Page 46 of Moonmarked

I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath. “They were just trying to watch out for me, that’s all. It’s nothing personal,” I ended up muttering because I absolutely believed her now.

“And that simply begsthe questionwhy,doesn’t it, mortal?” I was sure she threw that word at me to piss me off because she knew I hated it. The joke was on her, though. She was about to find out just how much that had changed since the last time we saw each other.

“I saved her life,” I said because I had nothing to hide and I had nothing to lie about. Raja was Rune’s friend. She cared about him a great deal, even if she couldn’t stand me. I believed inthat,at least. So, I said, “We made it to the Seelie Court, Raja. I healed the prince. I walked out of the room, and the next thing I know, they’re shouting murder, pointing their fingers at me. I saw Lyall’s body on theground with a knife sticking out of his chest. Rune helped me escape.”

“How?” she demanded, and she gave no hint of what she thought about anything I was saying yet, which was fine.

“The river that’s around the queen’s palace. He told me to jump in it, then his shadows took me to this irrigation canal near these fields just outside the palace.”

For a moment, Raja only stared at the floor, the wheels in her head turning.

I continued. “I made it to Mysthaven, and I found Maera, the alpha you saw, in a cage, almost dead because a sorcerer had used her for…stuff. I thought she was a dog, so I fed her and I freed her, and then…” My eyes closed once more. “She saved me back. Saved us both from the sorcerers, and then they…brought me here. Used the scent of your boots to find you.”

There.That’s all anybody really needed to know—except for Rune, of course.

A step closer, and Raja locked her jaws so tightly I heard them snap. “Shescratchedyou.” Her cold eyes dropped to my naked arm because the nightgown I wore was sleeveless. I raised my arm to see it myself, only to find the faintest red lines remaining on my skin, barely there, so easy to miss if you didn’t know where to look.

Those scratches that had been so deep and raw were gone, just like that. Within a couple of days.

“She was trying to save my life,” I said. “She did.” The skin wasn’t even raised—I ran my fingers over it to confirm it.

“By the stars—shescratchedyou, a wee bit of an alpha, and you’re brimming with moon magic.” Another step forward, this one purely menacing, yet I didn’t evenconsider moving back. Instead, the heat in my chest intensified, and it fucking shocked me and scared me shitless at the same time.

When those sorcerers had been after us, I hadn’t even considered reaching for it, had forgotten it existed, but now that I’d remembered it was there,thishappens.

What the hell is going on with me?

I’d glowed. My skin had had this glow to it—not the golden glow my hands took on, but a different glow. Almost ethereal.Why?What exactly had that scratch done to me?

“Have you shifted?” Raja demanded.

“No, no—of course not.”

“Have you, by any chance,diedas you should have?”

Fuck, it was really hot in this room all of a sudden. In my skin. “I haven’t.” Even my voice came out different this time.

“You wouldn’t happen to knowwhy, would you?” Those wide eyes. I could have sworn she could see right into my soul.

“Lyall,” I whispered. “He transferred his magic to me when he created the life-bond.”

Her brows shot up. “So, you’re also a liar.”

“I—”

“I asked you at my table what the bond did to you. You looked me in the eye, and you lied to me.”

“I…”Fuck!“I can’t really explain it to you, Raja. But I can assure you I meant no disrespect. I was trying to survive. I still am.” Because it would take forever to explain to her what my life had looked like, what I’d had to go through for telling people the truth. How much I hadn’t believed my own self because of it.

I would rather keep that story to myself.

“There’s something wrong about you, mortal,” Raja said. “You shouldn’t have been able to carry?—”

“Lyall’s magic, and the moon magic, and I should have died from the scratch—yes, yes, I know all of it!” I snapped, and my cheeks heated up, and the palms of my hands were on fucking fire.

Raja noticed first that they were glowing, and the way she looked down at me made me wish I could start running already.

I scared her.

---