Page 149 of Vicious Princess
“You’ve lived through enough, I see. This will be a piece of cake for you,” he murmurs more to himself than to me.
So I don’t reply, just close my eyes and wait.
He’s right. The tattooing feels like a pleasant tingle as he dips the sharp needle into black ink and then embeds it into my skin. Every move of his hand is measured, precise. His breathing is slow and steady, and from the eerie silence that settles between us, I can tell that in this moment, the only things that exist to the fae are him, his needle, and the canvas in front of him.
I remain still. While I want to ask him about my rank, I choose not to. Whoever this artist is, he looks dedicated to his craft more than anyone I have ever encountered.
When he takes a sharp inhale, I know he’s done.
“That’s it,” he says, putting down the needle. “You can get up now.”
Slowly, I do. My skin tingles where his needle touched me, but I don’t feel discomfort or pain.
“Care to look?”
The fae lifts a thin mirror and holds it against his chest. I glance over my shoulder at my naked back and gasp.
My scarred skin doesn’t even draw my attention like it usually does whenever I look at myself naked—it’s the ink that sucks me in.
I have four symbols etched in my back, starting at the nape of my neck, where an ember of flame, two stylized curving lines reaching upwards, rests. Right beneath it, following the line of my spine, are two neatly stacked chevrons pointing up.
Farther down my spine is a perfect circle, and right under it is a vertical arrowhead with a long tail that stops around midway down my spine. These symbols…I’ve seen them on Daegel’s back.
Of course, as a major, he has additional symbols marking his rank.
The skin around the black ink is a little red. But it still looksfuckinggreat.
“Thank you,” I say, breathless.
The fae lowers the mirror and dips his chin. “Thank you, for allowing me the honor to mark your skin with my art.”
Before he lets me get dressed, he generously lathers my back with a foul-smelling clear concoction.
“It’ll prevent infections and aid healing,” he says when I gag from the scent.
Once he’s done, I quickly dress and head for the door. All heads snap to me when I emerge into the corridor. Wordlessly, Daegel gestures for the next Ezkai to go into the room.
Daegel approaches me, and all of a sudden, I can’t get enough air into my lungs. “You’re free to return to the barracks to collect your stuff, Ezkai Phoenix.”
Once I nod, Daegel leans closer and says in a voice quiet enough that only I can hear, “Meet me in the training hall afterwards.”
It’s alreadyevening by the time I make my way to the training hall. I sit on one of the benches lined against the walls while I wait for Daegel. The stone behind my back is cool, yet my whole body is molten lava.
I can’t help it.
These walls carry many memories. Some not so pleasant, while others…
Before my mind can wander to places it shouldn’t, the door opens and Daegel enters. The moment his eyes land on me, my heart flutters.
“Congratulations, Ezkai Lieutenant Phoenix Wildarrow,” he says in that seductive tone that makes my toes curl inside my shoes as he prowls towards me.
With a smile stretching my lips, I rise to my feet. His hands find my hips and pull me closer into him.
The kiss he plants on my lips is chaste. Teasing. A whisper of a promise of all the things I want him to do to me when we’re fully alone.
When we don’t have to hide, sneak around, and pretend anymore.
I pull away from him. “I can’t believe three units chose me.”
