Page 331 of Psycho Gods
“I’m super fine,” I said, “I barely felt it.” My muscles screamed in protest as I tried to move.
Scorpius kept ranting as he approached. “What is wrong with you? Do you have any…” Blah, blah, blah. Orion looked at me with wide worried eyes.
The twins helped me to my feet.
I groaned as I flexed my aching joints, then I turned and screamed, “Run for it!” I ran across the hills clumsily, sore muscles protesting as I clutched my aching sides and laughed uncontrollably.
“What is wrong with you people?” Scorpius bellowed, and I looked back over my shoulder. Orion smiled beside him.
I laughed harder as I ran, the twins jogging up behind me. John was laughing with me. Luka shook his head like he was disappointed in us.
“It’s just a horse,” I yelled over my shoulder at Scorpius as I ran pathetically, unable to pick up much speed because I was laughing so hard. “I survived the ungodly. Of course—” I gasped “—I’m fine.”
Fine was a relative term.
If my laughter had a manic quality to it, that was none of my business.
My mental health was not my problem. It was everybody else’s.
“This is not funny,” Scorpius snarled as he gained on us, easily tracking the sound of our unsteady footsteps.
I turned around and flipped him off with both hands. “I’m flipping you off, Princess.”
Orion laughed at my nickname, and Scorpius scowled.
“He’s gaining on us,” Luka pointed out dryly as he jogged behind me.
John picked me up like I was a fair maiden. “I’ll save you!” he yelled dramatically and sprinted back toward the estate.
I vibrated in his arms as he picked up some serious speed, both of us laughing the entire time.
Over his shoulder, I was just able to make out Luka, Scorpius, and Orion gaping after us like we were idiots.
John ran us all the way to the kitchen.
He was a good man.
We feasted on rich jam, crackers, exotic cheeses, and colorful fruits until our stomachs hurt.
Time continued to meander forward lazily.
After eating and talking by the hearth for a few hours, the rest of the men joined us and we found cards. We went back outside to play on the lawn.
The sun set over the hills in shades of pink and orange.
Scorpius brought out a bottle of enchanted wine that was three centuries old, and we passed it around and drank greedily. Fuzzy yellow insects with rows of wings buzzed around us, drawn to the sweet alcohol.
Corvus joined us, and we all made fun of him for being so sleepy.
I didn’t mention his nightmare.
But when I leaned down to give him a hug, he trembled in my arms as he held me, like he was afraid the mirage would break and we’d be back in dimly lit corridors, chasing monsters.
Drunk on wine, one another, freedom, and the shock of surviving the war, we lay awake for hours and talked under the stars. Galaxies swirled across the sky in streaks of purple.
When there was a lull in conversation, Orion whispered cryptically, “I always suspected it.”
Everyone turned to him with confusion.