It had been that way ever since we’d learned the truth about the war against the ungodly.
Sweat dripped down my rib cage as the air conditioner spewed cold air onto the top of my head. Rain battered against the cramped office’s single window.
My teeth chattered.
Outside, the climate was dreary; inside, the climate was lachrymose.
The sky was bloated with water, and the room was overflowing with regret, shame, anger, and every other unsavory emotion that no one wanted to talk about.
Feelings that destroyed.
We sat in morbid silence.
A reprieve from the war—lately words were our guns and lies our enchanted bullets.
“Aran, are you paying attention to me?” Dr. Palmer snapped her fingers in front of my face. Unfortunately, one person hadn’t gotten the “sit quietly and mope” memo.
I blinked.
She snapped her fingers again.
“No.” My voice cracked, and I wet my lips. “I wasn’t listening to you.”
My therapist breathed deeply. “The High Court says these men are your fated soulmates and you need to cooperate with them for the war effort. They’ve mandated these therapy sessions because you all need to learn how to work together and unlock the full extent of your powers.”
The only thing I would be unlocking was a muzzle for Malum.
She pointed her pen at the three devils sitting beside me on the threadbare couch.
The four of us shifted.
“But you said last week that you loathe them?” She frowned. “And then you refused to elaborate.”
I didn’t understand her bewilderment.
My loathing should have been a statement with a period: a form of punctuation used to end a complete sentence.
For some reason, no one wanted to accept my hatred as final.
The kings.
Dr. Palmer.
The High Court.
Everyone was waiting for me to change my mind.
Ice traveled down my limbs until I was completely numb, sitting still while simultaneously tumbling deeper into nothingness.
Space buckled.
Tick. Infinity. Tock.
Dr. Palmer pursed her lips. “Aran, could you answer the question?”
I stared back at her blankly. The ice had frozen my eyelids and embalmed my corneas.
“You hate these men?”
