Page 61 of Marked

I jerked back and whipped my head to the side to find Orion standing a few feet away.

My vision swam, and I had to take a deep breath and blink a few times until the details of my surroundings crystallized once again.

A sheen of sweat covered Orion’s face and it glowed in the fire’s light.

Had he run the entire way from town?

“Seems you can be quiet when you need to be,” Ace drawled, and stood up, his arm slipping from my shoulders. His departure left my side cold, and I shivered.

“We were just counting all the ways I despise him,” I said, dropping my head against the log behind me.

Orion had blanked his expression, slipping on his healer’s mask. He stepped closer and crouched in front of me. “If your sass is back, you must be feeling better.”

I stretched my neck, tilting my head from shoulder to shoulder. I didn’t throw up, so that was a win. “A little. Whatever was on that arrow did a number on me, though. At this rate, it will likely take a few days for me to fully recover.”

Orion frowned. “You normally only take a few hours…” He glanced over his shoulder at Ace. “Did you find the arrow and save it?”

Ace smirked. “Of course.”

Orion shook his head and reached into the satchel hung over his shoulders. “You really are lucky, Em. If that arrowhead hit you centre mass, you might have ended up like Dita.”

“Did you see her?” I asked, watching Orion pull a leather pouch from the bag. “Did you view her body?”

“Of course not,” he said. “They’ve made it clear they don’t need my services in Wast.”

Orion knelt beside me and untied the leather pouch. It opened like a flower to reveal white paste with an acidic floral scent.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Smells awful.” Ace wrinkled his nose and took a step back.

Orion ignored us and dipped two fingers into the smooth, creamy paste. With careful precision, he reached forward and gently peeled back the bandage that Ace had tightly wound around my injury.

As soon as the paste touched my skin, a rush of coolness spread through my body like a gentle wave, refreshing and invigorating. I took a deep breath and the pain slowly dissipated, replaced with a tingling sensation that left me feeling light and rejuvenated. I tested my range of motion, stretching my neck from side to side. There was no dizziness, discomfort or nausea, just a comforting sense of healing seeping into my skin.

Orion watched me expectantly.

Ace glowered where he stood off to the side, but he watched me just as intently, tracking every move with his dark gaze.

I straightened my back and shifted to get my legs under me. Without help, I stood and waited for light-headedness to make me waver and topple over. But the dizziness never hit. No fainting, no stabbing pain.

Ace whistled. “That’s some magic stuff you got there, Onion.”

“It’s Orion.” The healer stood and wrapped the balm in the leather pouch. “Thank you.”

“Is this the special potion you’ve been working on?” I asked. “You’ve been holed up in the cabin like a mad scientist for weeks.”

Orion stashed the pouch in his satchel. “I’m surprised you noticed.”

I looked away. Of course, I noticed. The key to successfully avoiding someone was to always know where they were.

Ace smirked.

Awkward silence fell over the small clearing.

“Guess we head back now?” I spoke when the silence threatened to kill me.

“Guess so,” Orion said.