Page 88 of Cursed Heirs

“To reconnect with her that way… yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“It certainly is,” my father agreed. “Although, Constantine has a wall erected around her mind, so you’ll need to channel some of that black magic into yourself in order to breach it. Furthermore, I noticed your mark on her. You’ve protected her against mind meddling by Dark Fae, so you can’t perform the spell.”

“I won’t. I’ll feed Xavier enough of my blood to enable him to do so. I’ll be there to hold off the black magic from them and to penetrate his ward around her mind, without actually breaching her mind myself.”

“No, no, Ore. You can’t. After everything—”

I pressed my finger to his lips. “I only need a little to break in, less than I used last time. And I won’t be going alone into a dangerous space this time. You and Xavier will be coming with me.”

His eyes lit up and he nodded against my hand.

That’s right, baby bird, all hands on deck this time.

I just hoped like Hades that it would make a dent in her psyche.

I really needed to know she was still in there, that she was still with us on some level.

This separation from her… it was growing unbearable with every passing day.

18

~Alena~

Flames.

They raged all around me.

Four walls surrounding me on all sides.

Each time I’d tried to call my power, they’d closed in and licked my skin, refusing to retreat again until I stopped and submitted.

I’d been burned and healed over and over again too many times to count.

I was trapped, a cage of fire determined to keep me here.

Buried in my own mind.

Every now and then blackness would invade the space, swirling around me, and I’d briefly be pulled back into the real world, but only able to experience fragments of it, before I was dragged right back here to this cage.

Those fragments of awareness had shown me that Constantine Vale was the cause.

I’d seen some of the things he’d been making me do.

With him—things that had my skin crawling.

For him—things that were jeopardizing the supernatural world.

To those I loved—things that were hurting them in ways I couldn’t stand.

And through all of it, I couldn’t do a thing.

I couldn’t stop it.

I couldn’t break free.

All these years I’d spent worrying so much about magical corruption, and here I was being proven right. I’d succumbed to it. It had taken hold in me.

And now it was causing everyone to suffer.

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