Page 51 of The Order: Rise of the New Empire

"The Marked still walk among us!" she yells, riling up the group as best she can. "This is what happens to Marked that defy the reign of Sanctum!" she continues, Elyon's smile only growing.

Snapping her fingers, Unfortunates drag the bodies away from her feet, receiving nothing but a small nod from Elyon.

Turning away from the man once more, I watch her face go pale, her mouth barely holding back the vomit threatening to leave her.

As if the nod was permission to leave, her face immediately drops, her hands shoving past the rowdy crowd, allowing her direct access toward one of the more run down looking buildings. Watching Elyon whisper to a few guards, I keep my focus on Forest, turning toward the others as the rambunctious group begins to dissipate.

"I need to follow her-"

"Did you not just see what she did?" Fallan questions, Aaron's eyes wide, Kai's focus on no one but Forest.

"Elyon was watching over her-"

"And that excuses what she just allowed to happen?" Fallan questions, ready to argue with me on this point. "Forest has no limitation to who she is willing to kill-"

"Then stay out of her way," Kai hisses, looking to Aaron, watching the redhead take a deep breath. "Or die trying to fucking test her."

Grabbing Fallan, Aaron works with no words, keeping the man pressed against him. Still weak from the loss of blood, he does not fight the action, giving me a stern look.

"You are willing to risk everything for her-"

"Every fucking time," I snap, pointing my finger into Fallan's chest. "That's why one of us still has one of the sisters."

Leaving him to digest the comment, Kai urges me forward, taking on the responsibility of dealing with both Fallan and an off-put Aaron.

Pulling on a face of Deception, I weave through the crowd, avoiding Elyon's gaze, trailing behind my one reason for existing in this miserable world.

Chapter fifteen

Mason

The cabin is vacant. Hours have passed since the group's exit to the Precipice.

Keeping a close eye on the time, the hands of my watch only seem to dwindle down. Was it foolish to allow them to go alone knowing how tricky it was to find a way in to begin with?

I trust Xavier's mind enough to know he'd find a way in, but with his thoughts so consumed by Forest, how realistic is it to believe he would not make mistakes?

The man with full focus is one thing, the man with his focus only on Forest is something else entirely.

Creeping along the edge of the woods facing the dense forest, I take in the smell of fresh air, wondering how long I could truly tolerate being underground before craving something other than synthetic oxygen.

I know it angered Xavier how cryptic I chose to be about the Underground, but, given the reckless thought patterns he andKai developed over the past several months, trusting the men to keep any secret close is a fool's game.

Running my hand along the bases of the trees, I catch myself stuck in my own spiral of thoughts, my mind coming back to one place.

What happens after Elyon is confined?

How long can we allow the man to be alive before we have to face a hard truth?

For Elyon to be taken down, so must Forest-

Crack.

Snapping my head, the broken twig pulls me away from my thoughts, my focus no longer on far off realities that have yet to present themselves.

Picking up on a scent that is not my own, I stand at a dead still, reaching for my pistol rather than my blade.

Marked, young, that much I can tell.

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