PARTY
Reverie (noun): the condition of being lost in thought.
DAY 9, HOUR 19
“A safe place for the soldiers to unwind.”
That was what Lothaire had called Elite Academy last week. The unspoken I’m doing this for you, my daughter had hung in the air between us.
Yesterday, he’d burst into our sleeping barracks and dumped RJE devices onto the floor. “In recognition of your sacrifices, I procured these for you and your soldiers. Your old room and the academy’s servants are yours to use. Thank you for your service.”
He’d ruffled my blue curls and whispered, “You’re doing great.”
Then he’d RJE’d away, and I’d gaped at the place where he’d stood.
One day, a man’s hitting you with a baton and the next he’s trying to be a cool dad.
Life comes at you fast.
Now we were back partying in our bedroom at Elite Academy, and it didn’t feel like a safe place.
It felt wild.
Muted red light, so dark it was almost black, filtered through the stained-glass windows and cast shadows over the dancers.
I wanted to scream with grief over the war, and I would have, but…
I couldn’t feel my face.
I also couldn’t feel my back or my limbs.
Or the crushing existential despair that was squeezing my—wait, never mind, that was still present.
I danced as the party raged around me.
My hands waved in the air, diamond bracelet glittering for all to see, as my hips rolled against the masses of sweaty flesh. The floor beneath my feet was covered in black ice and sent some partygoers falling to the ground.
I bared my teeth with satisfaction as another student fell.
We were all just carnal beasts looking for our next fix.
A few feet away, Ghost kissed a burley male student, who liked to make homophobic and misogynistic comments, on the lips, and he fell to the ground, convulsing and foaming at the mouth.
I gave Ghost a high five as he floated past. His incorporeal hand went through me, and I shivered.
We loved an ally.
Apparently, he was not constrained to the library, because he glided around the party, sending students into comas.
Tears filled my eyes.
I’d missed Ghost so much, and things just weren’t the same without him around because no one traumatized people like he did.
He had a rare gift.
Demon brew coursed through my veins as bodies gyrated around me, and instead of crying, I did what I did best in life.
Drugs.
Sun god bless the demon culture; they were the true silent heroes of the realm for helping us all get so gloriously wasted.
I saluted Zenith, who was across the room, grinding on Vegar.
Zenith scowled back at me, and I blew him a kiss.
He rolled his eyes, but I could tell from his acerbic expression that he secretly loved the attention.
Bodies shifted in the packed room and blocked my view of the demons.
I tipped my head back and smoked.
Rolling my body to the beat, I held up my hand, and five fingers waved in and out of focus. Five. It had been five days since we’d slaughtered an entire compound full of people.
Now the party (funeral) raged in our old bedroom with enchanted music, soldiers, naked students, drugs, sex, and alcohol.
The PTSD wasn’t included.
I brought my own.
“Fuck you,” I snarled at no one in particular as faces blurred around me. The singer crooned on the speakers, and I exhaled a cloud of smoke.
“You tell them,” Sadie shouted over the music. “You get ’em, girl.”
She moved against me, gyrating her hips and swinging her arms in what most parts of the realm called “having an episode.”
I chuckled to myself as I remember how thinking about her dancing had saved me from my attraction to Malum.
In the present, in what was supposed to be a seductive move, she spread her arms wide and jumped into a split.
Shockingly her legs locked a few feet from the floor.
She screamed in pain and fell over.
“I think I pulled my crotch,” she moaned pitifully.
Between gasps of laughter, I said, “You know, I picture you dancing when I’m trying not to be turned on.”
She smacked at my hands as I tried to help her up. “Please, we both know it’s the opposite.”
“I’m not joking,” I said, laughing uncontrollably as she struggled to stand.
She lowered her voice and leaned close to me as she half shimmied, half twitched. “Whatever you say, sweet stuff.”
I pushed her away. “That is exactly what I was talking about. It’s just weird.”
“Sun god,” she groaned. “You don’t need to be a bitch because you find me sexy. A lot of people do.”
She tried to wink, but both her eyes closed at the same time.
She blinked furiously.
“Clearly,” I said dryly, “that’s exactly what’s happening here.”
The music changed to a faster beat, and she suddenly grabbed my arms and spun us both around.
Unlike all the uncoordinated students and soldiers who kept slipping, Sadie didn’t hate the patch of ice that had spread beneath my feet; she tipped her head back and laughed as she spun us both faster on it.
