Chapter 63: Psycho Gods: Part 4 – Chapter 62

Impediment (noun): a bar or hinderance.

A cloud of smoke released from my lips.

There were bodies in the woods.

Dozens.

Of.

Corpses.

Heart pounding, breath shallow, I blinked furiously and tried to process what I was seeing.

My mind played tricks on me. Infected screaming for mercy, ungodly chasing me down dark corridors, cold everywhere, slaughtering hundreds, blue flames, Mother laughing, fae guards smirking, pleading desperately.

I blinked.

“Aran, the war is over.” John’s face hovered in front of mine. “Breathe with me. In and out.”

The memories drifted away.

The kings argued among one another, and even Luka joined their debate.

“What is wrong with them?” I whispered, as I looked around with horror.

John sighed. “You mated us to the kings. Hate to break it to you, but you brought this on yourself.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed him away.

Breathing deeply, I hardened my resolve and faced the kings. My vision blurred around the edges as I tried not to focus on what was behind them.

“This is your surprise?” I asked them hoarsely.

Malum rubbed the back of his neck and looked chagrined. Orion stared at me with worry. Scorpius had a satisfied expression.

“We thought you would be excited,” Malum said.

I stared at him incredulously.

His cheeks turned pink.

“Recognize anyone?” Scorpius asked proudly.

I grimaced and quickly scanned the dozens of bloody pikes that had emaciated corpses nailed to them. Death by starvation and blood loss.

It was heinous.

“No,” I said.

The kings were beyond unwell.

Oh my sun god, was I mated to serial killers? I was going to be sick.

How had I missed the signs?

“I think she’s had enough,” Luka said. “Let’s go back to the estate.” I took his arm, grateful for the support.

The twins led me out of the horrible forest.

“Come back!” Scorpius shouted as the kings hurried after us. “It ruins the surprise. She just needs to stand a little closer so she can identify them.”

My stomach revolted.

“Just tell her later,” John said with exasperation.

When we made it back to the bucolic rolling hills, I fell to my knees with relief and pressed my face into the fluffy grass. “Sweet paradise,” I moaned.

I stared at a miniature pony and tried to forget the last ten-minutes of my life.

I ignored the kings’ attempts to talk to me. They’d lost that privilege.

What happened to normal gifts? Designer purses, limited-edition perfumes, diamonds, silk sheets, and enchanted super-yachts.

How had we gotten to this place where men brought their lovers into dark woods and showed them crucifixion victims?

What did this say about our society?

It wasn’t good.

When we got back to the estate, I sprinted to the great room and collapsed in front of the hearth.

My nerves were shot, and I was suffering from a dizzy spell.

I felt like one of the fair maidens Sadie was always talking about from her romance books.

The fuzzy blanket was a warm cocoon around my shoulders.

I shivered beneath it.

My fingers stiffened as ice spread across them. I stared down at them in disbelief. The doctors had said it would take me weeks before the ice came back.

How is this possible?

“Arabella, please listen,” Malum begged as he ran into the room with the rest of the men. They relaxed when they saw me.

The fire in the hearth burned brighter. Ice spread off my fingers onto the ornate rug.

A part of me wasn’t surprised that my powers were already back.

I tipped my head back and smoked.

“Why did you bring me to a forest of bodies?” I asked calmly as I lay down on the icy rug and smoked.

Snow fell from the ceiling and kissed my cheeks.

I would have laughed, but I was still traumatized by the kings’ surprise.

“It was you—even inside,” Luka said with awe as he stared up at the snow. “I thought a window was open.”

John flashed his dimples as he joined me on the floor. He looked up at the snow with a grin. “This is pretty with the fire.” He ruffled my curls, no doubt making them messy. “I like it. It creates a nice ambience.”

I pushed him off me and we tussled.

“I’m not a snow globe,” I sniffed haughtily but laughed as he shook the melting snow off his hair and got me wet.

“Um.” Malum cleared his throat awkwardly. “I think we should explain what happened in the forest.”

I grimaced. “I don’t think you should. I think it’s perfectly clear that you are serial killers—stay away from me.”

Orion’s eyes widened.

Scorpius snarled, “That’s not funny.”

I made a face. “Neither is PTSD, which I now have.”

“Are we already leaving them?” John stage-whispered. “Do we have somewhere to go? I kind of like it here.”

