Marked (The Coldest Fae Book 3) by Katerina Martinez (novel24 .txt) 📗

fae. Jaleem, meanwhile, picked himself up and scampered off with his tail between his legs. I realized I probably had done him some kind of dishonor by not killing him, but living was surely more important, right?

Melina had already scooped up my clothes from the spot where I had been standing when I transformed. I knew I couldn’t take my human form again because I would be naked when I did, so I sat upright instead.

Even though Toross was a tall man, sitting up I was about level with his chest, so he didn’t have to kneel to speak to me. He looked down on me all the same, angling his head to one side. Looking up at him, I wasn’t sure what I expected to see, but now that I caught a whiff of his scent with my wolf nose, I realized something.

Somehow, incredibly, he smelled familiar.

“Why did you do that?” I asked. “She was about to kill me.”

“Ashera has her ways,” he said, in a gruff voice. “They are usually effective, but you are different.”

“Because I’m the white wolf?”

He paused. “No, because you are as stubborn as your mother.”

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

 

 

“I’m… what did you just say?”

Toross paused and watched me closely. He narrowed his eyes. “Come with me,” he said.

“Wait, no, answer the question first. What did you just say?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “I said you are as stubborn as your mother.”

My heart had been hammering against the insides of my ribcage and I hadn’t noticed it until I started feeling a little faint. All I could do was stare at this man who had just invoked my mother. A man from a different world. No, it wasn’t just different, because this place wasn’t the Arcadia I had come to know.

This was a step removed even from the castle, from Windhelm, which meant he and I were two worlds apart instead of just one.

“And how could you possibly know that?” I asked.

Toross approached, and my mind conjured an image of him in his substantially large wolf form, his snout dripping with blood. He had just killed the Wargs, had torn them apart with his massive jaws, and when he took his human form, the blood was still there, dribbling down his chin.

He’d looked like a savage, a beast. He was as terrifying then as he was now, only now the fear came from somewhere else. It was that feeling of recognition, like I knew his scent, that was starting to play on my mind. The fear that my world was about to be shattered once more.

“I am your mother’s brother,” he said.

My heart gave a loud thump, then fell silent. “You’re… my uncle?”

Toross nodded. “I knew from the moment I smelled you.”

“Why didn’t you…” I paused, blinking hard and shaking my head. “Wait, why didn’t you tell… me…” I was having trouble speaking, and breathing. Toross called out to someone, but I couldn’t hear what he’d exactly said. My vision was swimming, consciousness slipping. I felt myself fall to the ground, and as the darkness settled, the last thing I saw was Toross draping a blanket over me.

When I came to again, I was on my back somewhere quiet, and comfortable. My back was stiff, my bones ached, and my head was still pounding, but I realized quickly I was on a bed. I tried to get up, but someone placed a hand on my chest to stop me from moving.

“Not so fast,” Toross said, “You fainted.”

I blinked at him, then looked around him. We were in a tent, but it wasn’t my tent. This one was larger, there were furry blankets everywhere, and bits of furniture and decorations I didn’t have in my tent. It was rustic in here, like a shaman’s temple, with candles burning and the bones of animals arranged around the place like they had some kind of spiritual significance.

“I fainted…” I repeated.

“I expected something like this,” Toross said.

I realized suddenly, I’d been in my wolf form when I fainted, but now I was in my human form. Panicked, I tucked the blankets that had been thrown over me up to my neck. No one had clothed me after I had changed shape. That was something I was going to have to get used to, and maybe even anticipate.

I couldn’t very well be in my starkers all day long and have my bits constantly on display.

“You… told me you were my uncle,” I said, “Is that true?”

“It is. The revelation proved too much for you to handle.”

“That’s an understatement.” I paused, searching his eyes. I couldn’t see much of myself in him, but then again, I was thinking of my old self—that mousy girl from Carnaby Street. When I thought of myself as the fae that I was, with my silver hair and pointed ears, and my bright blue eyes, then yes; he was something of a mirror, even if the image was a little warped.

“I… I have so many questions,” I said.

“I know,” he said, “And I am willing to answer them. In truth… I knew you would come back one day.”

I frowned. “You did?”

He turned his head to the side. “Your mother did.”

I swallowed hard, dreading the next question, and the answer. “My parents…”

Toross turned to look at me, his eyes softening, darkening. He shook his head. “I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you.”

I shut my eyes, fighting the sudden and immediate surge of tears. My heart clenched tightly, my breath hitched, and cold filled me like I’d been dipped in an icy lake. I knew they were dead. I had known, in my heart, for a very long time, but I guessed there was more hope in me than I had anticipated.

Hope that they would still be alive.

Swallowing again, inaudibly, I allowed the moment to sit and simmer. Eventually, I opened my eyes again and looked up at him. “Can you tell me what happened?” I finally asked.

“Your mother was… powerful,” he said. “Her name was