Page 25 of Marked

“I told you to stop calling me that,” she huffed.

“Never.” Taking a deep breath, I unsheathed one of my daggers and descended into the unknown, Sley following close behind me. The air grew colder as we ventured deeper underground, the faint scent of damp earth filling my nose. Our footsteps echoed along the stone walls and Sley’s torch flickered and hissed as it provided a small glow of orange light.

We followed the tunnel in near silence, my heart rate speeding up with each step.

“Where do you think it leads?” Sley asked. “I’m already turned around.”

“I don’t know,” I answered. The warm glow of the torch illuminated the uneven surface of the rocky tunnel. “But there are no cobwebs.”

“Support beams are old,” Sley noted, holding the torch closer to the large slabs of wood that supported the sides and roof of the tunnel. They had grayed and cracked with age. Some had visible signs of rot.

“I practically grew up in this town and I didn’t know this tunnel existed,” I said.

“So, we’re looking for someone older than us?” Sley asked. “I can’t see any of the old timers in town doing this.”

“Someone older or someone even nosier than us.”

“Impossible,” Sley said.

“That’s what I thought, but evidence suggests otherwise.”

Sley pursed her lips. “Looks like we’re finally coming to the end.”

We’d walked for at least half an hour and Sley’s torch burned low. The tunnel had to be at least three to five kilometres long. My skin had long grown cold, and my bed cried for me. It would take just as long to walk back, and we still didn’t know what waited for us on the other end.

I climbed the cut-out steps in the dirt and studied the trap door above. Again, no cobwebs. I pushed on the weathered wood, and it moved without complaint. “Ready?”

Sley squeaked in response.

I gently eased the trap to the ground, lowering it gradually to keep quiet. No hinges squeaked. No dust or dirt fell into my eyes. Instead, fresh frigid air whooshed into the tunnel.

As we emerged from its depths, gnarled trees loomed overhead, their branches reaching out like grasping hands. Shadows danced across the forest floor as beams of cool moonlight filtered through the canopy above. Goosebumps prickled my skin as we stepped farther out of the tunnel.

“Where are we?” Sley whispered.

I wish I didn’t recognize the bent tree in front of me or the nearby trail that ran under an old oak with a large burnt branch. I wish it had been any other place than this. My heart sunk in my chest. “The forbidden forest.”

11

I slung the leather strap of my quiver over my shoulder and stomped to the main area of Perga. Hunters met at the fire pit at dawn before heading out on their regular routes. I hadn’t told Ace when or where to meet, but my brother probably did. If Ace didn’t show, I’d have to track him down and part of me really hoped for that outcome. I’d give him a wake up call he’d never forget.

My tall leather boots crunched the dirt, rocks, and damp leaves as I took the narrow path through town. My muscles complained—tired and sore from the hunters’ attack and my midnight tunnel sleuthing with Sley. We had to find out who was behind these thefts before they cleaned out the town’s entire winter stores.

After a long walk back home from the Danu Forest, we decided to lock the trapdoor to the tunnel. The town already knew about the theft, so logically, the thief or thieves had to know we were onto them as well. But I had to push the storage theft to the side for the immediate future. I had other things to deal with.

Like Ace.

Sure enough, he sat on one of the logs by the town’s central fire pit, my brother at his side. He’d chosen dark brown hunting leathers today and opted to go without a cloak.

The sight of my brother beside him disappointed me. I wasn’t surprised to see Paul, though. These two had been remarkably close growing up. Within weeks of arriving in Perga, Ace and my brother had become besties while I got delegated as the third wheel. That had been a hard transition and part of young-me would’ve hated Ace for it, but I’d been too obsessed with him to hold anything against him besides my naked body—not that he’d noticed me at the time.

That all changed, of course, when Ace left without so much as a goodbye.

My brother obviously excelled at forgiveness more than I did. I wasn’t the only one Ace had hurt.

“Have a good time last night?” I asked, keeping my tone light and definitely not trying to recall how Maria pressed her tits into his body.

Jealousy was such an ugly emotion, but apparently, I wasn’t above experiencing it.