Luka sat down behind me and pulled me back, so I was tucked against his chest. I relaxed into his embrace.

The fire burned warmer, and the snow stopped falling from the ceiling.

“The bond sickness showed us your memories,” Malum blurted out. “Each time you had a nightmare about your mother at the camp, we were also experiencing it.”

I parted my lips and my pipe fell to the floor as I stared at the stone-faced kings.

I’d had a lot of nightmares.

“We created a list of the fae guards who helped hurt you.” Malum’s baritone voice shook with rage. “Every chance we had, we RJE’d to the fae realm and hunted them down. We would have done it even if we didn’t see your memories, they just showed us who to—spend the longest time on.”

Scorpius nodded and cracked his knuckles. “We gutted them all on pikes in the woods and made sure they bled out slowly and painfully.”

Silver eyes burned like molten steel. “I made a promise to you at Elite Academy—do you remember what I said?”

My tongue was heavy in my mouth. I thought he’d just been saying things. Only a crazy person would actually mean what he’d promised me.

“No,” I lied.

He looked smug. “Let me refresh your memory.”

Malum recited, “I don’t care that your mother’s dead. That is not enough. Whoever served her will burn by my hand. Whoever failed to help you will burn by my hand. Whoever was within a hundred-mile proximity to her when she did this will burn by my hand. I swear it on the honor of the House of Malum. You will be avenged.”

He smirked viciously. “Now do you remember?”

“Maybe,” I whispered.

Snow fell in larger flakes from the ceiling as I gaped at the predator I’d mated.

“Are you not avenged, Aran?” His voice was deadly, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

Scorpius and Orion smirked.

I stared back at the kings in silence.

All the times they’d disappeared played in my mind like a movie. They always came back covered in blood and trembling with rage.

Each time I’d woken up from one of my nightmares, I’d found them missing.

Malum had said something in the enchanted truth journals about killing people for me. He’d been serious.

The hearth blazed, and my face was feverish.

I was uncomfortably hot.

“We hated leaving you,” Orion whispered as he stared down at me with wide, pleading eyes. “But we didn’t want to distract you with your past, during the war.”

I grimaced.

Luka continued to play lazily with my hair, and John yawned as he rested his head on my shoulder.

Malum rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “We really thought you would be excited to see them dead. We just wanted to show you the project that we’d been working on for months.”

“The project was—murdering people?” I asked, not believing what I was hearing.

Scorpius smirked. “No, the project was—murdering people who hurt you. There’s an important distinction.”

I grimaced. “Is there really?”

“Yes,” Malum snapped. “Now obviously this is not the surprise you wanted.” His expression fell. “We can figure out something else to show you—”

“I didn’t say that,” I interrupted him.

Hope flared across his face.

I chose my words carefully. “I don’t want to see any more dead bodies for a long time. However, I also kept a mental list of their names and faces and planned on hunting them down eventually—so technically, you saved me a lot of time and effort.”

Scorpius beamed and threw himself onto the leather couch behind me. “I told you both. I knew she’d love it.” Malum and Orion sat down with more grace.

The kings looked relieved.

“Love is a strong word,” I said dryly. “In the future, try clothes first. I also like expensive champagne. And diamonds.”

“Anything you want,” Malum said quickly.

It was hard to stay mad at him when he sounded so earnest and eager to please.

I yawned as I leaned back against Luka. “What was the other surprise you wanted to show me? If it’s also going to be traumatizing, do it quickly. I want to take a nap.”

The twins stiffened and sat up straight.

My stomach plummeted.

“Oh sun god, it’s also traumatizing isn’t it?” I whispered. The twins’ silence answered the question.

I picked up my pipe and inhaled.

Longing for Horse pierced me sharply. One day, you were a child with hopes and dreams, and the next day, you were a woman who needed her emotional support bird.

Life comes at you fast.

“It’s not bad,” John said nervously as he and Luka stood up in front of me.

I was not convinced. “If it’s not bad, then why are you so nervous?” I asked him suspiciously.

“It’s good.” John paused. “But it might be a little shocking, so just promise me you won’t freak out.”

I pointed my pipe at him. “Too late. I’m already freaking out.”

“It is a great thing,” Luka said stoically, a fierce expression on his face. Since he was the same man who usually ignored everyone, I wasn’t sure I trusted his judgment.

