Rebirth—Day 62, hour 7
The room was unnaturally silent when I woke up. Something rubbed me the wrong way, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Something was different.
I had no memory of what happened after Lyla ordered us to reveal our powers. It was blank. The only thing I remembered was the angel captain telling us that Arabella belonged with his legion and all of us losing it.
I listened carefully. Only four people breathed in the room, and I could identify the sounds in my sleep.
I was alone in the room with my mates and Arabella, and I had no clue where the twins or demons were.
Muscles pulled and groaned as I sat up.
My body hadn’t hurt like this since I was a kid. Not since five children had ambushed me after school with a crowbar and beaten me bloody while they mocked me for being blind. Back then I’d gone into a coma and hadn’t woken up for days.
Now I felt the same, if not worse.
Agony scoured down my back, and every breath hurt my sternum. Corvus must feel the same, because he groaned as he shifted in the bed.
Something or someone had hurt us so badly that we’d needed days to recover.
That didn’t happen to us as adults.
Ever.
Corvus swore violently as he realized Orion was still asleep in the bed, not moving. I pressed my ear to our Revered’s chest, and his heart beat slowly.
He was in a deep healing state.
Silence was loud between us. My Ignis and I didn’t need to speak to know we were thinking the same thing.
We’d failed our Revered.
Again.
Some Protector I was. My hands shook with the urge to find a knife and hurt myself.
Across the room, a familiar feminine voice sighed and distracted me from my thoughts. There was a low whistle as she blew out smoke.
Corvus’s neck cracked as he snapped his head to look at her.
When my Ignis spoke, his voice was like broken glass. “Why do you have angel wings?”
I stilled.
“I’m practicing retracting and extending them,” Arabella said calmly like she was talking about the weather.
We both sat still in shock.
I could practically taste my mate’s unholy rage.
Corvus flung himself across the room at her with insane speed. For the next hour, he grilled Arabella about what had happened in the showcase.
The story she told was unbelievable.
“Tell us what happened,” Corvus growled, and the bed creaked while Arabella’s teeth chattered together like he was shaking her back and forth.
“I already told you,” Arabella said with a heavy sigh.
Corvus growled for the tenth time in five minutes and snarled, “Give us the truth.”
Arabella blew smoke from her lips and said with annoyance, “For the millionth time, I already told you.”
“No, what you told us was an impossible lie. Now tell us the truth of what happened.”
The wall cracked as Corvus punched it.
“Why don’t you do me a favor and shut up? How about that?” Arabella’s voice dripped with venom. “I’m done trying to reason with you. I already told you the truth!” Bedsheets rustled as she rolled over. “Leave me alone.”
Corvus laughed cruelly. “No. I can’t do that. Not until I know what actually happened. My Revered is still unconscious. I can’t let this go!”
“Oh my sun god!” Arabella yelled. “Then go hold your precious Revered and stop bothering me!”
“No!” Corvus roared as he gnashed his teeth together loudly. “You somehow stopped us, and you did something to him!”
His voice dropped, and he said menacingly, “Do you understand that we’ve never been able to control our power once we started? Ever. Yet you tell me the girl was marked for death and she’s still alive? And that somehow you just lay in front of her and poof, you’re both fine?”
“Hmmm,” Arabella said sarcastically. “Yes. That’s exactly what happened.”
There was a struggling noise as Arabella tried to crawl out of bed but Corvus pinned her to the mattress.
A strange tightness burned my chest, and I stepped closer to my Ignis. Grabbing his shoulder, I tried to pull him back from her.
Arabella might be the most infuriating person ever to walk the realms, but she was still injured, and Malum was being rough with her.
For sun god’s sake, she had a slur carved into her back, and apparently, she’d sprouted angel wings.
Even I could see that she needed space.
Her voice might drip with aggression, but her breath was choppy like it hurt her to inhale. She was suffering, and Corvus was hurting her.
My Ignis was acting deranged around her lately.
It was like he lost all his common sense in her presence.
“Let her go,” I snarled at my Ignis as I grabbed onto his shoulder and pulled him back.
Corvus ripped himself away from my grasp, and Arabella swore. Bedding rustled, and skin smacked skin as he grabbed at her.
What was wrong with him?
“Stop it, Malum, fucking stop it!” I shouted as I once again grabbed him and tried to wrestle him away from her. “What are you doing?” I put him in a headlock. “She needs to heal. Leave her alone.”
“What’s going on?” Orion mumbled sleepily as he finally woke up.
I was too stressed to be relieved.
“You’re mated to an idiot,” Arabella said dryly.
Corvus lunged forward in my arms, and it took every ounce of strength I possessed to stop him from getting to her.
He snarled like a rabid animal.
