Page 237 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

My back cracked and burned.

“Sinful blood,” an angel spat.

I shivered on the floor of the fae palace.

Malum, Scorpius, and Orion kissed one another.

Red flames burned my skin off.

I held a strangely shaped ice dagger.

A villager sobbed. I stabbed them.

I screamed as I tried to leave the kings.

Jinx’s eyes went black.

“WHORE” was written across my back.

Malum conditioned my hair.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Vegar asked as he stared down at me with a frown.

It felt like I lifted a million pounds as I forced my lips up into a smile. The wind whipped around us.

“Of course.” I forced out a chuckle and asked, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Three sets of eyes narrowed.

I laughed louder. “Seriously, I’m good.”

The demons shrugged and walked away, but Luka kept staring at me.

My smile dropped.

I contorted my body forward, grabbed both my feet, and pressed my nose against my knees as I stretched my hamstrings.

A manic chuckle escaped my lips, and I pressed them into my knees to silence the noise.

Is this how my mother went mad?

Had the haze warped her time and cut her reality into pieces?

Had chunks of her life passed without her noticing, while the worst moments stretched painfully long?

When she was fourteen years old, had she also woken up one day to find that the world was a colder place?

Had everyone watched her with nervous expressions as she’d lied to their faces?

I would ask her, but alas, I’d ripped out her heart and eaten it. So that wasn’t an option.

“Stay focused.” Luka squatted and clapped his hand across my back encouragingly.

I swallowed a scream.

Pain lanced my spine like I’d been stabbed with a hot poker.

Lothaire’s enchanted voice boomed around the stadium, “This challenge is very specific. Daggers, swords, and talons are the only weapons that competitors can use. These weapons must also be manifestations of a competitor’s power. No outside weapons are allowed. You cannot share your weapons with a teammate. Everyone must use their own.”

---