Page 126 of Infernal Bonds

Were the guys keeping secrets from me?

I understood if they’d kept things secret from me while on Earth. I’d been a stranger to them. They’d believed I’d deceived them. They’d been trapped on Earth in my home. But to still keep things from me when we’d progressed so much?

The truth of it cut deeper than expected.

I understood Cyn and Ezra keeping things from me, but not Ash and Zeke. Ash and I bonded. I’d told him I loved him. Keeping secrets from someone you said you loved was not my definition of a healthy relationship.

“In an effort to prevent them from revealing his secrets,” Amra said, oblivious to my internal upset, “Cornaith had one of our vallants bind the princes so they couldn’t reveal his connection to Kalthea. If they speak of the truth to anyone who doesn’t already know it, they will experience great pain and lasting injury that doesn’t heal through their powers.”

So the guys weren’t keeping secrets because they didn’t trust me.

So many times, Ash had seemed frustrated when I asked him questions about the council and their life as heirs. Zeke would get visibly panicked when I talked about similar topics with him. Of course he’d panic if he wanted to tell me things. He hadn’t wanted to upset me.

I remembered how Cyn’s jaw had tightened when I asked why none of them stopped what happened to Zeke. I’d called him a coward once.

None of them were intentionally withholding information from me. They were physically incapable of sharing it.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. This conversation was giving me emotional whiplash.

“When the boys were children, we tried to stop Cornaith from harming Zeke.” She twirled her ring on her finger. “At least Lymsrana, Ardvaen, and I did. We didn’t know Rhistel and Caendra allowed it for years, but when we found out it was happening, we confronted Cornaith. He’d used a vallant’s powers to prevent Zeke from telling anyone, and Rhistel and Caendra helped hide the secret.”

I suspected Zeke’s parents were garbage, but now I absolutely knew it.

They weren’t afraid of Cornaith. Ash had said they sided with him for power, but I hadn’t realized how much they backed his vile decisions until now.

“Cornaith punished me for speaking out of turn and threatened Cyn’s parents.”

“What? Punished you how?”

“That’s not important.”

“If you want me to understand, it is.”

She placed her trembling hand over her stomach. “When I learned the truth about what Cornaith was doing to Zeke, who was thirteen at the time, I confronted him. He lashed out with magic, leaving physical scars that will always remind me of my place.”

“I thought you could heal.”

“He made sure I couldn’t.”

My brows pulled together. “I don’t understand.”

“He used a vallant to prevent the wounds from healing until they scarred. Then he bound another spell to them. Every time I even make a move to defy him, he can turn the scars into agony if he wills it.”

That sounded horrific. But now I understood her wilted posture whenever the council were all together and how she fell silent when Cornaith gave her warning looks.

He was controlling her with magical pain.

Even then, something didn’t add up.

“I’m confused. You all have magic. Why can’t you just stop him? Why didn’t you hit him back with magic when he hurt you?”

It was something I couldn’t figure out about the guys. Ezra was a Void. From what I understood, he was more powerful than any of them. Why couldn’t he turn those shadow powers on his father?

I followed Amra to an area of the garden where a small fountain stood behind a cluster of stone benches.

“This is what the boys are forbidden by the binding to tell you.”

I sat down on the bench, having a feeling this wouldn’t be easy to hear.