“Sun god, calm the fuck down. Now,” I ordered him.
Corvus stopped struggling. “She’s lying. She hurt us, and now the disguised fae queen just happens to be an angel. Please. Wake up, Scorpius. How many more secrets can a person have?” His voice deepened. “She’s been playing with us, and it ends today. I want the truth!”
Orion made a noise in the back of his throat, and he padded toward us. “Angel, sweetheart, are you okay?” he whispered breathlessly.
Arabella ignored him and scoffed at Corvus. “What are you going to do? Kill me?” She chuckled like the idea was absurd. “Since I just stopped your flames while you were a killing machine, good luck with that.”
Corvus’s muscles tensed as he said, “No one said anything about killing you. But there are other ways.”
The strange pressure in my chest became worse.
I bristled.
Arabella laughed cruelly. “Oh, what, are you going to stick me on a pike in front of your little hut?”
“It’s not a hut, it’s a manor, and maybe you’ll finally get to see it from the stake!” Corvus screamed back at her.
Every instinct in my body lit up.
“Fine,” Arabella said dryly. “It’s not a hut, it’s a shack. Feel better?”
My Ignis growled like a beast.
If he was fire, then she was kerosene.
I didn’t like how unstable he acted around her. Just three days ago, he’d whispered to me at night a plan to kill every person in the fae palace who’d allowed her mother to hurt her. He’d told me he was starting to care for her. Now we were talking about staking her?
He’d lost his mind.
Something about her made my Ignis crazy, and he needed to figure his shit out.
“We will not be hurting her,” I growled and shoved Corvus roughly across the room, away from Arabella.
Orion whispered loudly, “No. We will not.” His lyrical voice rang around the room like a threat.
Corvus made a choking noise. There was an explosion as it sounded like he chucked the remains of the wingback chair into the wall.
He shouted, “See what she’s done? She’s tearing us apart!”
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.
The wall cracked as Corvus punched it rapidly.
“What’s going on here?” John’s voice sounded from the door, and the demons made noises of disbelief behind him.
“Malum’s having a mental breakdown.” Arabella whistled softly as she blew out smoke. “What Dr. Palmer likes to call an episode.”
She rolled her eyes and mumbled, “My gut is telling me that giving him a journal is not going to resolve the problem.”
I barely stopped Corvus as he lunged at her. I put him in another headlock while Orion held his arms behind his back. He bucked against our hold.
She murmured, “Told ya.”
“Why is he acting like that?” Vegar asked cautiously.
“Because she’s lying.” Corvus gnashed his teeth aggressively. “She won’t tell us what actually happened in the showcase.”
“I told him, he just won’t believe me,” Arabella grumbled.
There was an awkward pause.
“Uh, we actually were just watching it,” John said. “Lothaire recorded it with the same enchantment he uses for all his battles. Apparently, the gods wanted us to—”
“I want to see it now,” Corvus cut him off and stopped struggling against us.
Goose bumps of premonition prickled my arms.
Orion and I released our hold on our mate, and he demanded, “Show me.”
John made a noise of agreement. “Lothaire was still in the classroom when we left. I’m sure he’ll show us if we—”
“Let’s go,” Corvus cut him off again as he stalked out the door.
I followed behind him but paused in the doorway. The pressure in my chest became a terrible ache like my soul was being ripped to pieces. My Revered made a choking noise beside me, like he also felt it.
“Arabella.” I turned. “Aren’t you coming?”
She grumbled and huffed as she got out of bed. There was a loud clattering noise, the same one the angels made when they moved.
My mind blanked.
She really is an angel.
The sound disappeared, and I realized she must have retracted her wings.
Panic was quickly replaced with pain. Agony throbbed across my back, and weird pinpricks of discomfort streaked down my limbs. My face ached, and the skin beneath my eyes ached.
What had happened during the showcase?
I hadn’t felt this much physical pain since childhood.
“Here, let us help you, bestie,” John said to Arabella, and she grunted a thanks as clothing rustled like she’d leaned against the twins.
My knuckles cracked as I fisted my hands.
“Move,” John said when they got to the doorway.
Orion made an aggressive noise in the back of his throat.
“Let’s go,” Corvus shouted from down the hall, and I reluctantly moved out of the way.
As we walked down the hall, Orion whispered in my ear, “Luka and John are supporting her. She’s covered in bruises and cuts and looks like shit. She had huge blue angel wings, but she retracted them.”
“I know,” I snapped at him. “I can hear.”
Orion scoffed at my attitude, and regret filled me. A Protector didn’t treat his Revered poorly. Ever.
Lately I’d been testy with him all the time. It was unacceptable.
“Sorry,” I whispered and wrapped my arm around his shoulders.
He leaned against me.
