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“Like me, they have unfinished business on Earth. They don’t accept their death. Until they do, they’ll never leave.”

“But why can’t I look at them?”

“If you connect with one and it possesses you, it’ll find a way back to Earth, and your soul will be lost forever.”

The air stilled, and the heavy fog enclosed the courtyard, creating a protective barrier that obscured my view of the spirits beyond.

“I thought the family curse was seeing infernals?”

I didn’t call them demons anymore.

If Grandma knew enough about this place, lost souls, and their desires, she probably knew demons weren’t real and that mental illness wasn’t the answer to our family’s curse. Perhaps dying revealed answers about the infernal plane.

“No, my sweet girl.” Her chest heaved with a weary sigh. “I don’t know if ‘curse’ is the right word for what we went through. Depends on how you look at it, I suppose.”

“I don’t understand.”

Goose bumps sprouted on my skin when she reached out and trailed her icy fingertips across my cheek in a loving caress, wiping away my tears. “I didn’t at first, either. And you won’t for a while. I can’t tell you everything, but I will tell you those boys need you, and that good for nothin’ boss of yours spoke the truth.”

I shook my head, recoiling. “They don’t want me, Grandma. I don’t even know if the ones who believed it still believe I’m their mate anymore.”

She hummed, pressing her lips together.

“They think I tricked them.”

“You can’t blame them for that. I’ve been listening to what those triplets have told them. Those three have been in their lives for years. But y’know what?”

“What?”

“Not all of ‘em believe it.”

I hugged my waist. “It doesn’t matter if they do or don’t. I’m stuck here. They’ll kill me.”

“Those boys won’t.”

“No, but whoever runs this place will.”

It didn’t matter who ended my life. Ranthus made it clear the people of Elyrdin wanted me dead for tricking the princes and threatening their home. My innocence didn’t matter.

“I think you underestimate the impact you’ve made on them already.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as my vision blurred and another spasm tightened my gut. I forced my words through clenched teeth until the pain subsided. “I still don’t get it. What does it matter?”

“Trust your bond.”

“There’s no bond.”

“It’s happening without you noticing, Rae. Don’t give up on them boys.”

I pressed my forehead against the bars and sighed.

A part of me wondered if Grandma’s presence was a hallucination brought on by hunger and illness, especially with her awareness of the guys, my predicament, and the mate situation. Writing off the unexplainable as hallucinations hadn’t helped before, so I needed to avoid going down that path now.

“Again, what does it matter? I’m human. They’re infernals—royalty!” I slouched, dropping my hand from the bars. “This isn’t my world. Even if I manage to get out of this place, they can’t live on Earth, and I can’t live here. I don’t even want to.”

I wouldn’t get into the nitty-gritty of my issues with Cyn or my nonexistent relationship with Ezra. Those unpleasant details added a cherry on top of the shittastic sundae my life had become.

“My sweet girl, there’s so many things I wish I could tell you.”