Marked, page 10
“Who said anything about fighting?”
“I did.” Would he try to deny it?
Ace shrugged. “Cooking is a key element of survival, and I figured out quickly that I wanted to live. Why wouldn’t I work on this survival skill along with everything else?”
He had a good point. Yet, I knew that would never change Paul’s view on cooking.
Waving the skewer in the air, I leaned in and bit into the tender meat. Flavour exploded on my tongue.
“Danu, that’s good.” I closed my eyes and moaned. I took another bite and enjoyed the flavours, letting the taste flow over my other senses.
Dirt crunched as Ace shifted in his seat on the log opposite of me. I popped open my eyes to find him staring at me strangely.
“What?” I asked.
He looked away, clenching his teeth together. His hair had a slight wave to it and a lock had fallen across his face. “Nothing.”
I took another bite, and it was just as good as the last. After skinning and prepping the meat, Ace had used some sort of rub with herbs. He said he always travelled with it.
My new life lesson was discovering the recipe.
I sank my teeth into the meat, the grease spreading over my lips and coating my tongue.
Ace cursed. “Do you need a room?”
I lowered the skewer and licked my lips. “Are you upset I’m enjoying the food?”
“Do you always make those sounds?” he asked, his gaze darkening.
“I always make these sounds when I’m satisfied, yes.” I took another bite and moaned again, maybe a little louder than before. Maybe a little exaggerated. If it bothered Ace, then I planned to keep doing it.
“Phaan.” He sprung from his seat and stomped into the inky darkness, taking his dinner with him.
I laughed and took another bite. The food really was delicious. Irritating Ace was just a bonus.
16
The morning sun bathed my face and teased my senses. Blinking, I pulled myself up from bed and peered out my bedroom window. After our late-night hunt, we’d returned to sleep in our own beds instead of the hard ground, but I still had a layer of dirt on me.
Normally, I bathed using fresh water from the brook behind my cabin. If I had time, I heated the cold water over the fireplace first. In the summer, I’d jump into the river and cool down at the same time. Now that the air held more of a chill, however, and I awaited new orders, I planned for a more luxurious bathing experience.
Throwing on loose fitting clothes, I grabbed my soap, bow and quiver and headed toward my favourite bathing place located far from our little community. I preferred this place to the closer lake because I knew the others never ventured here.
Nala perked up when I padded into the main room.
“Are you coming girl?” I reached out and ruffled her fur.
She yipped and jumped off the couch. Though she moved slower and with a slight limp, her health had already improved since the attack. She would be back to her old self in no time and then I could track down the rogue hunters. Sure, I might’ve killed them all, but I wanted to know where they’d come from and if there were more. My fingers itched to pull my bow, my legs begged to run to the scene of the attack, but I’d learned long ago to listen to a healer’s advice. Orion had said our bond had weakened and I didn’t want to leave on a long hunting mission until Nala was stronger.
With my familiar at my side, I set off into the forbidden forest of Danu.
The birds sang merrily overhead and flittered from branch to branch among the sun-dappled leaves as they followed my path through the forest. A couple of large ravens also trailed after me, occasionally adding their eerie croak to the noise overhead. The morning air still held a slight chill, but I welcomed the bite, knowing full well things would heat up soon, anyway.
After a short jaunt through the forest, I arrived at my destination. A secret hot spring existing near the major river and the edge of the forest. Paul and I had found this place when we were fourteen. Ace had dared us to jump in.
A two-tiered pool system had a large, heated upper pool that cascaded down to a lower pool in a spectacular waterfall before it drained into the river where the naiads sometimes lurked, including the one I’d questioned the other day.
I had no interest in running across that unfriendly creature again.
I set my supplies down near the edge of the lower pool and started pulling off my dirt-encrusted clothes. The morning bite in the air made my skin pebble, but the promise of the warm water propelled me forward. The lower pool wasn’t as hot as the upper one, but I wasn’t looking to scald my skin or plummet to my death, so the lower pool would meet my needs.
Dipping my toes into the water gently lapping at the bank, I tested the temperature of the hot springs before walking in the rest of the way.
The water flowed over my naked skin and soothed my nerves. I missed this. I missed the calm that came from bathing every inch of my body with heat.
Nala huffed and flopped down beside my stuff on the banks of the lower pool.
“I won’t be long,” I assured her.
She grumbled and cushioned her head on her front paws.
My wolf preferred that I smelled like dirt, cooked meat and wolf. She hated when I came to the pools.
I turned away from Nala and dove into the water. The feel of the current through my hair and the warm water along my skin felt better than any massage session.
After I resurfaced, I dove again.
I could do this all day, but that wouldn’t be fair to Nala, and my brother probably expected us back by lunch.
I grabbed my soap and headed for the waterfall.
It wasn’t a powerful stream of water. I could stand under the cascading water without getting crushed. Using the soap, I lathered my body, running my hands over my breasts, arms, and the flat of my stomach. The heated water washed away any of the dirt too stubborn to come off earlier. I bent to scrub my legs and groin next when Nala barked.
