Page 40 of Psycho Gods

A worker shoved metal against my chest harshly.

I grabbed the sword and sheathed it.

“Don’t touch him like that,” Corvus threatened the worker softly beside me.

Orion breathed roughly through his nose.

As the only blind soldier at the base, I was used to the rough treatment and the whispers that followed me. I could practically taste the doubt radiating off the High Court workers in my presence.

I heard the whispers.

They didn’t think I belonged.

Corvus growled, and the worker gulped loudly.

Dick announced, “We will reiterate one last time that we suspect there to be dozens of portals hidden in this planet’s geography connecting it to other High Court realms.”

He paused.

A worker cleared their throat in front of me, and I held my hands out.

Knives were placed into my palms gently, and I threaded them through the straps on my belt.

“Better,” Corvus said as the person scurried away.

“As we’ve said before”—Dick sounded annoyed that he was repeating himself—“our data indicates there has been no coordinated push to escape through the portals. They seem to travel at random in small segments, and the High Court has had success eliminating those small sects. These operations do not amount to war.”

Arabella murmured under her breath beside me, “No. We’ve had success eliminating them.”

I agreed.

“The ungodly need to be dealt with at the source,” Dick said.

Feet shuffled, and a few men gulped.

The High Court kept dancing around explicitly saying that we had to eliminate an entire planet before they realized they were under attack.

A mass extermination.

“As I’ve stated before, the OPA forbid the High Court from waging direct war against another sentient species. This is the first and only mission we will be a part of. We have given you the tools and ability to locate the threat.”

The worker handed me a sword, and I sheathed it.

“Going forward, the shifter and academy legions will be in charge,” Dick said with authority. “The angel legion is second-in-command to them. They will convene and plan in the strategy room. Everyone except Jinx will RJE there. She stays at the base.”

Soldiers whispered.

I recognized a voice.

Knox, the angel captain with heterochromia, called Jinx a string of expletives, which was strange because he was usually polite and collaborative.

I narrowed my eyes.

We’d spent a lot of time with the shifter legion, and I’d come to enjoy Jinx’s presence.

I didn’t like his fucking tone.

Dick continued, “We have no knowledge about the civilization the ungodly have taken over. We recommend conserving your abilities and only using weapons in this first meeting to identify as much information as possible about your foes.”