For the first time in my life, the touch of my Revered wasn’t enough to calm the sensations boomeranging through me.
Something was very wrong.
Everything felt off.
When we entered the classroom, Lothaire was speaking to Corvus. “Yes, you can watch. Take a seat.”
We sat down at our usual desk.
Orion pressed his lips near my ear as he prepared to describe everything that the enchanted projector showed. Our routine.
I dug my fingernails into my Revered’s palm.
He tapped his fingers impatiently against the desk.
Corvus slumped down in his usual seat next to me. He huffed at Arabella and the twins. “Stop cuddling in the classroom. It’s disgusting.”
He was really in a mood today.
“Take the stick out of your ass,” she grumbled under her breath so quietly that only I could hear.
Corvus sneered loudly, “What was that about an ass? You want me to beat yours?”
The twins breathed harshly.
“Are you threatening her?” Lothaire spat at the front of the classroom.
The three of us sat up straight. “No, sir,” Corvus growled as we all waited for the blow to fall.
There was a scratching noise as Lothaire rubbed at the stubble on his jaw. Then he said, “I have a feeling what you’re about to watch will be punishment enough.”
I swallowed thickly.
The desk creaked beneath us as my mates shifted uncomfortably beside me.
There was a familiar ticking as the enchantment began to play.
Orion whispered in my ear.
His tone changed as the projection played, disbelief dripping from his lips. Then horror.
I gripped his thigh when he said Arabella didn’t have a flame above her head.
My nails created holes in his sweatpants when he said she jumped and pulled the girl off the platform.
When wings exploded from her spine, I gouged his skin.
I drew blood when she slammed into the post.
Orion’s thigh muscle bunched as he described Arabella throwing herself atop of the marked girl.
Corvus held his breath when on the screen, Orion said he pointed his flaming hand down at her.
“She’s on fire now.” Orion’s voice broke.
All three of us went still.
Orion gasped, “Holy sun god.” He didn’t elaborate.
I shook his thigh. “What happened? Tell me.”
“She—” He swallowed thickly as he repeated what was happening on the screen. “—somehow put out Corvus’s flames. Both she and the child are unharmed.”
All three of my eyes widened.
Then he gasped like something worse had occurred.
I was afraid to ask, “What just happened?”
Orion’s voice shook. “We stopped using our powers. Now we’re fighting with the angels. Whatever she did pulled us out of the killing state.”
“No,” Corvus whispered.
Orion repeated, “We regained control because of her.”
The room fell quiet as the projection stopped.
“Told ya,” Arabella said snottily.
I keeled forward.
Cold sweat broke out across every inch of my body, and I pressed my face against the chilly desk.
Corvus wretched beside me.
Orion hyperventilated.
“What’s happening to them?” John asked, and our teammates murmured with confusion.
Lothaire responded, “They’ve realized what we, the judges, did when we watched the tape.”
“Realized what?” Arabella asked.
Corvus gagged louder.
“You’re their missing mate,” Lothaire said.
The realm stopped spinning as he spoke our realization aloud.
She laughed loudly. “No, I’m not.”
“I don’t think—” Orion’s voice cracked. “I don’t think that—” He broke off and breathed shakily. “I want to protect her.”
Liquid splashed across the ground as Corvus lost the contents of his stomach.
Trepidation transformed into pure horror.
The desk shook from the force of my trembling. “It can’t be,” I said weakly. Desperately. Futilely.
But it made sense.
Orion’s reluctance to being coddled.
His urge to defend us.
His aggressive characteristics.
We’d assumed he was just unique.
I’d always known in my bones that he wasn’t a gentle guy.
We’d characterized him as such because he was quiet and physically smaller than Corvus and me. Plus, he was breathtakingly stunning. Corvus always said he was the prettiest male devil he’d ever seen.
It had always made sense.
It had always been the most obvious explanation.
Until we’d met someone physically smaller than all of us—someone who spiraled and fell apart during battle; someone who grieved over the people she killed while the rest of us felt nothing; someone all of us wanted to protect.
The only person Corvus had described as prettier than Orion.
A person who all three of us were obsessed with.
A person we irrationally wanted to protect.
The woman that had given us something we’d never had: control.
A woman that had all the famed characteristics of a certain type of person. Someone who was different, physically and mentally, from the three of us.
A person who had my infamously grouchy Ignis apparently blushing and tongue-tied whenever she spoke to him.
The silence had started after she’d taken off the enchantment that disguised her.
I loved the quiet. It calmed me and allowed me to hear the world around me better.
The silence was peace.
The silence was our new mating song.
Our complete one.
“I think she’s our Revered.” Orion cleared his throat. “And I’m the other Protector.”
Skin smacked against the desk, then the floor.
Our Ignis had passed out.
