Page 14 of Marked Resistance

My own blood drenched the ground beneath me, but all I wanted to do was sleep. I figured if it was going to be the last nap I take, it would be the best. The irony of my being light-headed but my head was too heavy to lift.

Ilanis spoke again, her voice full of contempt. “If you’re going to coddle her, she won’t last long.”

Xavier squeezed my shoulder. “Were you any different?”

“You know I was.”

“She’s here now, Ilanis. We need to get her ready, not kill her.”

“If she dies,” Ilanis scoffed. “She wasn’t ready.”

Chapter Seven

“Hello, from the other side.”

I rolled over and there was Xavier, smiling like a cat pleased with himself over the dead mouse he'd presented to his master. Rubbing my eyes with the back of my right hand and blinking a few times till they cleared revealed my location. Somehow, I found myself inside an average-sized room with matching wooden and metal furniture done in the colors of a tropical forest.

Xavier sat on a metal chair by the door, his back to the exit, with both hands resting on his muscular thighs.

“That’s not funny,” I groaned, my body wracked with soreness. “How long was I out?”

“Couple of weeks,” he stated flatly.

“A couple of weeks?!”

“You took a pretty good shot.”

The mental image of her sword’s hilt protruding from my chest caused a shutter to run through me.

“But that doesn’t make sense. I drank from…youforcedme to drink from a live human. My healing should have accelerated.”

“Yes, it was the damnedest thing. I made a vampire drink from a live human to save their life. You’re welcome by the way.”

“Whatever,” I scoffed and sucked in some air through my teeth.

“Still. You should have healed quicker than you did. It was like your wounds wouldn’t close.”

“Wounds from that asshole Ilanis.”

“We’reallassholes, Zenobia,” Xavier corrected in the same flat tone.

“You’rean asshole, sure. You let her almost kill me. Why did you do that? Why didn’t you try to stop her?”

“Zee— “

“Zenobia,” I declared. “Only people I care about can call me Zee.”

“Fine,” he said and waved his hand. “Whatever you like.”

“Why did you let her do that? Why did you let her try to kill me?”

Xavier held one hand up and showed his palm. “Zenobia, take a breath. Ilanis is a highly skilled warrior. If she wanted to kill you, we wouldn’t be here speaking to one another.”

“Then why did she gut me?”

“She was testing you.”

“And?”

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