Page 327 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

Holy fuck.

Midplummet, adrenaline exploded through my senses, and my jaw dropped open.

Time stopped.

I hung suspended in midair, unmoving, as the neurons in my brain took the new information and put the pieces together faster than I could consciously process.

The irregular shape of my ice daggers. Long and flat at the end and narrow at the other. Impossibly light, razor-thin, and sharp.

They had never been weapons.

My daggers were feathers.

Probabilities, statistics, and facts rushed through me as I struggled to make sense of what was happening.

The feather was all it took.

Sodium and potassium pumped signals across my nerves at lightning speed.

My eyes widened as the pieces clicked into place.

I understood. Everything.

Mother had had blue flames that differed from the rest of the fire fae.

Instead of the typical red flames, hers had been blue. Instead of a hot fire that burned, her flames had hurt but never left a single mark. After she’d torment me for hours, I’d lay shivering on the floor with my teeth chattering.

When the angels slammed their ice swords together, flames shot out.

It was the alchemy law of extremes: At its hottest temperature, fire mimics the properties of ice. At its coldest temperature, ice mimics the properties of fire.

When ice was cold enough, it formed flames.

It was obvious in hindsight.

The angels called me “sinful blood” because they knew what I was, and they knew what she had been.

Mother had been an angel without wings. And the others knew it.

For some reason, the High Court had positioned an angel on the throne of death. It was an inside job.

A cover-up.

I’d never developed fae powers as a child because I was never a fae and Mother had known it.

Her taunt about how I’d never be more than her made so much sense.

The slur carved into my back was a statement. Mother had wanted to make me in her image and ensure I never achieved what she couldn’t.

In the beast realm, a maid had confronted Sadie and me. Her voice had been warped and distorted as she said,

“One must join, and raise the rear,

Other must break, and bring the kings,

One must grow, and lose the fear,

Other must die, and rise with wings.”

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