Page 256 of Psycho Gods

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.

He made a harsh noise, but he let me go. Moving more stealthily than a man of his size should have been capable of, he positioned himself beside his mates.

Without his flames, the cold intensified.

My bones hurt.

Teeth-chattered.

I trembled with shivers.

Out of nowhere, a glowing ball of fire floated in front of me, and the heat cut through the cold.

Malum was walking ahead, and seemed to be ignoring me, but his fire trailed beside me.

“Thank you,” I called out so he could hear me.

“Shush,” Rina snapped.

Malum looked back over his shoulder and winked.

Heat warmed inside my chest that had nothing to do with the ball of fire.

We marched through the wintry forest. The kings were in front of me, and the twins were behind.

I was surrounded by a wall of flesh.

A personal army of monsters.

As we stomped through the ankle-deep snow towards the infected settlement, my sense of foreboding grew.

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