Page 192 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

Jinx’s statements about righteousness flashed through my mind.

She’d said I had to try to be a better person, then I’d gone and done the worst thing of my life.

Ever been the problem?

Same.

Malum growled like a feral animal, and Orion slammed his cup onto the table.

Scorpius squeezed my hands until my bones cracked. “You’re an idiot,” he sneered.

I couldn’t believe I’d wasted a second of my life feeling bad for him.

Struggling against his painful grip, I shook my head and said, “You couldn’t even pretend to be a decent person for five seconds without showing your true colors.”

His eye tattoo blinked lazily like it was seeing through me.

The jerk still hadn’t let me go.

“You think you’re so high and mighty because you’re a queen?” Scorpius tugged me forward across the table, and plates clattered. “You don’t get to judge me. You’re an indolent despot. A product of nepotism. Meanwhile I earned my title with nothing but pure power.”

I scoffed.

“You forget that my title was also earned,” I said haughtily. “I’ve suffered more to be queen than you can even imagine.” I trembled with rage.

Scorpius narrowed his eyes.

Blood dripped across my hand and down my forearm from where he was stabbing me with his nails.

“If that were true, then you wouldn’t act so fucking pathetic. Saying you’d rather be nailed to the tree and blaming me for your shortcomings. Weak. How can someone be so brave one moment and so uncaring about their own life the next?”

I saw red.

I was. Not. Weak.

A monster roared in my head and banged against its cage.

No. There was no monster.

It was just my anger.

Compartmentalizing and removing myself from my emotions was a crutch I’d promised myself I would stop using. It was a sign of insanity.

Was I perfect? No. Sometimes I dissociated for days and murdered people.

But did that make me a bad person? Yes. It definitely did.

But at least I wasn’t insane. Not yet.

It was all I had left.

I squeezed my hands as hard as I could and curled my fingernails so I gouged Scorpius back. “You don’t get to speak to me like you know me.”

“We’ve trained and lived together for months,” he snarled back. “We do know each other.”

Zenith banged his fist on the table. “Stop making a scene. The other legions are staring at us.”

Malum’s flames shot higher into the air. “Since Arabella wishes she’d chosen to be tortured, I think a scene is necessary.”

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