“I just want to be clear,” I said slowly, “if you’re going to produce a carcass. Don’t.”

“It’s not a dead body,” John said with exasperation.

Scorpius muttered behind me on the couch, “It was a forest of dead bodies.”

“Not helping,” I said, and the room went silent.

“So—” John chewed on his lower lip “—you know how your back hurts every time you get turned on?”

“No,” I said dryly. “I forgot.”

John glared. “I’ve put a lot of time and effort into this presentation, and you’re making it very difficult right now.”

“Oh darn,” I said sarcastically.

John swallowed audibly. “Like I was saying.” He paused and squinted like he was trying to remember memorized lines.

My eyes grew heavy.

“Oh my sun god,” Malum groaned. “Just spit it out.”

“Right. Because your method really worked well?” John snapped back. “Let me do my thing. I have performance anxiety, and you’re not helping.”

“Why is this a performance?” I asked with confusion.

I felt delirious.

I’d started the day in a war camp. Now John was struggling to put on some type of theatrical performance.

I yawned sleepily.

“It wasn’t my plan to show her immediately,” Malum said to John. “I went to Sadie for advice, and she said to surprise Arabella with our project as soon as I could. She said she’d like it!”

I pursed my lips.

Moisture built behind my eyes as my throat closed, and I asked hoarsely, “Sadie really wanted to do that for me?”

“Are you serious right now?” Scorpius asked.

Malum made a choking noise. “Why is it sweet when she does it but traumatizing when we do it?”

I wiped a tear out of my eye. “Because you’re men, and you’d just showed me your house for the first time. Do you know how creepy that is for a woman?”

“No one’s paying attention,” John complained. “I can’t do this. Luka, you’re going to have to go on without me.” He went to sit back down, but Luka grabbed his arm and stopped him.

John grumbled but kept standing.

“Good work. I love your performance,” I said, sleepiness was making me more sarcastic than usual.

John glared. “That is just hurtful.”

Luka punched him in the shoulder and ordered, “Take off your shirt.”

Scorpius made a harsh noise, and I nodded in agreement. “Now, that is what I’m talking about. That’s a good present.”

Both twins pulled their shirts off.

I sat up straight and mentally prepared myself for a lap dance. I just needed to find some coins to throw at them and I’d be ready.

They turned around.

The pipe fell from my lips.

That did not go in the direction I thought it would.

If I were a fainter, I would have passed out cold on the floor. Unfortunately, I stayed fully conscious.

I couldn’t breathe.

Ice spread across my fingers and up my forearm.

“WHORE” was carved into their skin, exactly the same letters and font on my back.

I felt queasy.

Snow drifted around the room faster.

‘This isn’t funny,” I whispered, squeezed my eyes shut, and prayed to the sun god that I was hallucinating.

“Put your shirts back on right now,” Malum barked. “Why the fuck wouldn’t you just explain to her what you did?”

The men argued.

It snowed harder.

I lay down on my back as I hyperventilated.

It was all too much.

“The knife that was used on your back was a blood enchantment,” John said quickly as he knelt above me and cradled my face. “You can only reverse blood with blood—it’s a tenet of the natural world. Enchantment removal is an ancient practice still used in the Olympus realm. You won’t feel pain anymore—I took the cursed enchantment from you.”

I opened my eyes.

Holy sun god.

When I kissed Malum earlier, I hadn’t felt any pain.

“But will you feel it instead?” My stomach knotted with fear.

“No.” John flashed his dimples. “It hurt like a bitch for days after getting it, but then it healed. My blood neutralized yours.” He smiled like everything was fine in the world.

My head spun.

He fluttered his fingers. “Surprise.” Dimples flashed.

I turned my head to where Luka hovered behind him. “But then why is your back also—” I breathed quickly as I tried not to think about how they’d mutilated themselves.

Luka’s expression was hard as he said, “Our aunt discovered that there was a second enchantment in the blade.”

“What?” I asked numbly.

“The enchantment restricted your ability to fly.” He shook his head and frowned. “Your mother was a heinous bitch. We didn’t want to tell you until our wounds had healed because we wanted to make sure the process worked.”

I asked cautiously, “Did it work?”

Luka nodded and said gravely, “It did”—everything tunneled out, and his lips moved in slow motion—“you should be able to fly now.”

This time…

I passed out.