Page 136 of A Bond with the Dark

As Dom strides toward me, Bash turns his course and goes for Talora. Talora, seeing this, vanishes down the basement steps in a trace of light. Bash follows, but at a slower pace.

I don’t have that gift of speed. I turn to run, and before I do, Adaline’s back again, holding out the artifact, chanting words I don’t understand.

The house shakes again, and there’s a peculiar sound of high-pitched ringing. Dom stands still, as does Bash, and the ringing grows louder with the chanting.

A seismic wave explodes from the artifact and hits Dom, then Bash, and they collapse to the ground.

The ringing stops, and Adaline ceases her chanting.

A stillness engulfs the room, and nobody moves, waiting to see what the two brothers will do.

Dom’s shark eyes evaporate, his green eyes now locked on mine. “What happened?”

“The curse,” I answer on a breath.

“Is it broken?” Hattie asks from where she fell by the table.

“I don’t know,” Adaline mutters, still grasping the artifact. “We weren’t finished with the rest of it. I panicked, and it was the only thing I thought of.”

Dom lifts his shirt sleeve. “I don’t think it’s broken. The mark is still here.”

Jasantha resumes her sobbing, cradling the dead Joe’s head in her arms. He’s lifeless, blood pouring down the side of his neck, pooling on the floor.

Bash is at the basement door. He turns around, a look of confusion taking over his expression as he sees Jasantha rocking Joe.

“You did this,” she glowers, shooting him a disgusted glare.

“It wasn’t him,” offers Adaline, that motherly aura trying to keep the peace with all her children. “It was the curse.”

“So it would appear,” Scarlet says, sitting up from where she fell and cradling her knees, “as though the curse strengthens when adrenaline runs hot. That’s my guess.”

“And how do we keep it at bay until we break the curse?” Ollie asks, sitting on the marble floor.

“Keep those two apart,” Scarlet scoffs, crossing her legs.

Dom looks at Bash, who’s still eyeing Jasantha and Joe.

I can see a look of remorse written all over his face, but I’m the only one who seems to see it. When they all look at him, they see a monster.

Dom makes his way toward me. I’m scared and hate that I’m afraid of him now.

There’s no telling what will set him off.

Is it only adrenaline that turns that dark mark on? Or could it be anything that’ll turn off his switch and let him walk like a zombie?

Like a grim.

37

YOU ARE MY OCEAN

DOM

The look in Sayah’s eyes is enough to crack me open, reach in, and squeeze, making me bleed and break and shatter.

I cannot stand that she’s afraid of me now. I can see the way the water of her ocean eyes churn violently against a storm she never expected and struggles to navigate. Hopelessly, she watches this storm as it destroys and tears and steals, and I can’t protect her from it.

She’s pulled her aura into herself, so no sliver of it is visible to me.

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