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

the silvery tattoo on the back of my hand—the series of circles and semi-circles showing the changing of the phases of the moon—had started glowing.

I watched the light shift across the tattoo, and already I felt empowered, stronger, faster. I could smell this creature’s cold musk, the blood on its mouth, the dirt in its paws. It tried to clamp onto me again, snapping its jaws at me in the hopes of grabbing hold of my foot. I kicked it again, grunting this time, pouring everything I had into the kick.

Something snapped, the creature roared, and it let go of the carriage and fell away. “Holy shit,” I said, “I did that! How did I do that?”

“No time to figure it out,” Gullie yelled, “Whatever you’re in here to do, do it now!”

“Right!”

I opened up one of the trunks and from inside I pulled out my suit of leather armor which Mira had been able to smuggle out of the castle with us. On its breast was still the little white snowflake I had sewn into it. I didn’t have enough time to change out of my clothes and into my leathers, so instead I tore the snowflake off out and approached the door of the carriage again.

“Hold on!” Mel yelled, and the carriage tilted to one side, accelerating my move toward the door.

My hands sprang out, and somehow I managed to stop myself from going all the way over and out of the cabin. Looking down, I saw the ground quickly falling away from us as the carriage made a sharp turn off a steep hill. My heart leapt into my throat, and it took everything I had just to pull myself back inside and shut the door.

The carriage eventually righted itself, our elk succeeding in not throwing us off the side. But the Vrren hadn’t given up their chase. I could still hear them, barking and yipping and growling as they continued their relentless chase.

I stuck my head out of the other window and found Mira still gracefully perched above the carriage, her bow and arrow ready to fire. I had to admit, I was crushing a little. I’d never seen this side of her before, only barely glimpsed it when she killed the Wenlow and saved both me and the Prince.

I would never tell her, of course.

“Won’t these things give up?” I yelled.

“No,” Mira yelled, “Not as long as they think they have a chance at killing us.”

So, they still think they can kill us.

I moved over to the other door, opened it, and looked around the side of the carriage. Getting up and onto the roof wasn’t going to be easy, but that was where I had to be if I wanted this to work. I had a hunch that because they had waited until sundown to attack, that the beasts didn’t like light, and I just happened to have a light bomb in my hand.

All I had to do was get up and onto the roof.

Easy.

The carriage was trembling, and even though the beasts had fallen behind a little, they were already gaining on us. I could hear them, the sounds of their growls, their paws slamming the ground, and their barks—they were everywhere, and all around us. The worst part was, looking ahead, there didn’t seem to be anywhere to go or hide.

How long before Ollie gets tired?

“Fuck,” I cursed. Gritting my teeth, I hooked one foot into the open window, grabbed hold of the rail atop the cabin, and started pulling myself up.

It was a hard climb, but trying to reach the door was harder. Ever since the tattoo on the back of my hand had started glowing, my muscles felt stronger, my senses were sharper, and my instincts had almost taken completely control of my movements. I was up and over the rail in seconds, much to Mira’s surprise.

“What are you doing up here?!” she hissed.

“I have this!” I said, and I showed her the snowflake in my hand.

“Genius! Use it!”

Nodding, I stood upright and found my balance. Though the carriage ride was bumpy, Mel and Ollie were doing a great job of keeping us as steady as possible. I found standing up even easier than climbing to the top, and as soon as I was on my feet, I turned around to face the back of the carriage—and there they were.

A whole pack of them.

The Vrren raced toward us, catching up quickly. Mira’s arrows zipped past my hair, and every single one found their marks. Some of her targets stumbled and fell after they were hit, but others continued running, ignoring the arrows protruding from their shoulders, their backs.

“I see a bridge,” Mel called out, “I’m going to head for it!”

“Alright,” I said, “Here goes nothing.”

Mira shielded her eyes, and I tapped on the snowflake in my hand before throwing it over the back of the carriage. The light that bloomed from the snowflake grew rapidly, and brightly. In an instant, the woods around us were filled with brilliant, white light as if I had called down the moon itself.

The beasts roared and yelped, several of them staggered over each other and tumbled into the ground. The Vrren at the back of the pack stopped in their tracks and made for the relative shelter being offered by some of the larger trees in the forest, those capable of blocking the intense, magical light.

Meanwhile, the carriage continued to race through the forest, the rumbling chaos that had been that pack of monsters slowly falling away.

“We did it!” Gullie shrieked.

I smiled at her, and I turned around to look at Mira. “Remind me to take you up on those archery lessons you offered,” I said.

Mira arched an eyebrow. “I’ll consider it.” She went to turn around, and a cold wash of panic filled me as I saw the low hanging branch that was about to hit her.

I yelled for her to duck, but it was too late. The thick, black branch struck