Page 201 of Infernal Bonds

“Of course you do. Hatred is all evil knows.” She closed the book and gave Rae a once-over. “The sooner you understand the purpose you serve, the sooner those remaining can be freed of your curse.”

“What do you mean?”

“No one needs you, Raelynn. Serve your purpose, repent, and perhaps your soul will be spared eternal damnation.”

Screw that.

I needed her.

I wouldn’t let this continue.

I stepped forward again, and the fog bank tried to force me back, but I shifted and pushed out some of my power to fight against Rae’s nightmare.

Adding more magic to someone’s dream than it took to dreamwalk risked turning it into a nightmare, but Rae was already in its clutches. I saw how it tried to break her without a drop of my magic.

The symbols on my body flared and burned, a familiar sensation moving over my skin and through my veins like a shockwave. I staggered back as panic surged.

Rae was carrying the Feranzis curse.

How had we missed it?

I knew what the curse felt like. It’d tried to take my mind when we’d been lost in the real forest. Now I felt it living in the fog surrounding me after sending my magic out into the air.

The guys had told me Rae was fine when we left the forest after being sick. We’d thought her sickness was related to the berries, but no. She carried the curse in her mind. How had it not taken hold before now?

The curse certainly explained why her trauma was being used to warp her mind.

When I’d been unconscious, all I dreamed about was my childhood, the chains, and the brutal things I kept locked away in a box hidden deep inside.

It also explained why we were in Feranzis in her mind.

I needed to get to her, but if I messed with the curse, it could backfire and take over my mind. I’d take the curse just to stop her from listening to that terrible woman filling her head with nonsense.

When Rae dropped to her knees and clutched her head, I knew I had to act.

Pushing my magic against the fog again, I hissed as the curse lashed at my skin, burrowing into my body through my seer marks. Images of chains and empty rooms with blood splattered across the floor filled my mind, bringing tears to my eyes.

I flinched when Dad’s cruel words filled my head. “You insolent, useless child.”

“You want to be with your mommy?” Cornaith’s venom-laced words came next. “She’s the one who brought you here.”

“No,” I growled through clenched teeth. “It’s not true. It’s not real.”

The image of Cornaith approaching me with a barbed lash in his hand flashed through my mind. “No one loves you, Zeke. But if you do this for me, I promise they’ll be proud of you.”

Before Cornaith could strike me, he disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, and the strangest calm settled over me. The burning of the curse fizzled out as my skin chilled.

I opened my eyes to find Rae’s shadow friends around me, soft-as-marshmallow hands resting against my body.

They chittered and hissed, motioning toward Rae, who lay collapsed on the ground with her aunt standing above her.

They’d saved me.

“I’ll take care of her,” I reassured them, pushing through the break they’d made in the fog. I rushed to Rae’s side, knelt, and scooped her into my arms.

“What’s this? Another minion you’ve claimed?”

I growled at her.