I wasn’t sure how much time had passed.
Did time even exist?
Delirium and existential dread clouded my thoughts. Never a good sign.
Gums burning from breathing harshly in the cold wind, I tasted copper on my tongue and moaned pitifully into the snowbank beneath me. Snowflakes sprayed.
I tried to push myself up.
I searched for the determination that had spurned me forward, but it was gone. There was nothing left to give.
For hours, I’d heaved as I spread my wings wide and flexed unused shoulder muscles. For hours—I’d failed.
My feet never left the ground.
At one point, I was so demoralized I jumped up just so I could pretend that I’d flown an inch. My wings were so heavy I’d stumbled and slammed into a tree.
A humbling experience.
It would have been disheartening if I hadn’t already hit rock bottom. Good thing I was already there.
At least my fingers were warm.
The mittens worked amazingly. They were clearly enchanted because the temperature inside them had increased as I’d gotten colder.
Toasty-warm fingers felt like such a luxury, especially since I was lying half-dead in a snowbank. A part of me recognized I should try to move, and there was something crucial I needed to do.
But my thoughts were sluggish.
The snow seemed to fall in slow motion. The storm was pretty, in a violent, terrifying sort of way.
Exhaustion melted into sleepiness. I just wanted to curl up and embrace the stillness.
Crystals clattered as the wind gusted.
The longer I lay in the snow, the more moving seemed like a ridiculous endeavor. Snow was soft and pillowy. It had a nice cushion.
I closed my eyes, content to take a nap.
Time passed.
“You idiot!” Malum shouted with agitation. He said more things, but I purposefully stopped listening as soon as I heard his voice.
“Pull your wings in.” John’s dark eyes were wide with concern as he knelt in the snow. “Pull your wings in right now, Aran, or I swear to the sun god I will spank you.”
I grinned up at him.
Postexhaustion endorphins made me see double. Two of his heads blurred in front of me—one of them had dimples, and the other didn’t.
The head without dimples grabbed my cheeks forcefully and ordered, “Pull your wings in now.” His sentence was short and clipped like he was vibrating with rage. “Do this now or I’m never letting you out of my sight ever again.” He reminded me of a man I’d once known named Luka.
John shook me and yelled, “Retract your wings!”
I focused on my cramped shoulder blades. There was a pulling sensation, then the heavy crushing weight disappeared. I sighed. My lungs expanded greedily.
I blinked.
The frowning man carried me while John held my hand.
Malum stalked beside us, scowling. “You gave yourself fucking frostbite.” Flames shot from his mouth.
“You look like a dragon,” I pointed out helpfully.
Silver eyes became molten with rage.
I blinked.
Time warped.
I was lying in a tub, and hot water poured over me from above. John was lying beneath me, and Luka was kneeling off to the side, scowling as he leaned over and wiped my face with a hot washcloth.
He gently scraped off layers of ice.
The cloth was deliciously warm, even hotter than the warm water.
Luka pulled back and held up the cloth to Malum’s flaming hands, and shades of scarlet danced off bronze fingers.
For a second, I was hypnotized by the richness of the color. I’d never seen anything so vibrant. Even Malum’s skin had warm undertones that I’d never picked up on before.
Everything became hazy as the tub heated.
Steam sizzled off my skin as water melted ice, and I sighed. It was surprisingly unpainful. I craved the warmth.
“I’m so angry with you,” Malum said. “You’re lucky Scorpius and Orion had to go take care of some business today.” His voice strummed with anger as he knelt next to the tub. “I know my mates, and if they saw you like this—they’d also be furious about you hurting yourself. Especially Scorpius.”
Darkness expanded around Luka, and he made a harsh noise in the back of his throat. “Careful how you speak to her,” he threatened.
Malum continued like he was unbothered by Luka’s threats. “Lucky for you, I’m so fucking angry that I can’t stand to be around you right now because I’ll burn this realm to the ground.”
As if to punctuate his point, he stormed out of the bathroom.
John’s hands traced up and down my forearms comfortingly, and I focused on the soothing motion.