Page 14 of Ash and Roses
When I step out onto the patio garden, I immediately spot a figure standing there—but it isn’t Teagan.
“Jade?” I sprint across the distance between us and throw my arms around his neck. His body is so warm against mine, and it’s a comfort I didn’t know I needed. When he wraps his arms around me I don’t even feel the ache of my back. All I want to feel is him. His lips press into my hair as he kisses the top of my head. “What are you doing here?” And why is he shirtless again?
“That’s a good question,” a voice answers from behind us. I startle at the sound, but Jade remains relaxed. “I told you I’d bring her to you,” Teagan says, stepping through the same door I’d come from moments before.
“I couldn’t wait any longer,” Jade says with the crooked smile I’m beginning to love.
I want to know why he’s here, but there’s a more pressing question on my mind. I turn to Teagan. “Where have you been? You can’t just abandon me like that with no explanation. I’ve been so worried.”
She joins us at the edge of the balcony. “There’s no time to explain, but I promise I will once we’re out of here.” I notice then that she has a satchel slung over her shoulder. Jade takes it from her.
Something in her eyes tells me that if I leave with them, I won’t be coming back. “I’m not going anywhere until someone tells me what’s going on.”
Jade and Teagan share a look, and a wave of jealousy sloshes in my belly. As far as I knew, they didn’t know each other, but that look says differently. And what was it that Teagan said? That she would bring me to Jade?
“There’s no time,” Teagan says finally.
“Then make time.”
I feel a warm hand wrap around mine and turn to face the source. Jade’s lips are mere inches from mine, and the scent of him so close is intoxicating. I want to stay mad, to hold my ground and demand answers, but being this close to him is lowering my resolve. “Do you trust me?” he asks on a breath.
I don’t answer right away, despite the one word screaming in my mind.Yes. Yes. Yes!I sigh. “Yes.”
“Then come with us. Come with me.”
I let him lead me to the wall, and together we make our way down the same escape I’ve grown so familiar to. On the way down, Teagan has some trouble finding her footing, but Jade catches her when she stumbles.
We scurry through the darkness, keeping to the shadows of the eerily quiet city. I’ve never been this deep in the city, but it’s not what I expected. The sun has only just set, but there’s not a soul to be seen, save for the occasional pair of Guardians on their patrols. My tongue is burning with questions. Where is everyone? Is it always like this? Where are we going? I don’t dare speak a word, even when we come to a stop outside a poorly maintained wooden building. No light shines through the windows, not even the faintest flicker of a distant candle in a back room.
Before I can ask what this place is, Jade pounds a fist thrice against the door. When only silence answers, he raps again. “Damnit, Rhett,” he hisses under his breath. “Open the door.”
The door opens a crack and a single eye peers out, reflecting the torchlight that illuminates the street. “Oh, man. Merrick is going to be pissed.”
Merrick?
Jade shoves hard into the door before Rhett can bar our entry, and then shuts it tightly behind us. It’s so dark that even if my eyes adjust, I doubt I’ll be able to see. I have to feel around blindly as we walk through the building until Jade’s hand clasps tightly around mine. I let him lead me, even though he should be struggling just as much as I am.
“Where are we going?” I whisper when we come to a slow decline. There’s not a doubt in my mind that I would have fallen flat on my face had Jade not been holding me.
I expect Jade to answer, but the stranger’s voice fills what must be an underground tunnel, similar to those beneath the palace. Perhaps this is what remains of the old silver mines? “Somewhere you shouldn’t be, Princess.”
“Don’t call me that.”
A single breathy laugh comes in answer, while Jade gives my hand a squeeze and shifts so that he’s more ahead of me rather than walking by my side. I can’t be sure if he’s trying to better lead the way, or if this is an act of protection against whatever lays ahead. All I know for certain is that Rhett is right. I most definitely should not be here.
Finally, a soft glow becomes visible at the end of the tunnel. There are voices up ahead, and the words are not whispered. Whoever is hiding beneath the city is not afraid to be heard. The scent of smoke and cooking meat hangs in the air, and each crackle of burning wood echoes through the tunnel, sounding much louder than it should.
Rhett, who seems oddly familiar now that I can better make out his features, pushes ahead of us and all but sprints into the illuminated opening at the end of the tunnel. “I just want to say that I had nothing to do with this,” he says as he’s greeted by sounds of recognition.
Those sounds quiet as Jade, Teagan, and I emerge. Where there were warm welcomes for Rhett, there are groans of annoyance for us. Or are they for me?
“You brought her here? What were you thinking?” someone asks Jade. This man seems oddly familiar, too. I gaze around, taking in all the faces—both men and women, about twenty of them—and it isn’t until one of them turns from me that I realize it. Faint pink lines criss-cross the entirety of his exposed back. In fact, none of the people here—save for Teagan and I—are wearing proper shirts.
The Marked.
Jade seems unbothered as he leads me deeper into the room, not letting go of my hand. He moves to the wall and takes a seat on the cluster of crates, easing me down beside him. I can’t stop my nervous shifting as twenty or more pairs of suspicious eyes study me, and I feel my cheeks flush hot.
“We’re fucked,” a woman says to Jade as she takes a step toward us. “You fucked us.” I think her name is Petra. If I’m remembering correctly, she was one of the first Marked. She can’t be much older than me, but the lines of her face have grown hard and more defined. “What did you tell her?”