More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“So,” I said conversationally, “how does it feel to be in love with and mated to the prettiest person in all the realms?” Ascher beamed. “Aw, I’ll tell Cobra you said that.”
“Come onnnnnnn,” I whined. “Give me the details. Gossiping about Cobra is all I have to live for these days.” Ascher replied, “I think—” “Who are you talking about?” Cobra appeared next to us, slit pupils glowing green in the dark. “You.” I sucked in smoke. “Ascher says you’re pretending to hate women and secretly you love us all. So sweet of you.”
“No worries, sun god bless your family.” I gave the stranger a friendly salute. “May you all die young and never know the gods personally.”
It had all started when I was born. After that, everything had gone to absolute shit.
Startled out of a pleasant dream where I was eating my mother’s heart,
Physically, I was hideous. Mentally, I was worse. Spiritually, I was a slut.
I would ask her, but alas, I’d ripped out her heart and eaten it. So that wasn’t an option.
Luka released me but let out a trail of creative expletives that would make the most hardened soldiers blush, something about Zeus, a firebolt, and a man’s ass.
Objectively, it was a nice body. Subjectively, immediate smash.
Ever since I’d revealed I was a woman, I’d been getting a lot of disturbing comments thrown my way. I was 99 percent sure that my teammates were sexually harassing me. There was only one thing left to do. I cleared my throat. “Keep talking like that and you’ll get fucked.” Sexually harass them back.
It was obvious that he was suffering from low testosterone and didn’t know how to express his emotions properly. He just needed to be handled with care.
If I had any energy left, I would have launched out of Luka’s arms in feminine outrage and kicked Malum’s ass.
This was exactly why all fae men would be jailed at birth and not released until they proved themselves peaceful. Thank the sun god I was queen and not some male whack job.
Was he having a breakdown? I hated to say it, but that would be the most relatable thing he’d done to date. “Maybe try lying on the floor to ground yourself. It can help panic attacks,” I pointed out helpfully and crossed my arms over my chest to demonstrate. “Deep breaths.”
I’d said it before, and I’d say it again: men were deranged, and they should all be shot. On sight. No questions asked.
Truthfully, I’d stopped listening as soon as I’d realized he was the one speaking. When he’d concluded having his mental breakdown, I’d saluted him with my middle finger and walked away.
I’d forgotten that my friend had the endurance of an asthmatic suffering from tuberculosis.
The demons had once walked in on me making up a song and we’d mutually agreed to never speak of it again. Since I’d gone off on a lyrical tangent and had rhymed “dying alone” with “traffic cone” it was probably for the best.
The door opened as Zenith entered, and I whirled around and tried to give off “she’s not having a mental breakdown in the mirror” energy.
“Please increase my dosage, I’m still hallucinating,” I said loudly so the nurses in the ward could hear me. Xerxes grabbed me beneath my armpits. “Stranger danger!” I shouted, and he jumped back with surprise.
Crack. Bones shifted in my back, and I was in so much pain that I did something I’d wanted to do for weeks. I kicked Jinx.
“You did not embarrass us,” Zenith said in a clipped tone. “For the most part.” I squirmed uncomfortably under the weight of his profuse praise.
He was staring at me like he was waiting for me to admit I’d been secretly a damsel in distress this entire time.
If the next word out of her mouth was “jump,” then I was joining the underground radical atheist fae cult. I’d secretly always liked their message about how we were all going to die and no one was going to save us.
Scorpius said, “Vidimus. We saw.”
He’s legit blind 😭😭😭🤣😭🤣🤣😭🤣🤣😭
Arabella let out a dry, humorless laugh. “This is why I’m going to exterminate all men.” Orion chuckled, and I arched my brow in the direction of my Revered. “She’s not funny!” Corvus screamed. She smacked her lips around her pipe. “Orion laughed.” Silence.
“People think we’re your mothers. Me and Aran?” Sadie asked incredulously. “They actually think the two of us created you?” If looks could kill, Jinx would have annihilated her on the spot. Jinx spoke slowly like she was talking to idiots. “Yes, because you spread the rumor yourself.” Sadie’s eyes widened. “But they actually believe it?” “Yes,” Jinx said through gritted teeth. Sadie slowly turned around and lowered her forehead against my shoulder. She burst into sobs. “That’s so beautiful.”
Did I know what an Ignis was? No. But I could pick up on context clues, and it obviously had something to do with devil mates. Did I care? Also no. But Malum clearly did, and that was all that mattered. It was nice to watch him squirm. Truly the highlight of my day.
In the last day and a half since the end of the competition, each of the kings had cornered me and begged for forgiveness while also insulting me. They were aggressively sorry. Emphasis on the aggressive part. Of course, I’d done what any gracious woman would do when they faced a suffering male who was finally taking accountability for his actions. I pretended I couldn’t hear them speaking.
Cobra’s eyes flickered to slit pupils, and he hissed, “Until then, we’re stuck with the perverted ferret.” Xerxes pulled out his knives and made a show of sharpening them, and Ascher cracked his knuckles. Warren gently sat Jinx down in a chair, then leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. His posture was relaxed, like he didn’t care that most people in the room wanted to kill him. Oh, to be a delusional teenager. Must be nice.
“I see that fire ass still hasn’t gotten the psychological counseling he needs.” Sadie gestured to Malum. “I’d recommend you to Dr. Palmer, my and Aran’s therapist, but she told us that she was considering reporting us to the authorities.”
Not to get political, but men suck.
My soul’s taste in men was officially a form of self-harm.
