Page 57 of Marked By the Dark Lord
I frowned, trying to puzzle out that last cryptic comment. Who had forced Gunnar into confronting me? And, more importantly,why did they want me dead?
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Mila
As soon as the brilliant red blades of death disappeared, I ran up to Korr’ok, mentally pushing down the wave of revulsion at the headless body. I’d seen corpses before, not including Victor, but that was by far the most gruesome death scene I’d witnessed.
“Are you okay?” I exclaimed, stunned he was somehow still standing.
When he turned to look at me, I gasped at the state of his face. Gashes streamed thick onyx blood down his face, and a weird viscous red ooze leaked from the shattered horn. His left shoulder hung limply, and the way his right leg hung from his body did not look right at all.
“What can I do?”
Korr’ok grunted and flicked his right hand at the body. Flame far too red to be natural erupted from the body and blood stains, quickly eating away at the corpse.
“My room,” he said through teeth clenched in pain. “There is a wardrobe. Open it. Remove the center drawer and bring it to me. The contents are not important. Just the drawer.”
I rushed down the hall and threw open the door to his room. On the left stood his wardrobe. When I pulled open the doors, I was greeted with a row of black and gray shirts hanging from a rack. Below that were three drawers with ornate gold knobs.
Snatching the center one, I yanked it open and off its rails, dumping the watches and other myriad jewelry to the floor as I dashed back up the hall, holding the deceptively heavy wooden drawer.
“Here! I have it!” I cried, skidding to a stop, noting that the floor was conspicuously absent of any of the attacker's remains.
Korr’ok reached out and casually tore it apart with one hand, tossing aside everything but the base. That he gripped in one hand and swung against the wall. The wood shattered, revealing a second layer. From it fell a medallion that glittered softly with dark scarlet tones.
Grabbing it mid-air, Korr’ok inhaled deeply. Magic flowed from the medallion and into his hand, tracing its way up his arm like spider veins before disappearing under the seam of his shirt. They reappeared up his neck, across his face, and down his other arm. I could see it spreading across his entire body through the exposed skin.
The medallion continued to glow as time went on, ten seconds, then thirty. A full minute passed before Korr’ok slumped over, the magic seemingly drained. He pocketed the item, then motioned for me to move aside.
Awkwardly, leaning heavily on the wall, he stumped his way to his quarters without help. Not that there was much I could do. He was too big for me to be of much assistance, leaving mehanging around like a gnat, hovering and annoying but unable to actuallydoanything.
It was not a pleasant feeling.
“Can I get you something?” I asked once he fell into his bed, staining the covers with his blood. “Water? Food?”
“Water would be nice,” he said, eyes drooping low.
“Are you going to make it?” I asked nervously.
If he died …
“Yes. Just … need to recover first.” He coughed, which didn’t do much to convince me of his words.
My gaze lingered for a few moments as he settled deeper into the bed, then I hurried to bring him a glass of water. He accepted it and drained it in two gulps. I brought two glasses the next time. His lips quirked upon noticing, a look that left my skin tingling despite his beaten and bruised face.
I wasn’t about to forget how he’d paused mid-fight to kiss me. My body had boiled itself alive in those few heartbeats. Only the sudden strength of Gunnar had brought me back to reality. If the fight had been over then, and Korr’ok had come to me, eyes ablaze, muscles stretched and taut, his body next to mine … I wasn’t sure what would have happened.
“Will your horn grow back?” I asked. “It looks pretty nasty.”
“Yes. Not the first time one of those things has been removed from my skull. Not a pleasant experience, though.”
“Right. Well, that’s good. You look better with two.”
He eyed me. “You like them? They don’t scare you? Humans are always so afraid of them. They see me as the devil.”
“So did I at first,” I admitted shyly. “But you know what they say about not judging a book by its cover and all. Besides, I’m not exactly normal myself now, am I?”
I lifted a hand, managing to summon forth a bit of my magic. It sparked and swirled around my hand, a dancing line of red that I still had no idea how to control.
