Page 144 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

Like I was playing a role I couldn’t fulfill.

How was I supposed to provide balance and calm for others when I was untethered myself?

Corvus squeezed my torso and whispered against my temple, “It’s all going to be okay. We’re going to find our fourth.”

I nodded back like I cared about the faceless Protector I was also supposed to bring peace to. How could I?

I was struggling to help my Ignis and Protector even though I’d known them all my life. Even though my life purpose as a Revered was to help them.

But my sweetheart didn’t need me.

She wanted nothing from me and rejected my attempts to help her. She was independent in a way I could never be.

Arabella fell apart daily, yet she didn’t want anyone to pick up the pieces for her. She did it herself. She didn’t need me, and that fact alone made her mine. Period.

Fingers curling with anticipation, I trembled.

All it had taken was a few seconds in a lightning-streaked hall. Everything had changed between us.

She could run, but I could hunt.

A male devil was possessive of those he cared for. But a devil king from the House of Malum hoarded his treasure and breathed fire on anyone who dared challenge his affection.

I’d massacre cities just to make her smile.

From the haunted look in Arabella’s eyes, it would come to that.

I wouldn’t hesitate. Not when it was for her.

Anything for her.

Chapter 21

Aran

DUDE

The Legionnaire Games: Day 33, hour 2

Overwhelmed by all the horrible things I’d learned about Jinx, I sprinted down the empty halls.

It was late at night, and everyone at the academy was in their rooms.

The quiet made the realization so much worse.

“So much,” Jinx had said brokenly about how much she’d made us forget.

My memories had been erased. I no longer knew what was true.

What was I if not a collection of my remembered experiences? I was a fractured being. A soulmancer, one of the rumored beings of darkness.

I ran because I had to do something. Otherwise, I’d fall apart.

I ran from myself.

But when I glanced behind me, something very real was chasing me down the gleaming hall.

Lightning flashed and highlighted veins that bulged out of a tensed neck. The beast ran with his hand pressed over his mouth.

---