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“You know you can’t kill my best friend and expect to just take her place,” I said slowly. “I’d never forgive you.” Those were words I’d never expected to have to say.
he doesn’t call me Arabella like the kings. I like the sound of my name on his lips.
When we entered the hall, two things stuck out to me: (1) Sadie and her men were all sitting at a table looking healthy, and (2) a body was crucified to the tree.
“Rumor is they spiked the food to halt our healing, but for some reason it doesn’t work on me.” She pointed over to the table where Jax’s dark skin was a crisscross of stitched-up wounds similar to ours. “I think it must be my blood powers or something. Someone said it has to do with our souls. Maybe it’s the thing with me and the moon goddess?” She shrugged. “I guess I’m just special.”
“I love you guys,” I whispered. “Like seriously so much.” “Aw, Aran,” Sadie said sweetly. “I love you more than anyone else ever could.” John made a noise in his throat. “Please, bitch. I love her the most.”
At some point, Lothaire came into the room to check on Aran. He pulled at his braid and flexed his fingers as he repeated over and over that he couldn’t intervene and help her or we’d all be disqualified and punished. His words rubbed me the wrong way, and I bristled as I stitched. If he cared, he would have done something.
He shouldn’t have been the one to fix her. She is ours.
She walked by and Orion’s scent filled my nose. My lips curled upward, and satisfaction warmed my blood. She was wearing my Revered’s sweatshirt. For some unfathomable reason, I liked that she was wearing his clothes. I really liked it.
John’s chin rested on top of blue hair, and for a split second, he stopped making pathetic eyes down at our slave and glanced at me. Hooded dark eyes narrowed. Slowly, the corner of John’s mouth pulled up in a smirk as he made a show of nuzzling his chin against her curls. I saw red.
Love. A made-up word that males used to manipulate women. A childish delusion. A joke. It meant nothing. Loyalty and devotion were tangible actions that could be shown. Soul bonds were real. Love was not.
I hated the red-eyed bitch. Could she not keep her mouth shut for five seconds?
As we passed the other legion tables on our way out, the angel with heterochromia muttered something under his breath. Scorpius leaned closer. “He just called her ‘sinful blood.’
He’d never once refused someone, male or female, because his lust rivaled ours.
How did I get such loyal friends? John had hauled my ass out of the freezing ocean, fought next to me in battles, matched my pace on runs, and helped me get away with murder. And Sadie had almost started an inter-realm war in her quest to save me from this academy. I was lucky.
Now that I was staring at them, men were kinda ugly.
If John was smooth, then the fiery king was savage. Brutal. Wild.
I opened my mouth to argue back, then paused because she was a thirteen-year-old girl with a loving family. “What’s at stake? What’s wrong with your body?” Since I was part of that family, it was my job to protect her.
The book had also said that if you stared into someone’s eyes for over a minute, chemicals would release in their brain that mimicked love. Attachment. Dependence.
Where their strength was overwhelming and in-your-face, hers was quiet and unassuming. It was still impressive. And she was just as manipulative as I was, disguising herself as a man. She’d played us all.
When I’d kissed Aran’s mouth and promised him he’d be my toy, it was Arabella who had melted against me like butter.
Sometimes I felt like the worst Revered in history. Like I was playing a role I couldn’t fulfill. How was I supposed to provide balance and calm for others when I was untethered myself?
Did they know the extent of his madness? Perhaps I wasn’t the only one who’d been living a lie.
I forgot to laugh.
Legion mate. Interesting term. I was surprised he hadn’t said “slave.”
Orion scowled while, you guessed it, he stared at me without blinking.
Horse cawed louder because he was a genius.
Life isn’t fair, and only the lucky few die.
He stared at me with a sad expression, and I could tell he was trying silently to tell me he cared. I telepathically told him I wished I were adopted.
“Good luck, daughter.” Then he walked away. If that wasn’t a metaphor for my life.
It was still one of the great mysteries of the realms how my darling Sadie had seen the psychotic snake bastard and thought, That one’s mine, I love him.
Liquid streamed down my face as I looked up to see Cobra hauling Ascher forward across the lawn in front of everyone. The jewels embedded in Cobra’s skin had transformed into hundreds of shadow snakes. He glanced back at me, snake eyes flickering. He mouthed, “Get up and move.”
Cobra carried Ascher across the white line and collapsed on the far side of the field.
Tried to tell him with my eyes that we couldn’t do this. That I didn’t want to. That it wasn’t worth it. To hell with the gods. He meant more to me than a little crucifixion.
On the edge of the arena, Scorpius said something to Malum. Even from afar I could see that Malum’s expression hardened as he looked at his mate, then looked at me. He nodded. Flames exploded.
Malum had given us privacy.
John was trying to make it good for me, but he didn’t know it wasn’t possible.
John slowly looked up at me. “Aran.” His dark eyes hardened as he realized what I’d given him. All traces of a smile slipped off his face. He looked enraged.
They were still my mates, and I didn’t want to hurt them. This one would hurt. “Tell him,” Corvus said roughly, and the unspoken tell me hung heavy in the air between us. I tipped my head back and rested it against my Ignis’s warm arm. “She bled. That was her first time with a man.”
“I’m gaping at you in shock,” I said loudly because I didn’t want Scorpius to miss out on my facial expressions. He shook his head with exasperation, but a small smile curled the edge of his lips. Like he thought I was funny.
Sadie held my hand under the table and squeezed three times in quick succession. I squeezed back four times. We both knew what we meant.
Sadie explained that the male character’s crooked penis was symbolic of his imperfect love. Straight women were so weird. Yes, I was straight. I didn’t want to talk about it.
He nodded, then reached across the table and pinched Sadie’s nose between two fingers. Her eyes stopped glowing, and the blood dropped. I shook my head. “I can’t believe that worked.” Jax winked down at me. “You don’t want to know how we discovered it.”
Sadie’s canines lengthen. Why was my friend so ridiculously overpowered yet unable to run for five minutes without asphyxiating? Truly a unique woman.
Ascher wanted a new phone, Jax wanted a different nose ring, Cobra had his eye on a comic book (who knew he had hobbies?), and Xerxes wanted a new supercar.
A few tables down, Sadie gave me a friendly wave while Jax smiled, and their small acts of kindness meant everything. I felt a little better. Behind Sadie, Jinx mouthed, “Snap out of it,” and Cobra made a shockingly vulgar hand gesture. Jax slapped him. Never mind. I felt like shit.
At least Orion cared. Just not enough.
“I’m not John.” Everyone turned to him. A muscle in his jaw ticked. “I’m Luka, his twin.” Time paused.
I watched Horse longingly, wishing I could also fly away.
Society either vilified women for their faults or worshipped them for being different. The decision was usually made based on how attractive the woman was.
I just wanted someone to talk to me. I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts. Was that too much to ask for? There was a reason John and Sadie were my best friends.