I straightened immediately and turned toward my familiar. A chill ran up my spine despite the temperature of the water.
Nala wasn’t looking at me. Instead, she stood and faced the opposite bank of the lower pool.
I turned slowly to follow her gaze and froze. There, standing at the edge of the water, Ace watched me, his expression unreadable from this distance. He held his bow in one hand but had lowered it to his side. His mouth was partly open. Instead of attempting to cover myself where I stood, I dove into the pool and let the water shield me from his gaze.
What was he doing here?
When I resurfaced, I found Ace standing in the same spot. Why hadn’t he left? Why hadn’t he looked away? I let my feet touch the pebbled bottom of the pool and stood. The water came up to my neck, the steam lifting from the heated surface to caress my face.
“Did you get a good enough look?” I asked. What would he do if I walked out of the water and draped myself over his body like Maria had at the pub?
Ace snapped his mouth shut and a dusty rose colour spread over his cheeks. “I asked your brother if anyone still risked coming to the hot springs in the forbidden forest and he said no. I wouldn’t have come if I knew you’d be here.”
“Yet, you definitely stayed.” I cocked my head. “I’ve killed men for less.”
He straightened, his gaze finally meeting mine. “Have you?”
I ignored his question. Of course, I hadn’t. I killed men for hunting in the forest. “If Nala hadn’t alerted me, how long would you have kept watching?”
Ace held his hands up. “As lovely as I’m sure the view is, I wouldn’t get your panties in a bunch. You were too far away for me to see anything. I was trying to figure out if it was you, or some sort of hallucination when your familiar barked.”
That was the lamest excuse I’d heard in a long time and said as much. “Why don’t you go bathe in the river? There’s a naiad visiting. I’m sure she’d love the company.” Maybe if I was lucky, she’d drown him.
Ace jerked back as if burned, his face turning white. “A naiad? Here?”
I nodded. “Super unfriendly, too, so you’ll probably hit it off.”
Ace cursed and turned around. He bent to retrieve the bag he’d dropped. “I’ll see you back in Perga.”
“That better be all you see of me,” I shouted after him.
He shook his head and stormed off into the forest.
The audacity of that man.
I scrambled out of the warm water and started to dry myself. Had Paul sent him here intentionally, knowing I preferred to bathe in the mornings or had this been an innocent mistake with Ace caught in the middle?
Scowling, I threw my towel down. Nothing my brother did was a coincidence. This had his meddling signature all over it.
17
As I made my way back to Perga, the calming sounds of the forest faded to a hush, replaced with the quiet murmur of the small town. The moment I passed through the old hedge that marked the entrance to Perga, a wave of nostalgia hit me.
I had walked through these hedges countless of times but the memory that always hit the hardest was the one from the first time I’d travelled this way, trailing close behind the queen and her guard. Fear had filled me, but another emotion had clung to my heart—an emotion I hadn’t dared feel before. As I clutched my brother’s hand and stepped into this town all those years ago, I’d been filled with hope.
The trees stood tall, and the leaves whispered in the wind. With Nala trotting beside me, I walked down the main street through town. Old cabins with thatched roofs lined the old road. Chimneys puffed out smoke into the crisp air and the overgrown grass along the side of the street swayed in the breeze.
Home.
Growing up in an orphanage, and later on the streets, I’d never considered anywhere home before Perga.
Some of the locals milled around outside and greeted me with nods as I made my way to my cabin on the opposite side of town. I was good enough to defend their forests and stock their storage house, good enough to acknowledge if they accidentally made eye contact with me, but not good enough for most of the town to befriend.
I was too different.
Too scary.
They didn’t understand my power, so most of them avoided it.
Maria stepped from the entrance of her bakery, her curls bouncing around her face. Despite her habit of throwing herself on Ace, Maria had always been kind to me. She didn’t know I had a past with the new hunter in town and even if she did, my history with Ace didn’t give me any claim over him.
Not that I wanted one.
“Back already?” Maria called out. “Didn’t you just leave?”
“And stay away from this charming place? Never,” I said. The charm being my bed, books, Sley, and my familiar. “Besides, I just left to bathe.”
Maria leaned forward. "Speaking of charming, is it true you’re involved with Ace? I couldn’t help but notice something between the two of you last night.”
“Me and Ace?” I shook my head and ignored the knot twisting in my stomach. “Absolutely not.”
Maria bit her lip as she visibly considered her next words. “That’s not what it looked like.”
“What did it look like?”
“Like you have history,” she said.
“I have no claim on him,” I said. Nor did I want any.
My chest tightened and I cursed my body for betraying what my mind already knew—Ace and I would be a disaster together. Another heartbreak and heartache and Ace didn’t deserve the opportunity to do that to me again.
“But you guys used to be friends, right?” Maria asked. “I heard Ace lived here before and you all grew up together with Graham and Gavin.”
I nodded, not liking where this conversation was going. Graham and Gavin had obviously shared a lot more than beer with Maria last night. “Did Graham and Gavin also share that they used to call me, Paul and Ace the orphans? Or that they tormented me relentlessly?”
“Um...” Maria looked away.
“I thought not.”
