Page 96 of Marked

“What?”

“Once when you said you were over me, once when you said you’d killed men for less, and…”

“Are you guys coming?” Orion shouted down the hall.

Ace towered over me. He leaned down to whisper in my ear, “We’ll discuss this later.”

Yeah, no. That wasn’t going to happen. My brother couldn’t be involved. He would never hurt me, and I refused to entertain the idea.

“I’ve been thinking about the Death House. The person or people responsible for killing Carla likely saw us entering and exiting…” Ace started as we headed out of my brother’s bedroom.

“What about them?” I asked.

“They’re a problem. They might suspect that whatever the coroner knew, we might possess the same information.”

“We have an even bigger problem,” Orion said.

“And what could that possibly be?” I asked.

“I smell smoke.”

35

We rushed out of the cabin, armed with our bows and arrows. I had a split second to register several hunters standing outside with bows raised, arrows glinting in the afternoon sun before I dove to the side. I slammed into the ground, pain jolting up my side. An arrow sunk into the siding of the cabin where I’d been standing moments before. Orion ducked behind the bushes to the left of the cabin, and Ace rushed to join me behind the ones sheltering me.

The fire wasn’t in the village. Someone had set the fire at the back of my brother’s cabin to force us out the front. I could see it now as the flames licked up to meet the sky and smoke billowed out.

Were these the king’s men or the rogue hunters? Were they here for me or my brother?

Flames rose in the distance. It wasn’t just Paul’s place on fire.

I scanned the trees. Smoke billowed up in the direction of my own home.

Nala.

Cold covered my entire body. My skin prickled.

My familiar was inside.

I bolted up only to have Ace lock his steely grip on my wrist and haul me to the ground.

“You can’t get up, even an immortal has limits with these guys. They might have more poisoned arrows.”

“My cabin is on fire,” I said.

“Let it go.”

“Nala is inside.”

Ace hesitated. “She’ll get out.”

“I closed the bedroom door, Ace. She’s trapped. I won’t leave her,” I said. “I can’t leave her.”

“I’ll go,” he said.

“What? No. She’s my familiar and I’m immortal. She’s my responsibility.”

“You’re just as vulnerable to these hunters as I am.” He loosened his grip on my wrist, and his gaze softened. “You’re the better archer between the two of us. Cover me.”

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