Page 182 of Psycho Gods

My throat was dry, and I forgot how to swallow as I looked at it with confusion.

“Why Ara?” I asked. “Did the embroiderer make a mistake?”

“No,” Orion whispered, the words like honey on his tongue. “It wasn’t a mistake.”

Malum looked up from the floor with confusion. “Wait, it wasn’t an error?” Scorpius narrowed his eyes.

I stared at Orion and waited for an explanation.

None came.

“You’ll figure it out,” he whispered as he took a step closer.

Bergamot and chocolate filled my nose, and pain streaked down my spine.

Orion’s golden abdominal muscles rippled as he stretched his hands above his head, and Scorpius’s chiseled chest expanded as he breathed deeply.

What were we talking about?

I wet my lips twice and croaked out, “Uh, okay.”

Scorpius took a step closer. “You’re welcome for the gloves, Arabella.” His voice had a cruel tilt to it, like was really saying “get on your knees.”

His cheekbones glinted like cut diamonds.

Suddenly, I liked my men mean.

“Um, th-thanks?” I stuttered.

“Of course, sweetheart,” Orion whispered with wide eyes as Scorpius smiled like I’d made him proud. Together they were exquisite. Divine.

The bursts of pain down my back ratcheted up to another level as I admired the nude men and my fuzzy black mittens.

“I picked out the color,” Malum grumbled mid-push-up.

“No one cares.” I tried to flip him off, but the mitten made it look like I was waving.

I put my hand down with defeat and purposefully avoided making eye contact, or ab contact, with anyone. I announced to the room with determination, “I’m going to stay close and practice in the woods so the bond sickness doesn’t act up, but I want to do this alone—anyone who interrupts will get punched in the throat. I’ll be back when I’ve learned to fly.”

Vegar drawled from his bunk bed, “So—never?”

I glared at the demon. “That was hurtful and unnecessary.”

“Oh darn.” He rolled over in his bed.

I stalked out into the light snowfall. Muttering about stupid men, I stomped around the side of the barracks to a space where the towering pines would conceal me.

The morning was overwhelmingly bright.

I tipped my head back and gaped. They sky had changed overnight from gray to a glittering lavender.

It was stunning.

Green pine needles coated in ice sparkled like emeralds in the overcast sky. Lilac colors refracted through the snowy forest.

I basked in the colors.

Then I frowned.