A thought struck me. She’d grown up in the cold shifter realm and was at home with ice and snow.
Maybe that was why she was at home with me?
My heart swelled with emotions I couldn’t afford to feel, so I tipped my head back and lowered my shoulders, swung my arms back and forth as I smoked five pipes at once.
Five.
It had been five days since five people from the Legionnaire Games had been slaughtered in the battle. One angel and one assassin inside the building, two leviathans and one devil outside in the snow as they fought against the ungodly that tried to escape.
All their corpses were unidentifiable.
I didn’t even know the names of the angel and assassin, but I’d fought beside them as the ungodly ripped them apart.
I knew how they’d died.
“Okay, Aran, I see you. Go off.” Sadie rolled her body against me as I tipped my head backward further.
“Hit it. Hit it. Hit it,” she shouted encouragingly as I swung my arms and legs back and forth and squatted low.
I rocked faster.
Smoked harder.
Seventeen was the total number of soldiers we’d lost in the battle, because twelve foot soldiers had died securing the perimeter. There were five odd numbers between five and seventeen.
So many fives.
I grabbed a bottle of demon brew from a student’s hands and tipped it back. Drank until it was empty, then chucked it against the far wall.
It exploded, and students yelped.
Sadie cheered.
The number 5555 was an enchanted one that stood for change.
They’d changed all right. Living to dead.
I wheezed, and my chest tingled.
“Here, sweetie,” Sadie said as she pressed another pipe between my crammed lips. “Have another smoke. This will help.”
I inhaled the drugs until my lungs felt like they were disintegrating inside my sternum.
She was right.
It helped.
I loved her so much; she always knew what I needed.
She pulled me close and whispered into my ear, “We should pretend to have sex in the shower again sometime.”
Never mind—she knew nothing.
“What?” I stopped dancing.
She snickered. “Scorpius told me the other day that he would make you come harder than I ever could.”
I pulled back and gaped at her. “He did not.”
“Yep.” She popped the p loudly. “Then he told me my stroke game was weak.” She smirked as she shimmied her hips. “I told him I was better at giving head because I was a girl and knew what felt best.”
I choked on smoke. “You did not say that.”
She grinned. “Oh, I did. He was so pissed—you should have seen it. Poor guy stabbed himself in the thigh with a pen. Can we please do it again? I think your men would actually have aneurysms.”
“They’re not my men,” I said reflexively.
She rolled her hips and winked. “Suuuuure, whatever you say. And I don’t shift into a saber-toothed tiger and enslave people with my blood.”
I rolled my eyes, and we resumed dancing.
“Fine,” I said a few moments later and drawled seductively, “You can fake fuck me again.”
She squealed and pulled me close. “You will not regret this decision.”
I laughed because I definitely would, and we rocked together in the flailing mass of sweaty limbs and hormones.
Everything was a jumbled mess.
Students were on their knees.
Soldiers pressed against the walls with their heads tipped back.
Sounds of pleasure echoed.
Pincers scraped.
Exoskeletons crunched.
High-pitched chittering sounded.
Eighty-three was the number of soldiers left in our army, and you couldn’t divide it by five.
It was all disturbing.
Horse cawed with agitation as he flapped above the heads of the partygoers. His tail and wings were covered in long trailing feathers, and his neck was longer.
He stopped flying and perched on my shoulder, nuzzling his beak against the side of my head.
I leaned my head back to try to make the dark thoughts fall out.
I tipped backward, but they stayed inside my head.
Regrettable.
Sadie caught me before I crashed to the floor, then spun me around the room like we were at a fancy ball on a spacious dance floor.
Plot twist, we weren’t.
We crashed into bodies, and drinks sloshed everywhere as people swore.
I couldn’t help but laugh as Sadie grinned like a maniac and spun me faster in the crowd. She slammed me into a student like a battering ram, and he crashed to the floor.
It was the most fun I’d had in weeks.
My elbow cracked against someone’s nose, and blood sprayed like diamonds. Sadie’s cheeks were rosy, lips glossy, as she twirled with me.
We laughed uncontrollably.
This was the feminine experience.
We slammed into someone, and they hit the ground with a thud. Horse cawed in his face, then settled on Ghost’s shoulder.
They haunted the party together.
Goals.
“What the fuck are you two doing?” the student we’d just bowled over spat from the floor. “I’m a royal student, and I don’t recognize you, which means you’re filthy commoners.” He lumbered unsteadily to his feet.
What a delightful man.
