Page 75 of Infernal Bonds

I wasn’t on board with being eaten by some creature in a creepy forest in the middle of nowhere. And I sure didn’t want to deal with dark magic—not that I had any experience with it to begin with, but I could imagine. That was enough for me.

“We need to get out of here before the dark magic consumes all of us.”

Zeke followed Cyn’s lead and stripped down to just his button-down shirt, slacks, and shoes. The fancy jackets, vests, and ties looked nice but weren’t ideal for traveling. My dress wasn’t either, but there wasn’t much I could do about that. At least I had my combat boots on. I couldn’t imagine trying to walk around in heels out here, much less barefoot.

“Won’t the council look for us since Ash and Ezra know we were taken?”

“Probably,” Cyn conceded. “But we can’t sit around and wait. It puts us at too much risk.”

I didn’t fully grasp the consequences of exposure to Feranzis’s dark magic, but if the stories of it turning Shyrlivi into lesser infernals were true, I didn’t want to mess around with it. Remembering some of the ones I’d encountered in my life sent a shiver down my spine. I couldn’t imagine transforming into one.

And what if one of the more brutal lesser infernals, like the ones who killed Ash’s family, caught us before the magic took hold?

20

FERAL

RAE

“We need to get moving,” Cyn said. “I don’t know how far from the walls we are, but if we can get to them, someone on patrol is bound to see us.”

The walls surrounding Elyrdin were massive, easily visible from the center of Alonia. If I could get a glimpse of them, we’d at least know what direction to go.

The densely packed, straight trees, combined with bizarre, oversized mushrooms, twisted branches, and serpentine roots, created an impenetrable canopy, obscuring even the sky from view.

“Hang on,” I said, crossing to the base of a tree where one of its thick roots spiraled up the trunk, creating an ideal place to climb.

Zeke called from behind. “What are you doing?”

“Get down from there,” Cyn snapped.

“Just give me a minute.”

I grasped the rough root as I hoisted myself up, my boot finding purchase in the corkscrew-like crevice. I repeated the process until I’d climbed a couple of feet.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

I ignored Cyn in favor of climbing a little higher.

Once the spiraling root thinned, I stopped and looked around me, cursing.

Zeke’s called anxiously from below, “What is it?”

“I can’t see anything!”

I twisted my upper body, maintaining my firm hold on the root. I searched for an opening that would grant me a view of the wall, but the alien flora swallowed everything whole.

“Raelynn, get down,” Cyn called out from below, an edge of apprehension cutting through his otherwise demanding tone.

Rustling in the distance caught my attention, and I squinted at the orange glow cutting through the ghostly blue fog.

“There’s a light!”

“Light?” Zeke stepped closer to the base of the tree. “Where?”

“What’s it look like?”

“It’s orange. It’s glowing, but not like a spotlight.” I pointed toward where I’d seen it, but a movement in the shadowy trees suddenly obscured the light.