Page 189 of Infernal Secrets

Rinlora pulled a large crystal from her robe and held it out in her palms, chanting in a language I didn’t understand. When she finished, brilliant light erupted from the multicolored crystal. The air compressed and expanded with violent force, pulsing like a heartbeat until I succumbed to the pressure and darkness consumed me.

45

FATE

ASH

The bright teleportation light hadn’t fully faded when the tortured wails of lost souls already reached me—high-pitched keening I recognized from watching souls vanish into Kalthea’s slipstream.

Zeke gawked at the massive iron gates separating us from whatever lay within the fog beyond. “What is this place?”

“Cholian, Young Master,” Roandra said, voice clipped. “Our stop will be brief before moving on to Elyrdin.”

We’d never visited Cholian before.

After our oath to the council, Ezra’s father suppressed the magic required to enter.

The council’s spiritual advisor warned that without sufficient warding during visits, our soul signatures made us desirable vessels for possession by lost souls wandering the purgatory.

Only Cornaith, authorized advisors, and seated elders could access the barren lands. Everyone else required authorization and escort. Even now, Roandra carried wards to protect us while we visited.

Outside of trials, I’d known no one to come here.

Ezra turned from the gates to face Roandra. “Why are we here? Where is my father?”

“Your father has ordered the human to remain here under guard until her trial.”

“What?” Zeke spun around. “How does he know she can survive this place?”

Cyn moved in, steadying him before the anxiety took over.

Ezra cut Roandra off when she opened her mouth to speak. “I want to see where you’re keeping her.”

“I’m sorry, Young Master, but that is impossible. You may not enter.”

I stared up at the gates stretching high into the thick cloud above, wondering what became of souls who refused death.

All my knowledge of Cholian came from books, not personal experience.

Mist seeped through the gates, swirling around my legs, and sliding across the cracked flagstone beneath my feet like a living entity. It curled and weaved between us, then slipped back into the thick walls of rolling fog, triggering another chorus of wails. I wondered if the mist and souls were linked.

I knew many lost souls sought a way back into the living world. What better way to return than through the possession of a living host?

Cyn turned his attention to Roandra. “Where is she?”

None of us needed to ask who “she” was.

Even in his resentment, I knew Cyn worried about her like the rest of us.

I still wasn’t over what he’d done in the kitchen. If Ezra hadn’t forced my submission, I’d have hurt my brother when he stole Rae’s necklace.

Even if she was the criminal the council claimed, I couldn’t watch her break and do nothing. I saw the heartbreak in her eyes and felt it like my own.

Maybe everything was a cruel illusion, but that didn’t make it less real. It lived in my chest. It hurt. I couldn’t turn from the connection my heart had already chosen.

That’s what made the betrayal cut so deep.

I’d chosen her.