“Don’t talk to her like that,” Orion said loudly, and everyone in the room froze.
All noises stopped.
“You don’t need to defend me,” I said, momentarily rendered speechless by the handsome prettiness of his features.
Orion frowned and said at full volume, “He knows nothing about our mates. No one should be allowed to speak to you like that.” Wide, unblinking eyes stared straight into my soul. “Do you want me to hurt him?”
“I thought that was Scorpius’s thing?”
Orion leaned close so our faces were inches apart. “No. Scorpius enjoys pain. That’s all. I’m also your Protector, sweetheart.”
His hand gently cradled the back of my head. His lips pressed softly against my forehead like I was something precious that needed to be handled with care.
I forgot how to breathe.
I ignored the pain in my back.
Orion pulled quickly away from me. “How could I forget about your back?” he gasped. “I’m so sorry. Please forg—”
I slammed my lips against his.
He groaned into my mouth and kissed me back passionately.
“When did you guys start making out?” Sadie asked, and we pulled apart.
“Pervertsssss,” Cobra hissed as he dug into what appeared to be a rare piece of steak. He shared a piece with Sadie.
Shifters are weird.
The rest of the meal passed in relative peace. It was relative because the entire time Jinx argued with Sadie, and Cobra argued with me. Orion watched us all with mild confusion.
Afterward, we stomped through the blizzard to the strategy room.
I studied the books.
Fifteen dead in total: fourteen foot soldiers and the last devil from the devil legion. I had a terrible feeling about the last death.
I wrote out the numbers numbly.
Forty-four soldiers were left, less than half the hundred men and women we’d started with.
So many dead.
The angels didn’t bother to show up to give the report. A sign of their defiant cowardice.
I spoke in a monotone voice to Dick. He was optimistic and thought the war was going well.
Behind him, Lothaire stared at me with an intense expression. “You can do this. Keep going.” He mouthed. “It’s almost over.”
I gave him a small smile.
It was strange to have a parental figure that cared. It was even stranger that a violent one-eyed vampyre was my father.
I never saw it coming.
He beamed at me like he was proud.
Warmth filled my chest.
When the screen clicked off, hives broke out across my chest. There was only one infected settlement left on the map, but unlike Dick, I had a bad feeling in my gut.
The next day, the men returned.
Two days later, the angels told us the new coordinates in a monotone voice. They’d worked fast.
There was no time to recover.
No dallying.
Once again, we went to war.
Chapter 51
Aran
THE RECKONING
Schlimazel （noun）： a consistently unlucky person.
DAY 34, HOUR 22
We RJE’d into a blizzard.
This was it.
The forest outside the last infected settlement.
The battle that would end the war.
Even with layers of protection, the freezing temperatures hurt as the snow pummeled us. My eyes stung as my lashes crusted with ice.
Forty-four of us trudged forward through the storm.
Hunched low.
I shivered and blinked rapidly as I tried to see. An arm wrapped around my shoulder, and a glowing scarlet ball of warmth flickered over a bronze hand in front of my chest.
“We’re supposed to be concealed,” I said, and my voice was swallowed by the wind.
A gruff male voice spoke close to my ear. “Your Protectors are blocking us from sight. Don’t worry, my Revered.”
Scorpius and Orion shielded us with their bodies.
Malum’s ball of fire glowed maroon. I raised my mittens up to it.
The sting of the chill abated.
Malum pulled me tight against his side and shielded me from the worst of the snow.
He held me like we were on good terms.
We weren’t.
I shivered again, and the intensity of the flame increased.
“Why won’t you tell me where you went?” I asked.
Malum went rigid and Scorpius glanced back over his shoulder.
The two kings had returned yesterday covered in blood and once again they’d refused to talk about where they’d gone.
“Not now.” Malum shook his head. “Later, Arabella. I promise. It will all become clear.”
“Fine, we’ll talk later.” I pulled away from his embrace.