Page 213 of Infernal Bonds

None of us knew why or what the trigger was.

Rae groaned and turned toward me, snuggling into my side as I sat propped against the headboard of her bed.

She’d started moving a lot more in the past few hours, so I suspected it wouldn’t be long before she’d wake.

Without Rinlora’s directions, they would’ve been searching the district while Rae’s captors prepared to move her.

Zeke told me he and Kavina had to keep Cyn from attacking Rinlora when she admitted she’d come forward because Rae’s suffering had become too much. That she’d allowed it to go on at all angered all of us.

Kavina’s betrayal was another hurdle we’d have to face when Rae woke. I wasn’t sure how she’d take it after Rinlora betrayed her.

“Ash?” Half-lidded, silver eyes peered up at me in confusion.

I brushed her cheek with my thumb. “Yeah, Little Blackbird. I’m here.”

Her lip wobbled before her face crumpled and she burst into tears, burying her face against my side.

“Hey,” I cooed, pulling her into my arms. She straddled my lap without hesitation, clinging to me. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

“You’re alive,” she blubbered through her sobs.

“I’d like to think so.”

“You’re not disposable,” she mumbled against my shirt, her tears soaking the fabric.

“What are you talking about, Little Blackbird?”

“She was willing to sacrifice you.” She looked up at me. “I told her you’re not disposable, because you’re not! But then you… you… you weren’t there on the roof… and I…” She collapsed forward again, clinging to me as sobs wracked her body.

I understood then.

Her tears weren’t from fear and sadness over what she’d endured. She thought I hadn’t made it.

I tightened my arms around her. “I love you, Rae. I’m not going anywhere.”

Her sobs grew louder, drawing the attention of my brothers. They crowded into the room and watched her pour her sadness out against my shirt.

Zeke broke first, crawling onto the bed to join us. He put his hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles.

Ezra crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. Even after everything, he still kept his distance. I didn’t have time to deal with his hesitation, though. If he couldn’t reconcile his duty with his heart, that was on him now.

Cyn stomped over to us and sat on the edge of the bed with the heaviness of a man breaking under a weight of his own making. His hands clenched together in front of him as he propped his elbows on his knees.

Rae lifted her head and reached for Zeke.

He pulled her into his arms without hesitation.

She looked up at him. “You figured out where I was?”

“I thought it was the Jinphni District based on your description. Rinlora told us which building and when they planned to move you.”

Despite not being close enough to touch, Zeke somehow managed to dreamwalk to Rae and find her. He refused to talk about what he saw in her dream, but he told us we wouldn’t like the things he’d seen.

He also told us that she carried the Feranzis curse.

I looked at Ezra. “Have the vallants come up with anything for her? If she’s cursed—”

“Cursed?”