I slumped back against the warmth of the twins and cherished their proximity.
Lately, they were one of the few things that staved off the madness.
The perpetual cold inside my bones, headaches, and pain in my shoulders were overstimulating at best and torturous at worst.
Sadie patted my head and sniggered, “Please, I don’t need you to save me—remember, I can enslave you at any time.” She winked. “Plus, we get to battle beside each other in an intergalactic war to save the world. It should be fun.”
I pulled out my pipe and inhaled deeply. “False.” I blew smoke in her face. “Fun is a shopping trip, or when we tried to lose our virginity together at the fae sex clinic.”
We both frowned as we thought about how that day had gone horribly wrong.
I chuckled. “Never forget we both checked yes for elbow play.”
She grimaced and clutched her arm protectively. “I still have nightmares about someone violating them.”
I squinted. “I never thought about it—but how would that work? What is sexual about an elbow? I have so many questions.”
She made a face. “I think it’s pretty clear.”
It was times like this where I worried the most about her.
“What do you mean, it’s clear?” I asked. “Nothing about something called ‘elbow play’ is clear to me.”
The twins made a choking noise behind me, and we ignored them.
“Grow up, Aran,” Sadie said as she shook her head like I was being stupid, then she snatched the pipe from my fingers before I could react and took a long drag. “Damn, I forgot how much this stuff hits.”
I rolled my eyes at her.
Obviously.
I only smoked the best.
“Drugs are not allowed in battle,” a high-pitched female voice said haughtily from a few feet away. “It was stated in the High Court’s informational packet, multiple times.”
Sadie, Horse, and I turned in unison to stare at the gorgeous woman who crouched against the rocks.
Black-lipstick-stained lips contrasted with her cornflower-blonde hair. She was the angel who’d slaughtered the devil and assassin in the Legionnaire Games.
Horse looked away and dug his beak into his wings to groom the new feathers along the tips. He was clearly unimpressed with what he saw.
“What’s your name?” I twirled my pipe with my tongue, and Sadie’s eyes glowed intensely, a scarlet sheen reflected off the snow.
“Rina,” the angel answered through gritted teeth.
“Well, Rina,” I said slowly with a false smile. “The High Court has abandoned us, and we’re all probably going to die at the hands of parasitic monsters.”
She frowned.
“Violently.”
A few feet away from me, the demons shook with silent laughter.
I inhaled enchanted smoke. “Personally, I’m going to keep smoking. If you want to die stone-cold sober, then be my guest. But worry about yourself.”
“You know, I’ve never thought about it that way,” Sadie said as I passed her the pipe. “It really makes you think about things.”
“What things?” I asked.
She stared at the smoke. “Things.” She spoke like she was saying something deep.
There’s my special girl.
“You’re so right.” I nodded in agreement and let her have her philosophical moment. I was nothing if not supportive.
Rina wrinkled her nose. “It’s against the rules for everyone, especially us. We’re the leaders. We need to set a good example.”
“That’s not really our thing,” Sadie mumbled as she smoked, and I nodded in agreement. We had a reputation to uphold, and it involved drinking excessive amounts of demon brew and making questionable life choices.
Rina’s pretty face contorted. “I wasn’t talking to you, half-breed mutt.”
Stunned silence.
“What did you just call my mate?” Cobra’s voice was serrated, and there was a loud schhhhhhk as Xerxes pulled out his knives.
I started to stand up, but Sadie pulled me back down.
No one stopped Cobra.
He stalked across the narrow rocks and glared down at Rina with slit pupils as black shadow snakes slithered across his exposed skin.
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled.
Danger intensified.
Knox moved in a blur until he stood nose to nose with Cobra. One of his eyes gleamed black, while the other glowed yellow, and his expression was cruel.
A low hiss erupted from Cobra’s chest.
Knox’s features smoothed into a pleasant expression, and he took a step back. He relaxed his shoulders like he wasn’t a threat and said suavely, “She doesn’t interact with grounders often, forgive her. She’s forgotten her manners.” He glared down at Rina, who visibly cowed beneath his censure.