“Spinning sexily,” Sadie said in a duh voice as she flipped her white hair over her shoulder and made an obscene gesture with her hands.
I put my hand over my mouth to hide my laughter.
Sadie grinned over at me, clearly proud that she was making me laugh, and gyrated her hips to the music.
The man said something else, but we ignored him as we danced.
In my peripheral vision, he lunged toward us. “You little commoners think you can—”
“Is this man bothering you?” Cobra appeared out of nowhere and blocked the man.
He stared down at Sadie with an intense expression as the jewels embedded in his skin glinted prettily in the dimly lit party.
She chuckled. “Nooooope.”
“Go away, snake man,” I slurred and chucked three of my pipes at him like daggers.
They bounced off his chest and fell to the floor.
Snake eyes glowed in the darkness as Cobra said, “I didn’t ask for your opinion.” Slit pupils flickered as he faced me, and he arched his brow. “I see you’re struggling like usual. How predictable.”
I studied my fingernails. “I’ve always thought it fascinating that snakes have brains the size of peanuts. It must be difficult being such a—” I wrinkled my nose. “—dimwit.”
Cobra smiled back meanly. “Interesting talk coming from the girl who was crying an hour ago while chugging demon brew.”
“How dare you,” I gasped. “I had something in my eye. Also, at least my pupils aren’t lobotomized.”
His eyes twinkled. “How is therapy going? Are you still sad?”
“No.” I laughed falsely. “I’m cured.”
Cobra spread his arms wide and blocked the student who was still trying to charge at us as he proclaimed, “It’s a miracle. Especially after you let yourself get stabbed just a few days ago. Good to see you’re doing better.”
I stumbled, and Sadie righted me.
How did he know? Had Malum talked to him? No, the king thought he was above the shifters; no way he would have told them something so personal.
It must be a lucky guess.
Recovering my composure, I relaxed my posture and smiled. “Awww, thanks for your concern,” I said condescendingly. “Also, don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret. Sadie’s told me all about your little problem in the bedroom?”
“What did I say?” Sadie whispered in my ear. “I don’t remember.”
Sun god bless her.
The student we knocked over tried to push past Cobra, but this time, the snake shifter said, “You just threatened two of the champions in the war.”
The man paled, and his eyes widened as he realized who we were. He bowed respectively. “I didn’t know, forgive me.”
Cobra slammed his foot down. “You’re not forgiven.” Bones crunched, and the student went down with a scream.
A dark corridor.
Glowing blue swords.
A bear roaring.
Infected dying.
High-pitched chittering.
A woman screaming.
I tripped and looked down.
It was a body.
CRACK.
“Snap out of it.” Cobra slapped me across the face, and the party (funeral) came back into focus.
I touched my lip, and my finger came back red. The cold liquid hardened into ice.
“Thanks,” I said sincerely.
“Don’t mention it.” He grunted and stepped away. “Seriously, never talk to me again. Better yet, forget I exist.”
“Who are you?” I asked with feigned confusion.
A slow smile curled his lips as he pulled Sadie to his side, tucking her under his shoulder protectively.
He looked at something behind me and pulled his mate into the crowd. Before the dancing bodies swallowed them, Cobra winked.
I cocked my head in confusion.
His meaning was clear a second later when long fingers grabbed my cheeks and pulled my face to the side.
The hand was freezing.
Harsh.
Unrelenting.
A tongue licked across my lower lip wantonly, and I was just depressed enough to enjoy it. I trembled.
“Why is my Revered bleeding?” Scorpius asked menacingly as he shook my head back and forth. “I heard a slap, is that what this is from? Who do I need to kill?”
He breathed roughly, and warm air puffed against the side of my face.
The blind king stood flush against me. He curled his body around mine like a dragon hoarding its treasure.
I’d noticed that he was doing it more often.
Shielding me with his flesh.
“It’s not blood,” I drawled, my cheeks pressed against his fingers as I forced my lips into a smile. “I’m just overflowing with existential dread, practically bursting at the seams.”
He didn’t release my face.
Instead, he rubbed his wide chest against my back and purred, “Seriously, who am I killing?”
I leaned back against him and swayed.
“No one.” I sighed. “I slapped myself because I was trying to feel something. Sadly, it didn’t work. I’ll make sure to use a shovel next time.”
Warm breath fanned against the side of my face, and for a long moment, we swayed to the music in a toxic imitation of dancing.
One began where the other ended.
