It was bizarre, even for me.
A rough sound escaped Malum’s throat, and Scorpius sneered, “Please tell us. What part of the stopping us did you get to?”
I ripped a flap of skin off my lower lip.
Threw it to the rocks.
Lifted my nails to gouge harder, but Orion grabbed my wrist and brought it to my side, his long lashes fluttering as he looked down at me with concern.
“You’re upsetting her,” he whispered. “Take a step back. Give her some space.”
Shockingly, Malum and Scorpius obeyed.
“Here, let’s get you dressed,” Orion mouthed as he grabbed my undershirt and pulled it over my head.
Still reeling from my own strange behavior, I stood still and let him dress me. He zipped up my coat and brushed snow out of my hair.
“There,” he whispered. “Are you feeling warmer?”
I nodded stupidly.
He smiled down at me, and a new warmth prickled in my chest. “I took a nap in the heat,” I blurted out.
There was a long pause as they processed what I’d said.
A muscle in Malum’s jaw ticked, and he opened his mouth. I turned my head to the side to avoid his censure, but my eyes widened.
Rocks were scorched black miles down the mountainside and stopped inches from the valley.
Holy sun god.
Sadie. Jinx.
They’d almost been murdered because of my idiocy.
Emotion and energy burst through my veins, and I vibrated from the onslaught.
Malum said, “What do you—”
I didn’t catch the rest of his sentence because I darted down the side of the mountain, intent on getting back to camp.
Boots pounded against rocks as they sprinted after me.
Malum bellowed at the top of his lungs, “What the fuck do you mean? You took a nap?”
“I don’t know!” I yelled over my shoulder as I ran faster. “I got really tired.”
“Excuse me?” Malum’s voice was so deep that the hair on the back of my neck stood up. He didn’t like my answer.
Neither did I.
Scorpius swore. “You’re going to be the death of us.”
“I don’t know what came over me,” I shouted into the night as I kept running. “It was weird.”
“Do you think this is a joke?” Malum’s voice was closer. “Do you think all this is a bloody fucking lark? Do you know what’s at stake—I was really worried about you!”
I sprinted with all my might.
Pretended not to hear him.
Nothing was funny.
It was all falling apart around me.
Crumbling.
Memories of Orion chasing me down a marble corridor played in my mind as black boots slammed against icy rocks, and I slid forward.
My arms pumped.
I threw myself down the side of the mountain, half sliding, half sprinting as fast as I could with my heart hammering in my chest. I was going insane.
The storm picked up.
My muscles were warm and ready to be used, and I exploded forward with unbridled adrenaline.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins.
Snow whipped my face, and my eyes watered from the frozen air.
For the first time since we’d started to train together, I outran the kings back to the camp.
For hours, they couldn’t catch me because fear was truly the best motivator.
But I wasn’t running from them.
I was running from myself.
Chapter 20
Corvus Malum
THERAPY
Riposte （noun）： a retaliatory verbal reply.
DAY 11, HOUR 5
“So how did the last week of—” Dr. Palmer looked down at her clipboards like she was reading off something prepared by the High Court “—training and battle go?”
I shifted, and my thigh bumped against Arabella’s.
Rain splattered against the window, and it was gray outside.
At the beginning of the session, I’d made sure to take the spot next to her on the couch. We were pressed flush against one another because there wasn’t enough room for all four of us.
There was a patch of frost beneath her feet on the carpet, and as I shifted my foot closer, the ice melted into water.
I needed her next to me.
Lately my control on my fire was tenuous at best, and it wanted to explode from me and burn the world.
Whenever I was around Arabella, the urges intensified. But the pain was nothing compared to the memory of her begging on a palace floor while she was tortured.
The threadbare couch creaked as I spread my legs wider and reassured myself that my Revered was okay. If anyone wanted to torture her, they’d have to go through me.
Arabella mumbled something under her breath about manspreading and wanting to stab me.