“The twins have been sick lately,” I whispered.
Guilt twisted in my stomach because I should have told them the extent of my problems. I never should have pretended I was a normal woman who could do something as mundane as have husbands.
Mother’s cruel smile flashed in my mind.
“Soul bonds go both ways,” I said. “You have connections to your mates’ souls, and you can feel their emotions. Good and bad. That’s what you have with your mates, right?”
“Yeah,” she said.
Smoke whistled through my lips. “I don’t feel anything from the twins, and all they feel is my pain. Every time I’m aroused, they feel pain in their backs, just like I do. The jewels didn’t work properly because they’re attuned to souls—and I don’t have one.”
“That seems like a logical leap.”
“It’s not.” My voice cracked. “I’m empty, so there’s no soul to join. It connected them to the only thing I’ve ever had.”
“Which is?” Sadie asked with confusion.
“Suffering.”
Chapter 43
Aran
THEY KNOW
Tragicomedy (noun): a drama or situation blending tragic and comic elements.
DAY 30, HOUR 14
The closet door was ripped off its hinges.
Light blinded my corneas.
“Get out,” Malum said viciously.
I squinted up at the leader of the kings. Scorpius, Orion, and the twins surrounded him.
Malum blocked the doorway. “Now, Arabella. Your closet time is fucking over.”
“Really? You couldn’t just open it?” I asked. He placed the door, which he’d viciously ripped off the wall, on the floor.
Behind him, blood and gore was splashed across the medical barracks like a crime scene. Doctors paused stitching up soldiers to gawk at their mangled door, and soldiers paused their moaning to gape at their leaders.
The men glared down at me.
I sighed.
Malum made a harsh noise as Cobra hurried forward and pushed past him. The snake shifter fell to his knees beside me, and with surprising gentleness, he pulled a needle out of Sadie’s arm (apparently, she’d been playing with one in the dark?) and patted her arm like he was making sure she was okay.
I gaped at my best friend and pointedly looked at the discarded needle.
She winked.
“You’re a freak,” I mouthed at her as Cobra gingerly picked her up and cradled her against his chest.
She smiled over his shoulder and waved her long nails. “Takes one to know one. Let’s finish this talk later.” Her mates coalesced around her and whispered sweet nothings in her ear as they left the medical barracks.
No one kissed my head and gently offered to pick me up. No one whispered anything nice into my ear.
I got glared at.
In fact, both the kings and twins were frowning down at me with all their arms crossed, even John.
I squinted, unsure for a second if the haze had returned and I was hallucinating, because they all looked livid. From their expressions, you would think I’d have done something unforgivable, which was strange because they were literally okay with murdering people.
Last time I’d talked to the twins, they’d been concerned but not angry. The kings also hadn’t been mad.
In the past day and a half of battling ungodly, something had changed.
Did someone tell the kings that women had rights?
Scorpius muttered something scathing under his breath, and Malum nodded in agreement.
Scarlet flames crackled across Malum’s shoulders, and the medical barracks went dead silent. It felt like everyone was holding their breath, waiting for an explosion.
I remained seated and sucked on my enchanted pipe.
There were two steps to being that bitch: (1) protect your peace from men, and (2) never pay retail.
Horse settled onto my shoulder. His smoky head nuzzled against my cheek while I gently stroked his feathers.
I didn’t need men because I had something much smarter, cooler, and better looking: a bird.
For the first time since I’d met them, the twins seemed twisted. Evil. Wrathful. Their dark eyes radiated danger.
The kings looked similar.
Silver flames glowed in Malum’s eyes. The eye on Scorpius’s neck blinked open and glared at me accusingly. Orion frowned.
Malum lunged forward like he was going to instigate a fight.
He stopped inches away from me.
If he was trying to intimidate me, it wouldn’t work. I had a secret weapon. I possessed something they never would—class.
And the ability to put a cute outfit together.
“You can all go take a large, misshapen piece of wood—and shove it up your asses.” I made an obscene gesture. “Leave me alone and get control of yourselves. You’re frightening me.”
Malum bared his teeth. “Good. You should be afraid.”
How is this the same man that cuddled me?
Flames sizzled.
A body lunged. Quicker than I could follow, fingers wrapped around my throat.
“Go fuck yourself, Mal—”
Nails dug into my skin.
I froze.
Pale cheekbones, sharper than glass, hovered inches from my face. Unfocused milky eyes stared off into space, and wine-red lips were smashed into a thin line.
Bergamot and musk were spicy with fury.
I was drowned in Scorpius’s rage.
“What’s your problem?” I asked, unbothered by the pointer finger digging into my jugular.
Scorpius’s jaw clenched, and he didn’t speak. His tattooed eye was wide open, staring at me.
I blew smoke in his face.
Nails pinched as they dug deeper into the sensitive skin on my neck.
Behind Scorpius, the twins stepped forward. Darkness glistened around them.
I waited.
Neither of them made a move to pull Scorpius off me.
They flanked him.
I ignored Scorpius slowly asphyxiating me and stared at the twins.
“Traitors,” I gasped out, my voice raspy from lack of air.
John didn’t move, didn’t flinch. He did nothing to show that he’d heard me. His familiar dimples had transformed into harsh lines that highlighted the fury on his handsome face.
He was a stranger.
“Is it true, Aran?” he asked cryptically, voice hard and deep.
“What?” I asked. My heart hurt.
John took a step closer. “Tell me right now that it’s not fucking true.” Darkness glinted and twisted around him like living shadows.
I blinked.
John’s image changed.
A cape of darkness was draped across his shoulders and blew on a phantom breeze. A jagged crown sat atop his dark curls and his eyes were pools of darkness. His features were hard.
There was nothing boyish about him.
I blinked.
The crown and cape disappeared, but his rage remained.
Scorpius’s grip on my neck tightened, and I choked on air.
Betrayal mixed with asphyxiation, and suddenly it hit me—I’d had enough.
Kicking out and flexing with all my might, I ripped my neck out of Scorpius’s grip and climbed to my feet.
I stalked toward the man I thought I loved.
Chest to chest with John, I asked him, “What are you talking about?” He’d taken off his combat boots to stitch a foot wound, but I still had mine on.
We were eye to eye.
Up close, John’s darkness shimmered. Ice spread across the side of his face where I breathed on him. His expression was severe.