Page 109 of Infernal Bonds

I’d never seen him lose control of his shadows the way he had.

I suspected that if anyone had been alive near us when he lost control, more people would have died. I was shocked they hadn’t aimed for me, considering I had Rae’s scent all over me after taking her in the hallway.

When he calmed down—after taking out several trees—we rushed into the palace, summoning the council and guard to brief them on the situation.

Cornaith was enraged by our failure to prevent someone from ambushing us on palace property, as if we could have stopped it. He berated Ezra for being tranquilized and allowing his Nyrith and two princes to be abducted. The situation would have been far worse had we informed him about Ezra’s shadows.

It’d taken Ardvaen and Lymsrana to redirect his ire toward the kidnappers and mobilize a rescue team.

None of us knew where Rae and the others had gone, so he sent the Elyrdin Guard into the city to search for any trace of them. Ezra and I joined the search, hoping we could pick up on any flickers of life through our connection with them.

We’d had no luck, and with the city on lockdown, we couldn’t expand our search to other parts of Elyrdin. Cornaith’s decision to close Alonia’s gates with magic so no one could get in or out left us scouring the city for Rae and the guys for two days.

It wasn’t until the third day, when I was making my way to the Jinphni District, that the oddest event unfolded. The lesser infernals that Rae called her shadow friends rushed to us, frightening citizens who passed by.

The shadow creatures hissed and chittered at us, their panic obvious as they beckoned us to follow. They pushed their shadows against our backs until we piled into the palace car we’d used for our search.

I didn’t know how Ezra understood their frantic gestures at the windshield, but they led us to the gates of Alonia.

Ezra called Amra to end the lockdown so we could get out. After we waited far too long for her to convince Cornaith, the king finally listened and dropped the magic shield.

The shadow infernals led us straight to the gates in Elyrdin’s walls.

When we realized Rae, Cyn, and Zeke were in Feranzis, I nearly snapped the door handle off in my grip. I’d already been holding on for dear life while Ezra drove recklessly, following the little infernal’s guidance to find them.

We’d called back to the palace when Rae’s shadow friends disappeared into Feranzis. I wondered if they’d sensed something wrong with the others.

About thirty minutes later, a caravan met us at the gates of the cursed forest. We couldn’t take the car inside. The noise would draw every lesser infernal within earshot. A berinx-led covered wagon filled with weapons and supplies was the only thing we brought through.

“We need to leave the path,” I said, unable to hide the impatience in my voice. “Whoever took them isn’t going to be waiting out here on the road.”

Jax came up next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find them, big guy.” He glanced at his brother, who was moving along the edge of the path, claws at the ready. “We’re no good to them dead.”

“He’s right,” Kavina said, scanning the other side of the path. “We need more to go on before we leave the safety of the road.”

Ezra and our trainer, Maelia, walked ahead of our group of eight, speaking in hushed voices.

We wouldn’t leave the road unless they signaled us to, but the thought of what the kidnappers had done to my brothers and Rae was tearing me apart. Had they taken them into Moicae? Did they abandon them to the curse of Feranzis?

Rae wouldn’t last long in Feranzis, even with the guys to help her. The trace amounts of human DNA she carried made her more vulnerable to the curse.

Kavina pulled out the two short blades at her hips. “What’s that?”

We came to a stop. Those not already in their alternate forms shifted and prepared to fight.

Maelia rushed back to the covered wagon and dug through it, pulling out a pair of binoculars. She held them up to her face. “I’ll be damned. It’s them!” She passed them to me. “Zeke’s hurt.”

I took the binoculars, and my heart sank at the sight of Rae in her destroyed dress, disheveled and exhausted. Cyn looked ready to collapse, carrying an unconscious Zeke on his back. When they looked our way and froze, Rae reached for Cyn’s arm, and I tensed.

Without binoculars, they wouldn’t be able to tell we weren’t lesser infernals.

I passed the binoculars to Kavina and locked eyes with Ezra.

We both ran forward without another word, Maelia cursing at our backs. We weren’t close, but after covering half the distance, I could see them with the naked eye and knew they could spot us too.

I wanted to shout for Rae, but didn’t want to alert the entire forest to our presence.

“Ash!”