Shadowborn

Chapter Seventy-Nine: Marked

Chapter Seventy-Nine: Marked

Before the light had even begun to fade, I was in pain. I’d been electrocuted by some nasty skills once or twice, so it wasn’t hard to pinpoint the cause of the full-body ache that throbbed through what felt like every muscle I knew of and more than a few I didn’t. Step one was unclenching without falling over. Step two was relaxing my jaw that was locked in place so hard it was making my head pound.

As the light—as well as the ringing I didn’t realize was there until it started to fade—gave way to the temple, I realized we’d amassed quite the crowd. Whispers surrounded us, and I felt the unmistakable gaze of Iliri burning into my back. I did my best to swallow a groan and popped my neck, then looked down at Serena while pretending I didn’t feel like I’d just been run over by a few horses.

She was clenched like me, but her skin was pallid. A drop of blood fell from her nose while I watched, which had me stepping in front of her to grab her by the arms in an instant. She swayed a little, her eyes still closed, and reached up with her left hand to wipe the blood away. I opened my mouth to ask if she was alright when I saw her arm and my breath caught.

I wasn’t the only one.

I had a feeling that the crowd around us were all whispering frantically about what I could only assume was Keona’s marker. I gingerly grabbed her fingers and Serena finally opened her bleary eyes. She blinked a few times, then gasped. She held her hand up to the light, turning it with an expression of awe as she looked at the tattoo that hadn’t been there just a moment ago.

The ink started at the back of her hand and sprawled all the way up to her shoulder. Beautiful, intricate vines and flowers that trailed and twisted across her flawless skin. When I trailed my fingers across the marker, I felt the faintest traces of divinity below her flesh. A startled laugh escaped her lips and she ran her own fingers across it, no doubt already committing every one of its features to memory just as I was. Each leaf, petal, and vine was so lifelike it looked like she’d actually wrapped her arm in plants.

It started on the back of her hand. A soft, brilliant flower the same gold as her magic was where it all seemed to start. While thin, delicate, leafy vines reached towards her knuckles, the rest of the tattoo started with two thicker vines that traveled up her wrist.

One of the vine looped towards the inside of her arm where another flower sat, just below her palm. This one was a warm crimson that darkened to black as the petals grew closer to the center, and from it another vine coiled its way up the inside of her forearm. Delicate leaves filled the blank space, but my gaze was drawn to what looked like four buds that had yet to bloom.

On the outside of her arm, the other vine split again when it reached a flower that was the opposite of the first one. This one was mostly black, but with crimson in its center. Her fingers traced one vine, mine the other. Her vine held four flowers and another bud. The first was a silver that reflected the light with trails of gold on the petals. Next came two flowers, one white and one black, so close together it was as if they’d sprouted from the same part of the vine. The last bloomed flower was a gradient of bright gold and deep crimson that looked like a sunset.

The one I trailed ended in a bud as well. In fact, the only flower that matched the others was a sky blue one with wide petals. The other two flowers had bloomed, but they were colorless. They were nothing more than outlines, even if they were the most realistic outlines I’d ever seen.

By the time we were done with our initial examination, some of her color had returned. Even without our Link, though, I would have known she was still unsteady. Iliri stepped forward with her hand outstretched and a wide-eyed look on her face, and a feral part of my instincts drove me forward.

The hand still on Serena’s non-markered arm pressed her into me. She didn’t fight me in the slightest, instead stepping into my embrace to lean her head on my shoulder with her eyes jammed shut, clinging to me like she wasn’t sure she could stand on her own just yet. I angled my body so that I was between her and Iliri, who stopped in her tracks.

Her eyes widened even more. “I haven’t heard of a mortal bearing a divine marker in...” she shook her head, her eyes flicking from where Serena’s face was buried in my shoulder to me. “We must begin studying it immediately.”

My hackles rose. Serena let out a soft sound when I pressed her into me a little harder, but it wasn’t one of discomfort. Quite the opposite. “I’ll be sure to send one of you the notes, but I’ll handle any research on my priestess’s marker.”

Fury flashed across her face, but she schooled her features expertly. “Zaren, come now. You and I both know your knowledge of the gods is...lacking. Surely you’re not so arrogant to reject my help.”

I snorted. “Considering the marker was made with me in mind, something tells me a lot of theological knowledge might actually be a hindrance.”

She laughed airily. “You really think a goddess would go through the trouble of crafting a marker for you? No, we probably have record of it somewhere in the temple archives. The gods love reusing tools, after all. You can leave your priestess with us and we’ll return her to you once we’ve determined the marker’s purpose.”

