Page 201 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

After another three miles, I broke the silence and said, “I’m sorry.”

Luka furrowed his brows, and his dark eyes narrowed, but he didn’t respond. He didn’t care.

Whatever.

I turned my attention back to the shoreline.

Thirty-two miles later, we finished our run, and Luka walked beside me back to the academy.

I glanced over at him in confusion.

Yesterday, he’d made a point to avoid me and not stand anywhere near me. Now he was purposefully slowing his stride so we were side by side. Sweat covered both of us.

I opened my mouth to question him.

Luka glanced down at me, and his eyes crinkled as he frowned.

I closed my lips.

There was no point. He wouldn’t respond anyway.

I tried to remember what my usual interactions with Mr. Hyde were like. I was pretty sure he’d always been quiet. I was the one who talked and teased him.

But I thought I’d been cheering up John.

Now that Luka was a different person, it felt pointless to speak. Sun god, he probably thought I was annoying as hell.

As I trudged up the steep walkway, I couldn’t help but think about how John would have his arm thrown over my shoulder. He thought it was funny to touch me when we were both gross and sweaty, because I always freaked out.

No one touched me now.

My heart throbbed in my chest.

We entered the academy, and the hall buzzed with energy as students poured out of classrooms and headed to lunch. Malum sauntered forward, and people fell over themselves bowing and making a path for our legion.

Lightning streaked. The stench of ozone burned my nose. A gruesome battle raged in one of the stained-glass windows.

The black marble floors were polished like glass and chilled my aching feet.

As I walked down the hall with my legion, I pretended not to notice that most people were focused on me.

The energy in the academy had changed.

Men leered like pigs. Women made comments about my appearance as their high heels clacked against the marble.

If they’d always known I was a woman, I had a feeling they wouldn’t be so focused on me, but since I’d deceived them, I’d become enemy number one.

The other.

Society either vilified women for their faults or worshipped them for being different. The decision was usually made based on how attractive the woman was.

Mother had been cruel and insane, but she’d also been flawlessly stunning and elegant. She’d had silky blue hair, she’d been lean with no muscle definition, and her pale skin had never been blemished. Her clothes were always extravagant.

They’d worshipped her for her perfection.

Where she’d been polished, I was jagged.

My skin was covered in bruises, dark circles surrounded my bloodshot eyes, and unruly blue curls hung in a tangled mess down to my butt. The gash under my left eye throbbed.

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