He’d sounded angry that he hadn’t been included with his mates and had been left behind to babysit me.
A part of me was upset that two of the kings had disappeared again.
The blue-tinted forest darkened to gray.
All pigment disappeared.
The cold intensified.
The kings were keeping secrets and lying.
“Now you try.” Knox pointed at me as he demonstrated the motion with his shoulders.
I took a deep breath even though I knew it was pointless. I’d already tried and failed plenty of times.
Standing up straight, I tried to ignore the crushing weight that pulled my spine toward the ground as sweat streaked down the sides of my face and dripped off my chin.
Wild curls were itchy where they stuck to my neck and forehead.
Discomfort radiated down my spine.
Bent knees shaking, I flared my wings wide, flexed my arms, and pushed my shoulder muscles downward with every ounce of strength I possessed.
My muscles strained, and I grunted through gritted teeth. Groaning, I tried to replicate Knox’s smooth flapping.
Unfamiliar appendages ached with pain.
My wings flapped like they were in molasses.
Time morphed and expanded until each second lasted an eternity.
I didn’t fly.
Again.
Mother would have loved this moment, too bad I ate her heart.
Back buckling under the weight of my wings, I gave up and rested my hands on my knees, gasping loudly while cold air whistled through my teeth and burned my gums. I tasted copper in my mouth even though there was no blood.
My teeth ached from inhaling harshly.
Freezing temperatures were a miserable bitch.
“Good job. You’re doing it.” Sadie clapped loudly, and I shot her a glare because I clearly was not doing it.
She stopped clapping when she saw my facial expression. “I swear I saw you hover a few inches.” Her face was earnest and shone with pride.
“Did I really?” I asked doubtfully.
She crossed her arms over her chest and made the symbol of the sun god with her fingers. “I swear on Cobra’s life that I saw you rise off the ground.”
“Excuse me?” Cobra hissed.
Across the clearing, Vegar mouthed, “No, you didn’t fly. You suck,” while Zenith gave me a thumbs-up.
I exhaled exhaustion.
“I promise you flew!” Sadie said aggressively and glared at the other people in the forest, daring them to contradict her.
“I hope so,” I mumbled as I concentrated on not passing out as I asphyxiated on air. Fatigue and zero progress after hours of effort were killing me.
It was like running in place.
Banging my fractured skull against a brick wall.
Being trapped at Elite Academy.
Fighting in a battle against monsters.
Killing when I wanted to rest.
“She’s lying to try to make you feel better,” Jinx’s voice rang inside my mind. “Nothing happened.”
Her voice cleared the haze.
It sounded like she was speaking directly into my ear. Each word was crystal clear and nothing like the fuzzy connection that had cut out in the middle of battle.
I stopped spiraling and glared over at her, nearly falling over from my sudden movement. The unfamiliar weight distribution pulled me lower into a hunch.
I gasped out clouds of water vapor.
Hyperventilated.
Jinx leaned against a tree next to Scorpius, who clenched her elbow in a tight grip and made sure she didn’t fall over. Since Warren was currently in ferret form, wrapped around her neck, it seemed the king had taken his place.
She had a black cast on her wrist. She said she broke it tripping while trying to maneuver into bed.
Annoyance flared in my gut. What was taking the prosthetic so long? The High Court couldn’t be this incompetent.
Black sunglasses hid Jinx’s face as she watched me with a bored expression. Standing next to the tall devil, she almost came up to his shoulders. She no longer looked like a small child.
Had she always had curves?
She was definitely getting taller.
“How old are you again?” I asked in my head, forgetting to be annoyed that I hadn’t made any progress with flying. “You don’t look fourteen.”
Jinx’s voice echoed crisply through my skull. “I’m older than you.”
I scoffed aloud. “Good one.”
“What?” Knox’s mismatched eyes focused on me. “Who are you talking to?”
“A crazy bitch,” I mumbled as I turned back to the angel.
In my peripheral vision, Jinx and Scorpius shared a smirk. When had they become friends? I sensed danger.