At the barely hidden sneer when she said the word ‘priestess,’ I felt a tug on my mana. I knew without needing to look that my shadows had started to creep into the air around me just from the way the other onlookers took several steps back. All but Karina and Jayme, who were watching the whole interaction with interest.

I opened my mouth, unsure and uncaring of what was about to come out of it, but Serena pushed herself away just far enough to stand under her own power, though her hand remained on my chest. “While we appreciate the offer, we have all the information needed. Our conversation with the goddess told us everything we need to know for now.”

Iliri stiffened. “You spoke to Allura?”

“Keona, actually,” I admitted. “That brings my tally up to four gods sticking their fingers in my pies.”

The former Chosen bristled, but then her eyes fell to the hand on my chest. Whether by accident or design, it was the one that bore the marker. She brought herself to her full height. “Of course, if that’s the case, then I will hardly argue with the will of the gods. Should you need anything from me, I will naturally be at your disposal.”

Her tone made it apparent that it would be under her terms, which was supremely unsurprising. Serena just inclined her head, looking over the crowd that had yet to disperse. “We thank you. In this, we should have things handled for the time being. However, if you or anyone here wanted to support our efforts in building a temple district in the lower quarter in the coming months, we would appreciate all the help we can get.”

The smile Iliri plastered on her face was so painfully hostile I had to actively keep my shadows from acting defensively. I wasn’t sure if it was my past with Iliri or something else that was causing them to act on their own, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little worrying.

“I’ll be sure to spread the word,” she said tightly.

Then she spun on her heel and stormed out as gracefully as I’d ever seen, sending priests, priestesses, and worshipers scurrying to get out of her way. Serena leaned back against me, once again examining her tattoo. Her fingers trailed from the silver and gold flower to the white and black flowers, and I knew she’d made the same realization I had.

“Zaren...”

“I know, love,” I said, pressing a kiss to her temple, “not here, though. Let’s get back and set Rhallani’s brain on it. I want you back behind warded walls after draining yourself like that.”

By the time she’d felt steady enough to walk, Karina and Jayme had sidled over to join us. “You know,” Karina said, “when you said you were going to talk to a goddess, I didn’t think you meant literally.”

Jayme elbowed her, and she averted her eyes. I chuckled. “Yeah, never a dull moment around here.”

Her molten silver eyes flicked up towards me, and I was pretty sure I saw a hint of excitement at my words. Before I could read too far into that, I nodded towards the entrance. Before we got far, though, the priestess from before skidded to a stop in front of us.

“I’m so sorry, sir! I didn’t mean to cause offense at the entrance,” Sel said, her hands clasped in front of her, “I just—”

“It’s fine,” I said, waving my hand. “I hardly look like your average worshiper of Allura.”

A smile tugged at her features. “Yes. Well, I just wanted to offer my humblest of apologies, as well as any assistance that might be of use to you.” Then her eyes slid towards the floor. “Though, I can’t imagine I’d be much more help than the mistress of the temple district.”

I snorted a laugh. “Something tells me you’d be a lot more use than she would. A lot less of a pain in my ass, too.” She gasped her eyes wide, but I just looked down at Serena, still holding my arm. “Though, since this is the first temple of Allura we’ve visited, I’m sure Serena here would love to pick your brain someday.”

Serena brightened, and Sel nodded vigorously. “Oh, that would be wonderful! And I’d love to help with temples in the lower quarter, too! Everyone should have access to the gods, regardless of their economic status.”

I inclined my head. “Feel free to visit House Nocht at any time. We’ll likely be busy today, but sometime soon?”

She nodded again. “Oh, yes sir. That would be wonderful, sir. And I can ask around, see who else might be willing to help. There’s a lot of us that aren’t the biggest fans of how Iliri runs the district, so I’m sure I could find you a good number of priests as well. Um, sir.”

“Just Zaren is fine.”

“Yes sir—er, Zaren. Um, sir Zaren?” She shook her head. “I’ll ask around and visit when I know more.” Her eyes fell on the marker. “That’s really from Allura herself?”

Serena lifted it again, but looked to me to answer. “Allura made it, apparently, but Keona gave it to us.”

Sel sighed dreamily. “That’s amazing.” Then she straightened. “Oh! But I’m holding you up. You must have very important things to do. Much more important than talking to a little nobody priestess like me.”

For what might be the first time in my life, I genuinely smiled at a priestess. Serena notwithstanding, of course. “In my experience, it’s often those who everyone else see as insignificant that wind up making the biggest of differences. Don’t sell yourself short.”

Her chest swelled, but she only bowed and vanished deeper into the temple with a spring to her step. I chuckled, only to realize Serena was beaming at me. I rolled my eyes, then led us out of the temple. Word traveled fast, it seemed, since we’d left the district far behind before people stopped discreetly gawking at us. I was sure that the whole city would have heard the rumors about the strange new lord apparently talking to gods by the end of the week.

