Page 223 of Infernal Bonds

She crossed her arms, looking every bit the child Ezra called her.

Ash leaned forward on the counter, propping himself up on his arms. “You agreed to Cornaith’s terms, and he agreed to yours because you did. Don’t you think it’d be better to just roll with it?”

Raelynn lowered her eyes to the counter. “I just don’t like it.”

“What?” Zeke closed in on her other side.

“Constantly being told what to do. Don’t I get a say?”

“You had a choice,” Ezra said. “No one stopped you from proposing an alternative when Father put forth his conditions.”

I studied Ezra.

He’d acted off ever since we’d rescued Raelynn. Angrier. He thought we wouldn’t notice the times he almost snapped at us when he normally kept his cool, but I did. Something happened, and it influenced the way he talked to Raelynn now.

Raelynn put her elbows on the counter and rubbed her face. “How long is it gonna be like this?”

Ash slid the plate of cookies I’d made to occupy my mind while Raelynn slept and recovered toward her. “What do you mean?”

“How long before I can live a normal life? At least as normal as one can be in this world.”

“Probably never.”

She lowered her hands and looked up at Ash.

“I’m sorry, Little Blackbird. As long as you’re tied to us, you’re part of royal life.”

“It’s not exactly what you’d call normal back on Earth,” Zeke said, grabbing a cookie.

Raelynn looked down at the cookies in front of her, falling silent.

I walked over to the refrigerator, grabbed a carton of milk, and put it in front of them, then set a couple of glasses beside it.

They had royalty on the human plane, but, like here, ordinary citizens weren’t part of the comings and goings of palace life. Raelynn didn’t have anything to compare it to, so nothing about our life was “normal” by her standards.

“Do you regret it?”

Her gaze shot up to mine.

I poured a glass of milk and slid it over to her before grabbing a cookie and snapping it in half, offering her one side.

She took it from me and shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “I just… I wish things were different.”

Zeke swallowed a bite of cookie. “How?”

“Well, getting kidnapped for starters.”

“If you abide by the rules, then that won’t happen,” Ezra said, and the temperature in the room dropped.

Ash dropped his head back and groaned.

“I don’t take orders from you,” Raelynn hissed.

I turned to Ezra. “What’s your deal?”

“That’s what I’d like to know too,” Ash said, nudging Raelynn, encouraging her to eat the cookie. “Do you really have to say it like that?”

Ezra looked between us. His calm voice was an unsettling contrast to his words. “Do none of you understand what her reckless disregard for the rules almost cost us?” He turned his icy eyes on Ash. “You almost died. Do you think I relish seeing my brother stop breathing on more than one occasion?”