotting foliage, and brambles surrounding me on the forest floor. Feranzis. I recognized the cursed forest that had frequently haunted my nightmares since my escape. Only this time, I knew I wasn’t physically here.

A dream, I reminded myself.

If the dream brought me here, then either Zeke was back in his room or he was somewhere in the darkness surrounding me.

Why was I here?

I pushed to my feet and stepped forward on steady legs. It seemed Bondrot didn’t affect my body in my dreams like it did in the waking world.

The ambient lighting I remembered wasn’t here this time. Instead, a path of tiny mushrooms glowing with cyan light stretched through the dense forest ahead, as if guiding me somewhere.

The trail seemed to go on forever through a dense fog that obscured the forest from view. It muffled all sounds along the path, making me even more anxious about what the cursed lands concealed.

Only when I started to grow tired did the fog recede, revealing the end of the trail. Small trees twisted together, arching inward and warping around a hollow at their center, barely large enough for a person to step through.