Karina and Jayme fell back far enough to talk in hushed tones, and I allowed them as much privacy as I could without letting them get far enough away that my instincts pulled at me. I still didn’t trust this city, and with Serena exhausted and both Karina and Jayme’s fighting skills unknown, I was getting antsy.

Whether I subconsciously picked up on something or my life was simply becoming predictable, we hadn’t made it far into the lower quarter before I felt [Horde Slayer] activate. Not heavily, which meant we weren’t overly outnumbered, but enough to be mildly concerning. I exchanged a glance with Serena and she nodded, both to show that she was on the same page and that she felt confident she’d regained enough strength to fight.

Man, this Link was coming in handy.Nêww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com

I dropped back and both our new companions went silent, eyeing me warily. I stepped in between them, placing my hands on the smalls of their backs and conjuring two tendrils on either one of them. I mentally commanded the tendrils to coil tightly out of sight until they were needed to defend their hosts, and since neither of the girls reacted past my initial touch I had a feeling neither even knew they were there.

I leaned down towards Karina so I could whisper in her ear, doing my best to ignore the way her breath hitched. Or the way her body seemed to lean ever so slightly towards me. Or the sudden desire to just toss her over my shoulder and sprint back to the manor.

I rubbed my temple. “Ash thinks you’re pretty, apparently.”

She beamed. “Well, thanks Ash. You’re a very pretty sword yourself.”

A wave of irritation and anger ripped through me, jumbling anything resembling words and making me wince. “Yeah, not a sword. She’s...ah...in the sword. I think.”

“My apologies, then,” Serena said quickly.

As much as I wanted to see where this conversation was going, we had bigger fish to fry. “You didn’t feel like helping?” I asked over my shoulder.

Valith stepped out of the shadows in a nearby alleyway, the thick metal scabbard over her shoulder. “You had it well in hand, and I always appreciate a good show.” She handed the scabbard to me with some difficulty. “That thing is a bit...egregious, don’t you think?” she asked, eyeing the blade on my shoulder.

That means awesome, right?

“Something like that,” I mumbled. I slid the blade into its scabbard. “Thanks for the help, Ash. Talk to you later.”

Byeeee!

I shook my head and flipped the latch closed, then returned the blade to its rightful place at my back. “Follow them,” I said to Valith.

She nodded. “Nariko’s already on it, but I’ll catch up. I’ll let you know what hole they scurry into, boss.” She gave me a salute, then vanished before my eyes, no doubt reappearing somewhere else nearby.

I ran a hand through my hair, unsure what to think. That had been a sloppy ambush from start to finish. None of them were particularly skilled, definitely not the caliber of mercenary that I’d expect from someone capable of half the shit I expected of our enemies. If I had to guess, I’d put my money on Davvon. He was working for our enemy, but he’d gone out on his own to hire Floppy Hair and his poorly put together crew. I can’t imagine he’d cleared out his coffers to hire them.

I turned away from where Valith disappeared and headed towards the others. Serena was healing up Jayme’s injuries, though from her lack of worry there wasn’t anything significant worth healing. Then Karina turned her face towards me and that white-hot rage from earlier returned.

I’d barely registered the blood on the side of her face before I was storming towards her. Her eyes widened in panic and Jayme tried to step in the way, but I breezed past her and grabbed Karina’s chin, turning her face so I could look at the injury better. “You’re hurt?” I demanded.

Her fingers wrapped around my wrist, but she didn’t try to pull my hand away. “Bounced my head off the concrete when I went down, that’s all. I’m fine. I’ve had worse shaving accidents.”

That definitely wasn’t the case. If Serena wasn’t here, the cut would need stitches. I pulled a cloth out of my storage and held it to the cut, then gently pulled her hand off my wrist so she could hold the cloth in place.

Neither of us looked away the entire time. “You alright?”

“Fine.” I didn’t say anything until after Serena had healed her injury. I tilted her chin up again, looking closely at her eyes. I didn’t know much past simple battlefield triage, but I knew what it looked like when someone’s bell was rung. She wasn’t concussed as far as I could tell, which meant her trembling fingers weren’t related to her injury.

“First time in a life or death situation?” I asked.

She grimaced, wiping the blood off her face. “That obvious?”

Jayme grabbed Karina by the shoulder and pulled her into a tight hug, glaring at me with a look I recognized. Fear, but a rational one. The fear a warrior felt looking at an enemy they knew they couldn’t beat, but that they were ready to fight anyways.

