Page 41 of Marked

I accepted the food and held the stick up in my hand, waiting for it to cool down.

“It was a compliment,” I said. “Paul’s hopeless at cooking for himself.”

“Still?”

“Mmhmm. Despite my best efforts to help him. Where did you learn?” He used to be at the same skill level as Paul.

Ace pulled the second skewer from the fire and stared down at the meat for a moment. “Five years is plenty of time to learn a lot of things, Mouse.”

I narrowed my eyes. That was vague.

He took a bite from his skewer and sucked in a deep breath. He most likely burnt his tongue, and the thought made me smile.

“You spent five years training to cook, fight, and hunt?” I asked.

“Who said anything about fighting?”

“I did.” Would he try to deny it?

Ace shrugged. “Cooking is a key element of survival, and I figured out quickly that I wanted to live. Why wouldn’t I work on this survival skill along with everything else?”

He had a good point. Yet, I knew that would never change Paul’s view on cooking.

Waving the skewer in the air, I leaned in and bit into the tender meat. Flavour exploded on my tongue.

“Danu, that’s good.” I closed my eyes and moaned. I took another bite and enjoyed the flavours, letting the taste flow over my other senses.

Dirt crunched as Ace shifted in his seat on the log opposite of me. I popped open my eyes to find him staring at me strangely.

“What?” I asked.

He looked away, clenching his teeth together. His hair had a slight wave to it and a lock had fallen across his face. “Nothing.”

I took another bite, and it was just as good as the last. After skinning and prepping the meat, Ace had used some sort of rub with herbs. He said he always travelled with it.

My new life lesson was discovering the recipe.

I sank my teeth into the meat, the grease spreading over my lips and coating my tongue.

Ace cursed. “Do you need a room?”

I lowered the skewer and licked my lips. “Are you upset I’m enjoying the food?”

“Do you always make those sounds?” he asked, his gaze darkening.

“I always make these sounds when I’m satisfied, yes.” I took another bite and moaned again, maybe a little louder than before. Maybe a little exaggerated. If it bothered Ace, then I planned to keep doing it.

“Phaan.” He sprung from his seat and stomped into the inky darkness, taking his dinner with him.

I laughed and took another bite. The food really was delicious. Irritating Ace was just a bonus.

16

The morning sun bathed my face and teased my senses. Blinking, I pulled myself up from bed and peered out my bedroom window. After our late-night hunt, we’d returned to sleep in our own beds instead of the hard ground, but I still had a layer of dirt on me.

Normally, I bathed using fresh water from the brook behind my cabin. If I had time, I heated the cold water over the fireplace first. In the summer, I’d jump into the river and cool down at the same time. Now that the air held more of a chill, however, and I awaited new orders, I planned for a more luxurious bathing experience.

Throwing on loose fitting clothes, I grabbed my soap, bow and quiver and headed toward my favourite bathing place located far from our little community. I preferred this place to the closer lake because I knew the others never ventured here.