“You’re a shit liar, Arabella,” he said harshly in my ear.
I slammed my elbow back into his sternum. “My name is not Arabella. It’s Aran.”
Instead of letting me go like I’d planned, Scorpius moaned and jerked his hips against my ass.
Hardness pressed against me.
He curled his one hand around my face so his fingernails pressed against my skin in five pinpricks of pain. He palmed my core with his other hand.
Fire exploded down my spine.
I whimpered.
“If you wanted it rough, you just had to ask.” His hips swayed against me faster, in time with the music. He clutched my pussy through my sweatpants like it belonged to him.
Arousal pooled inside my stomach.
Male and female students shot me dirty glares, and it took me a second to remember that everyone at the academy had Stockholm syndrome over the kings.
They were all deranged.
Not me.
Nope, I had my head screwed on straight and a crystal-clear understanding that the three of them were psychopaths.
In fact, I was so intelligent that I was letting one of them publicly fondle me. Slay (in the sexual sense).
I sucked on my remaining three pipes.
Desire flamed hotter.
“The problem is,” I whispered as I melted back against Scorpius, “I fucking hate you.”
His grip on my core tightened. Fingers massaging.
I shuddered.
My hips jerked against his hold.
Scorpius nuzzled the side of my face and breathed harshly into my ear. Goose bumps exploded across my skin, and I shivered violently.
“Don’t worry, Arabella, I forgive you for your cruel words.” He tightened his hands and a spasm fluttered through me.
I pressed my thighs together and said weakly, “Release me.”
“But you don’t want me to.” He laughed, and the sound was filthy.
My voice dripped with frost. “But I’m telling you to, and you’re not listening. Some Protector you are.”
He released me like I’d burned him. He stepped away, and his expression was dark. “I’ll always protect you. Don’t you dare question that.”
I scoffed.
Ignored the wetness between my legs.
“You tortured me when I was a man and when I was a woman. Turns out you’re an equal opportunist piece of shit. How progressive.” I clapped mockingly, and manic chuckles burst from my throat. “Also, you are literally the opposite of a Protector. You’re a cruel, insecure bully.”
It was just so funny.
I sucked harder on my pipes, and everything became a little hazy.
Scorpius remained in harsh focus.
Shadows filled hollow cheeks, cheekbones glinted razor-sharp, unseeing, milky white eyes narrowed, and full lips curled back.
Something new flashed across his features, and his mask cracked. “What do you need from me?” His teeth clicked as he gnashed them. “How do I fix how terrible we’ve been? I understand now how horrible the things are that you’ve gone through.” He choked on the last word like he couldn’t say anything more.
What did he mean?
Why does he now understand?
“You can’t,” I whispered with confusion. “It’s too far gone.”
He flexed his hands.
Tilted his head to the side and slowly fell to his knees.
“What are you doing?” I gaped down at him. “Stand up.” I pulled at his wide shoulders.
“No, Arabella.” Scorpius’s voice was harsh, and he remained kneeling in the crowd of bodies.
Students and soldiers stopped dancing to stare.
Why was a king on his knees?
Confusion was written on all our faces as the sadomasochist bowed his head submissively. The posture was wrong on him. Foreign.
“Please forgive me, Arabella Alis Egan,” he spoke loudly so everyone could hear.
The weight of everyone’s attention was smothering.
I gritted my teeth. “Get up.” I tugged at his shoulders desperately.
“No.”
“I’m not joking, Scorpius. Stop this at once.”
He bowed lower and announced, “You’ve been wronged in despicable ways, and I have also wronged you. I vow to be your servant. From this day forward, let it be known that I am not a king of the sun god. I serve only you. I’m your hound.”
I stumbled back and covered my mouth, half expecting the sun god to strike him down for his blasphemy. Everyone knew the kings lived to serve him. That was their lives’ purpose, and they never shut up about it.
Women and men oohed and aahed in the crowd.
My breath came out in frosty puffs.
“She’s so lucky,” someone whispered next to me, and a person replied, “I’d kill to have him on his knees for me.”
They giggled.
“You don’t mean that.” I took another step back.
His voice took on its familiar sneer as he said, “I’ve never meant anything more in my miserable existence. Let me serve you. Please.”
There was a fresh round of swooning in the crowd.
I rubbed at my eyes, half convinced I was hallucinating because of excessive drug use.
“Um, okay?” I scratched at the back of my neck.
The crowd parted as Orion and Malum stepped forward to flank their mate. Looming shadows of death, they fell to their knees beside him.
