I shivered and blinked rapidly as I tried to see. An arm wrapped around my shoulder, and a glowing scarlet ball of warmth flickered over a bronze hand in front of my chest.
“We’re supposed to be concealed,” I said, and my voice was swallowed by the wind.
A gruff male voice spoke close to my ear. “Your Protectors are blocking us from sight. Don’t worry, my Revered.”
Scorpius and Orion shielded us with their bodies.
Malum’s ball of fire glowed maroon. I raised my mittens up to it.
The sting of the chill abated.
Malum pulled me tight against his side and shielded me from the worst of the snow.
He held me like we were on good terms.
We weren’t.
I shivered again, and the intensity of the flame increased.
“Why won’t you tell me where you went?” I asked.
Malum went rigid and Scorpius glanced back over his shoulder.
The two kings had returned yesterday covered in blood and once again they’d refused to talk about where they’d gone.
“Not now.” Malum shook his head. “Later, Arabella. I promise. It will all become clear.”
“Fine, we’ll talk later.” I pulled away from his embrace.
He made a harsh noise, but he let me go. Moving more stealthily than a man of his size should have been capable of, he positioned himself beside his mates.
Without his flames, the cold intensified.
My bones hurt.
Teeth-chattered.
I trembled with shivers.
Out of nowhere, a glowing ball of fire floated in front of me, and the heat cut through the cold.
Malum was walking ahead, and seemed to be ignoring me, but his fire trailed beside me.
“Thank you,” I called out so he could hear me.
“Shush,” Rina snapped.
Malum looked back over his shoulder and winked.
Heat warmed inside my chest that had nothing to do with the ball of fire.
We marched through the wintry forest. The kings were in front of me, and the twins were behind.
I was surrounded by a wall of flesh.
A personal army of monsters.
As we stomped through the ankle-deep snow towards the infected settlement, my sense of foreboding grew.
I wanted to turn and run. I forced myself to keep moving forward with everyone else.
We only had forty-four soldiers left.
With the current casualty rate, the twenty-two men left to secure the perimeter had a ninety percent chance of death.
Fumbling with my mittens, I pulled out my pipe, shoved it between chattering teeth, and inhaled greedily.
Immediate calm descended as warm smoke filled my lungs.
The ball of fire burned hotter.
A hand patted my back gently. “Keep moving,” John said as he hunched behind me. His voice was unmistakably hoarse, even in the howling wind.
I hadn’t realized I’d stopped moving.
I was bent over, smoking.
Instead of walking forward, I turned to John. “Are you okay?” I asked as I looked back and forth between him and Luka pointedly.
The twins were shrouded in glittering darkness, a tangible force that wrapped around them.
“We’re fine, stop worrying about us.” Luka’s voice was unfamiliar and rougher than John’s. “Please.” He huddled closer so he could be heard over the wind.
It was obvious the twins were in physical pain.
They held themselves differently. They hunched forward slightly, like they were protecting an injury.
They’d left the camp, and something bad had happened to them.
When they’d returned from whatever secretive place they’d gone, their lips were pinched tight and eyes glossy from pain. They’d walked differently.
A small part of me was still angry at them for disappearing again. A larger part of me was just plain worried.
They were putting on a brave face, but something was horribly wrong. I was terrified it was my fault.
“Focus on the battle, Aran.” John punched me gently in the arm. “Nothing’s going on.”
I exhaled a cloud of smoke. “I don’t believe you.” My words were swallowed by the blizzard.
“We don’t have time for this, we have a war to win,” Scorpius snapped, and his tone left no room for argument. “We need to move.”
I inhaled smoke and trudged forward as the kings and twins resumed their protective positions.
Horse cawed as he settled onto my shoulder.
He nuzzled my face, his wispy form barely holding shape under the storm’s onslaught.
We moved as a unit in silence.
Soldiers off to war.
Time folded in on itself.
I blinked.
We entered the courtyard and Malum’s flame dissipated.
Rina told me to put my pipe away and put my black hood on.
I ignored her.
Smoke filled my lungs.
I blinked.
Twenty of us crept through familiar flame-lit corridors. Ice melted off uniforms and dripping sounds echoed down the quiet corridor.
I looked down.
Unlike everyone else, I was still covered in a sheen of cobalt.
The ice wasn’t melting off me, it spread beneath my feet with every step I took.
Someone shouted.
Glowing blue swords were drawn.
I blinked.
Wings clattered above, and swords stabbed down from the ceiling, expertly hitting targets. Down the corridor, a gruesome roar echoed—the warning sound of a bear shifter—and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
Infected screamed as we eliminated them.
Ungodly chittered as they ripped from their corpses. I sliced off their heads before they could react.
“Good work,” Malum shouted. He was nothing but a blur of darkness. I squinted as I tried to discern where the rest of the soldiers were in the smoky corridor.
A hand grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back.
An ax flew out of nowhere and missed my pipe by inches.
“Pay attention,” Luka shouted.
Two figures closed ranks on either side of me, and I sucked on my pipe greedily, grateful it hadn’t been hit.
“I am,” I said as I swung my enchanted swords forward and sliced the neck off an infected.
“We’ve got your back,” John shouted. There was a grunt and a thump as a body hit the ground behind me. The twins fought behind me.
“I’ve got your front.” I dodged ungodly pincers and protected them.
That was the last thing I said for hours.
The battle raged in the halls.
I blinked.
We’d been fighting for what felt like an eternity.
Sweat froze as it dripped down the sides of my face, making my skin feel uncomfortable.
We sprinted down the hall as a group. The twins and kings ran in front of me with their swords drawn.
There was a fork ahead in the corridor, and everyone turned left.
A hidden door opened at the exact moment I passed, and an infected flung herself at me. As our swords clashed, I skidded backward down the right path, away from the group.
There was a loud crack as the side of my head slammed against the stone.
Disoriented, I stumbled and touched my ear gingerly. Instead of bone and blood, a broken earpiece fell out.
I had no time to feel relief.
A blur of blue arched toward me. I barely spun and got my weapon up in time. The infected was a bulky male who towered over me in strength and height.
He was strong, but I was faster. My blade sliced clean through his neck, and his head rolled.
An ungodly ripped into existence.