Page 70 of Marked
I’d never admit that though.
“I made a few deals with the city guards. We must sneak in because galeon descendants walking through the streets tends to gather more attention than we want or need. Especially if one of us is the famous guardian.”
“No scaring toddlers for you tonight.” Ace wagged his finger in my face.
I frowned, my brow furrowing and my lips pressing together, and I clutched my bow. Not a lot of hunters were female and my bow and quiver full of arrows with rainbow fletching made me rather easy to identify. “I’m going to have to leave this behind, aren’t I?”
Paul nodded.
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” I peered over the bushes at the top of a gentle hill that led to a small pedestrian bridge. The city of Wast glowed under soft lamp lights beyond. The moon above illuminated the stark buildings that rose around the streets and the quiet din of chatter hinted at people still up at this un-danu-ly hour.
I pulled free my quiver of arrows and stashed it alongside my bow under the bushes. Ace followed suit, and if his scrunched expression was any indication, he was just as pained to leave his weapons behind as I was. Though he wouldn’t be easily identified, a bow would still set him apart in the city. We needed to leave the bows to have a better chance at blending in.
Ace turned to me. “Do you have a knife?”
I smiled wide and let my teeth speak for me.
He grunted and peered over the bushes. “You could’ve just said yes.”
“How would I maintain my air of mystery?” I asked.
“I don’t really like my partner to be a mystery. I want to know what to expect, what you’re thinking and how you’ll react when things don’t go well. None of those things should be a mystery.”
He had a point and I hated him a little more because of it. “Can you tell what I’m thinking right now?”
“No,” he replied. “But knowing your predisposition for fixating on dicks, I’m pretty sure it’s phallic in nature.”
I took a deep breath and counted down from five. “I have two boot daggers, a long dagger strapped to my thigh and a shorter dagger on my hip. The last two you could’ve seen for yourself if you took a moment to look.”
He nodded. “Good.”
“And…” I prompted.
Ace turned to me and raised an eyebrow.
“What about you?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about me.” He smirked and looked away.
A low growl erupted from my lips.
Ace laughed.
He actually phaaning laughed.
I turned to my brother, scowled and jerked my thumb in Ace’s direction. “Why’d we have to bring him?”
“Better option than Onion,” Ace said. “You need someone to assess the weapon and injury.”
Paul glanced at the sky and groaned. “Will you two please attempt to keep your petty squabbles to a minimum once we’re in the city? We need to be a united team.”
Without waiting for either of us to respond, Paul stood and stepped around the bushes, giving us the option to either follow or get left behind.
“Nala, stay here.”
My familiar huffed and flopped down beside my weapons. At least I knew they’d be well-guarded. As I walked past Ace, I flipped up my middle finger.
“Very mature,” he said with a flat voice.