All three of them bowed their heads to me and said in unison, “From here on out, we will be known as your hounds.”
Someone swooned in the crowd, and there was a smattering of applause and wolf whistles.
I was going to be sick.
“I don’t get why they’re so obsessed with her?” a different girl whispered cattily from behind me.
“They’ll tire of her eventually. It’s just for show,” someone replied, and they burst into laughter.
They spoke my fears aloud.
I pressed my palms into my eyes and took another step back. Could they not give me one party to rot in depression by myself?
“I’ve always been more of a cat person,” I mumbled under my breath as I looked around for Sadie, desperate for my friend to distract me from whatever the hell was going on in front of me.
Men were messy.
Each day, I became a bigger advocate for mandatory male imprisonment at birth.
“You belong to us,” Malum said harshly, then his cheeks turned scarlet like he was embarrassed for voicing his true thoughts.
Case in point.
He couldn’t even pretend to be contrite while prostrating himself before me in a crowd.
I inhaled, tipped my head back, and scoffed in disbelief, “You’re out of your minds if you think I’ll forgive you.”
Bright flames exploded across his shoulders, and he lifted his head, molten silver pinning me in place as fury contorted his features.
The crowd fell over themselves as they put more space between themselves and the volatile king who was known for losing his temper.
Orion grimaced. He looked up with pleading eyes like he was apologizing because his mates couldn’t pretend to play nice.
“Do you want me to crawl for you?” Malum asked loudly, and his deep, baritone voice made it hard to breathe.
Another person swooned.
The Academy seemed to have a passing-out problem.
Malum crawled forward toward me, harshly handsome features appeared insidious in the room’s dark shadows.
He tried to look repentant.
He looked savage.
I subconsciously rubbed at my neck as I remembered how he’d dragged his teeth across my sensitive skin.
The floor vibrated with music.
I pulled three pipes from my lips and blew out as I tried not to look at the man crawling across the room toward me. “I’m yours. I’m your hound,” he said as he got closer. “Forgive me—please.”
I choked.
Somehow he’d managed to make an apology sound like a command.
They were on their knees before their Revered; Malum was crawling toward her.
Not me.
He was trying to manipulate my womanly disposition by groveling.
The worst part was it was working.
I girded my loins and reminded myself that my most feminine quality was that I was pure evil.
It forced out a dark chuckle as I glared down at the flaming king who knelt at my feet. “You are all delusional.”
Turning my back to them, I pushed through the gaping crowd toward the two men who’d been standing against the wall behind me all night, silently observing as I’d danced with Sadie and sparred with her mate.
Their presence was a constant comfort.
Their energy was different because they wanted Aran.
Not Arabella.
Not a Revered.
John rolled his eyes at my expression, but he flashed his dimples and licked his lips as I sauntered forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. Luka pulled his gaze away from where Orion knelt, and focused the full weight of his attention on me.
“Should we give them a show?” I asked him.
He tried to look disinterested but failed spectacularly. “Are you sure you want us and not Sadie? You’ve been rubbing all over her all night,” he asked petulantly.
“Aw, are you jealous, sweetheart?” I asked back.
“It depends.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me flush against his hips. “Does it turn you on?”
He winked, and I laughed. “Maybe.”
Luka played with a curl and asked, “Are you feeling okay?”
“Like today or in general?” I squinted.
He arched a dark brow. “How are you doing right now?”
“Horrible.” I smiled up at his concerned expression as the room spun around me.
He frowned and massaged the back of my head. “I don’t think we should—”
“Fuck me in front of the kings until I feel better,” I demanded, loud enough for the devils to hear.
The crowd broke into murmurs.
“What the fuck are all of you standing around looking at?” Malum asked the crowd, and the dancing resumed.
John pulled me closer and tsked as he shook his head. “Are you trying to use us to get to the kings? Am I nothing but a hunk of meat to you?”
“Nah.” I winked. “You’ve also got some gravy.”
He threw his head back with laughter. “Are you hitting on me, Aran? Is this your attempt at flirting?”
“It depends.” I rolled the pipes between my lips. “Is it working?”
“Yes,” John said at the same time Luka whispered, “Fuck me. You can’t say things like that.”
“Why?” I asked, genuinely confused.
Luka leaned forward and whispered against the shell of my ear, “Because I’ll take you up on it. Aran, I’ll make you scream our names so loudly that everyone will know who you belong to.”
