“Beat me to death with a shovel,” I offered.
He chuckled, and the sound was deep and rich as he swooped down and booped my nose, holding me close as I struggled to get away.
“Is she hurt?” Luka asked behind him. “Did something happen to her face?” Unlike John’s relaxed posture, Luka was rigid.
Tense.
He was focused on the two of us.
At all times.
Luka’s dark eyes flashed with concern as he stared down at me, so I wiggled out of John’s arms and jumped to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.
His fingers pressed reverently against where my lips touched.
Pinpricks of pain trailed across my back. There was something so heartbreakingly sweet about Luka that it made me want to latch onto him and never let him go.
John pulled me back beneath his arm and answered his twin, “Nah.” He flashed his dimples and tried to tweak my nose again, but I ducked. “My wife is perfect.”
“Our wife,” Luka corrected.
Malum said, “She’s not your wife.”
The kings glared at the twins like they were a threat. Malum’s flaming arms were draped over Scorpius and Orion protectively.
For a few seconds, I’d forgotten they existed, and I missed that time because it was peaceful.
The devils moved together and crowded our space as Luka stepped forward protectively.
“Not our wife.” John winked dramatically. “Yet.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever you say, husband.”
My stomach swooped, and the pain intensified.
“Shut the fuck up and be quiet,” Malum snarled. “You both know the rules.”
What a sweet man. There was that sunshine and rainbows attitude everyone knew and loved.
His knuckles were white from how tightly he was gripping his mates for support.
Therapy had clearly mellowed him out. Not.
He needed electric shock therapy, or a lobotomy, or both.
I was willing to experiment.
John opened his mouth to speak, and the glare Malum shot at him would have brought a lesser man to his knees.
Central to the war effort was remaining undetected by the ungodly. Since the High Court didn’t know what technology the planet possessed, everyone was ordered to stay indoors as much as possible, and if you were outside, you had to be quiet.
Red flames flickered on bronze shoulders, and the snow falling around us turned into rain.
The kings stared at me with intense emotions.
I stared back with deadened eyes.
I’d stopped caring when he’d forced me to stand out under a sky that rained glass.
“You’re just calling him husband to get on our nerves,” Scorpius sneered.
I sighed heavily. “You think you’re so important. Newsflash, I’m calling him my husband—because that’s exactly what he’s going to be.” I scoffed. “Everything isn’t about you. Grow up.”
Scorpius’s razor-sharp jaw twitched, red flames multiplied, and Orion frowned at me like I’d disappointed him.
I leaned against John, and Luka rubbed my back. I smiled with contentment and said softly, “My husbands are important to me.”
The battle lines between us were clear.
Three versus three.
Scorpius grunted at my words like he’d taken a punch to the gut.
I smirked.
Of course, I was only doing it out of spite; I might be depressed, but at my core, I was a hateful bitch.
“Stop calling them that,” Malum burst out loudly, red staining his bronze cheeks as he stared at me like he was embarrassed that he couldn’t control his temper.
We were all embarrassed for him.
“Let’s go inside, husbands.” I ignored the kings. “Some people don’t know how to obey the rules of the camp.”
John flashed his dimples, and Luka grunted as I pulled them inside the room that was our legion’s sleeping bunker.
A seven-foot-tall flaming blight on the history of womankind stomped in behind us. “I told you to be quiet first,” Malum said unhelpfully.
The fact that this was him trying to grovel to me was beyond disturbing.
“And I told you to shut the fuck up and die.” I yawned. “What’s your point?”
The temperature spiked.
What could I say? The therapy session was making me feel reckless. I wanted payback.
I breathed into my cupped hands to warm them.
Malum’s fists trembled at his side, and his face exploded in scarlet flames.
Orion roughly pulled him back, and Scorpius shouted in his face, “Snap out of it! You’re in control—the fire does not control you. Breathe with me. You’re okay.”
I rolled my eyes as Scorpius talked Malum off the edge of a total inferno for what felt like the millionth time this week.
“Just to play devil’s advocate—” I chuckled at the double entendre. “—he doesn’t seem in control to me.”
Malum growled like a wild animal.
Never forget three weeks ago at the end of the Legionnaire Games when Malum said he was going to cherish and take care of me and promised it would be different.
Baby girl needs to focus on what he’s manifesting because it’s not working. I opened my mouth to tell him so, but— “I can’t do this!” Malum screamed, and flames shot out of his mouth like a dragon. “I can’t watch you hang all over other men and call them your husbands without reacting. You’re mine.”
Eh, I’ll tell him later.
He fell to his knees.
My headache intensified.
I kicked off my heavy combat boots, lay down in my narrow bunk bed, and pulled the blankets up to my chin.
John kissed my forehead and climbed up to the top bunk. Luka gave me a soft kiss on the cheek and climbed into the bed above mine. A zip of pain traveled down my spine.
Fondness spread through me.
All three of us sighed.
Our new bedroom was low, narrow, and sparse, with a single window that had a view of the trees. A sliver of mountain was visible if you pressed your face against the glass and looked to the left.
Yes, my cheek print was still on the glass from looking.
The space also had matching three-person bunk beds on the walls going longways and a two-person bunk that framed the window. A narrow dresser in the corner had eight drawers, one for each of us, and a laughably small bathroom with barely any room to move.
Overall, it was sufficient.
Better than a wall in front of a toilet and a broken cot.
“You can’t be with them.” Flames swallowed Malum whole in the center of the room, and Scorpius grimaced as he held on to his crazed mate.
Orion glared at the twins like it was their fault.
The room sizzled with heat.
I snuggled deeper into bed and enjoyed the cozy warmth as my chilly skin thawed. Malum made a nice bonfire.
I’d been surprised by how accepting the kings had been of the twins over these last few weeks. I’d gaslit myself into thinking just maybe they weren’t totally insane.
Glad we’d cleared that up.
Malum having a total meltdown felt right. The failed therapy sessions and close proximity didn’t help. Neither did a looming war.
From what I’d gathered, the kings were desperate to prove to the sun god that they were worthy kings, and they were devastated that they wouldn’t have an army to back them.
I also would have been depressed if I was passionate about winning.