“I won’t ask about your class,” I said, and both of them tensed, “but you should know that I’ve got no issue with strong demi-humans. If growing more powerful is something you’re interested in, that’s something I can help with. You wouldn’t be the first I’ve got in my household.”

The distrust in her eyes made me want to take a swing at someone—not her, of course, but maybe someone more masculine with floppier hair—but I knew earning trust wasn’t something earned overnight. Still, I found it difficult to force myself to step away from her. It wasn’t the first time I’d felt irrationally overprotective over someone I barely knew. War was a hotbed for orphans, the weak, and the injured, and they usually set off the part of me that to this day felt raw and bleeding after failing to save so many people I cared about.

But Karina didn’t really fit the bill. She was far from a scared kid, and I had a feeling if I even insinuated she was a victim of anything I might get a kick between the big toes. Yet, for reasons I didn’t understand, I felt as protective of her as I did any one of the women I’ve come to care for.

That made me frown. A thought occurred to me, but following up on it could prove...difficult. Karina, her finger tips still trembling, saw something in my face. “What is it?” she asked, an edge to her voice.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’d like to...look at something, but I won’t do so without your permission.”

Her nostrils flared, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “If you think—”

“Not that!” I said quickly. “Never that. It has to do with a skill I’ve got. I’d like to...” Ah, fuck it. “I’d like to examine your soul.”

Karina and Jayme exchanged a skeptical look, then Jayme said, “That might be the lamest pickup line I’ve ever heard.”

Serena laughed behind her hand. “Not a pickup line, thankfully. Zaren has a class relating to souls. He can Link them as well, but if he’s just looking you probably won’t even feel it.”

“Then why ask?” Karina asked, her question part curiosity and part accusation.

“Because it feels scummy not to.” I shrugged. “It’s not like I’m reading your mind or anything, but I can learn a lot about a person from the state of their soul. Things like trauma and personality leave marks on the soul that I’m slowly learning to read.”

Karina only regarded me for a few moments before shrugging. “Fine, knock yourself out. I highly doubt you’ll find anything interesting anyways.”

“Karina!” Jayme hissed. “You’re seriously not worried about this?”

She crossed her arms. “Can you tell anything about a person’s class with your skill?”

I bobbed my head side to side. “Depends on if you subscribe to the theory that your soul can influence your class selections. But no, I won’t be able to learn anything definitive, and I don’t plan to dig. I just need to look for something specific.”

“Then do it.” There was a challenge in her eyes that made me smile.

I closed my eyes and reached out with my senses like I had the day I’d looked at Jack’s soul when she’d still been masquerading as Vivian. It didn’t take long to find Karina. Her soul burned so bright it felt like it was burning into whatever the closest thing to retinas this sense had. It wasn’t the warm golden glow of Serena’s soul or the raging crimson and orange glow of Jack’s, but a harsh white light that had no heat. It was remarkably intact, but I couldn’t help but think it felt...stifled.

Which made sense. Protected from the horrors of the world yet painfully aware of them. She was strong willed, too. Her soul had an...edge, that many of the other souls I’d seen had. So little give it was impressive she’d made it this long as a servant. But the most important part?

Karina’s soul shimmered. I wanted to look deeper, try and pry that shimmer away to try and understand what it could mean, but I’d promised only a quick glance. I withdrew, but on my way I caught sight of another soul nearby. There was a pull between them, that drew me to it. A bond. I knew it was Jayme’s soul the second I laid eyes on it.

In many ways, Jayme’s soul felt opposite to Karina’s. Her soul was much softer around the edges, even if its core was stormy and strong. Stormy with indecision, with anxiety and worry about something she tried to carry alone and all the stronger because of it. Battered, but not like Noelle’s. There was no great trauma in Jayme’s past, but I could tell she’d had to fight tooth and nail for most of her life. And, once again, her soul shimmered. Just like Karina. Just like half my damn harem.

I withdrew fully and let out a breath. Both women looked at me, Jayme with skeptical curiosity and Karina with bated breath. Serena, too, was waiting for the answer eagerly. I nodded once, and her eyebrows rose.

“Well?” Karina demanded.

“Your soul has a shimmer,” I said. “Both of yours do.”

Jayme gripped Karina’s arm. “A shimmer? What the fuck does that mean?”

Serena and I exchanged a loaded glance. What did it mean? I’d never heard or seen anything like it outside my household, and that bothered me. Did it have something to do with Allura? With me? Granted, I hadn’t exactly examined a whole host of souls. Should I start examining every soul I see looking for the shimmer? My gut told me it was important, but I had no clue who would have the answers as to why. Not outside of Allura, who was missing in action.

But rather than saying any of that, I just said, “When we figure it out, you’ll be the first to know.”