“Those two are harmless,” she assured me.
“Sure,” I lied. “I’ve moved on from that and I’d like to think we’ve all changed. If I’d known I’d count on Graham’s arrowheads or Gavin’s woodworking, maybe I would’ve been a little nicer back then, too.”
Maybe they could’ve been a lot nicer.
“I would argue old man O’Reilly hasn’t changed at all,” Maria quipped.
I felt a chill run down my spine and checked over my shoulder instinctively in case he stood behind me. He wasn’t. “That’s the most truthful thing I’ve heard all morning.”
“You know he’s been asking about you lately.”
“Who has?”
“O’Reilly.”
A shiver ran through me again, and I scoffed, trying to hide my unease. Nothing good could come from that cantankerous old man asking about me. “I don’t want to know, but at the same time, I need to ask. What did he want?”
Maria sighed and looked around as if she too worried the old man would leap out from the shadows. “He thinks you’re hiding something about the forest and says it’s unnatural for someone so young to bond with a familiar.”
“Well, some things really don’t change. He’s been saying that for years. I’m well aware of O’Reilly’s opinions of me.” The old man had always been a little too nosy about the forbidden forest and overly suspicious of my reluctance to respond to his questions about it. Most of the time, I remained silent because I simply didn’t know the answer. And other times, he sought information that wasn’t mine to share. He’d accused me of lying, of spying, and of casting Perga under a spell at town council meetings. Multiple times. Though I’d grown used to O’Reilly’s constant antagonism, I hadn’t grown out of my unease around that man.
“Well, just be careful,” she cautioned, her tone serious. “There have been whispers about strange things going on in the forest lately. Unsettling things.”
My heart quickened at her words. “What kind of unsettling things?”
She hesitated and reached down to give Nala a pat instead of responding right away. “People have reported hearing strange voices in the forest, of whispers in the dark.”
That could be the thieves. "Anything else?”
“There have been sightings of shadowy figures darting between the trees near the forbidden forest, disappearing before anyone can get a clear look.”
A sense of foreboding settled over me like a heavy fog. The forest had always held its secrets close, but the unsettling things Maria mentioned could be descriptions of more rogue hunters and thieves. If others had started to notice them, though, that meant their numbers had to be growing.
“And O’Reilly thinks it’s connected to me?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. My mind had already connected the dots. Why else would Maria bring up the old man and tell me to be careful?
She pressed her lips together and nodded.
“Do you?”
Maria’s gaze softened with concern. “I don’t know, Emi. Maybe you’re not responsible for any of it, but something tells me you’re involved somehow. You’ve always had a connection to the forest—a connection none of the rest of us fully understand.”
The weight of her words hung heavily in the air. Gossip spread easily in a town this size, so did misinformation. If the citizens of Perga thought I was responsible for all the shenanigans going on, they could end up on my doorstep demanding my head. “Thanks for the heads up, Maria.”
She nodded and ducked back into her bakery while I continued onward through town, lost in thought. Nala walked beside me, occasionally bumping her body into my legs.
“Emi!” Sley called out, running around the central fire pit to reach me. She wore leather pants and a loose cotton shirt, and her breath condensed with each breath.
“Hey.”
Sley slowed to a stop in front of me and held up her finger. She bent over and braced her hands on her knees, breathing hard.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded and continued to wheeze. Nala leaned forward and sniffed at her head as if to make sure she was alright.
“That was a pretty impressive run, there, Sleyer.”
“Phaan…you.” She reached out to scratch behind Nala’s ear.
“I’m not your type,” I said.
She chuckled and shook her head before finally straightening. Her gaze sparkled with mischief.
“Did you just want to run dramatically across town, or…”
She leaned in. “Or I found another clue.”
My eyebrows rose.
“And maybe I’ve always wanted to dramatically run through town.”
“In your head was I a seven-foot phaanon warrior?”
She waggled her eyebrows at me.
I snorted, shaking off my unease from my conversation with Maria. I didn’t want to tell Sley about it, because she’d rampage through town and chew everyone out for doubting me, which may or may not help my case as far as my reputation in this town went. “What did you find?”
“It wasn’t just dry storage,” she said. “They also took wool and leather.”
I froze, my mind instantly travelling to thoughts of the men from the forest attack. “What colour wool and leather?”
Sley grimaced. “Undyed.”
I scrunched my nose. It wasn’t definitive proof linking the two events, but it definitely made me pause. The wool could’ve been dyed green. Someone in town could’ve supplied the rogue hunters with Perga’s supplies.
Sley waited patiently in front of me while my brain worked.
“The hunters that attacked me wore wool and leathers,” I explained.
“Everyone wears wool and leathers. It’s winter.”
I nodded. “But there might be a connection.”
“It would be a phaan of a coincidence if they’re unrelated.” She paused and bit her lip. “You killed them all, right?”
“All the ones that attacked me, yes.”
“I guess if the thefts stop, we’ll know why.” Sley tapped her chin.
“Agreed,” I said. “Assuming the thefts you discovered all occurred before the attack. But…” My mind went over the chain of events.
