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

her square on the side of her face. Hot blood spurted from her mouth and sprayed against my cheeks. I watched, my heart thundering inside of my chest, as she fell past me almost in slow-motion, her eyes rolled into the back of her skull, the skin of her face shredded by the branch.

I took three steps to try to reach for her, but I couldn’t catch her as she fell. “Mira!” I screamed, but she was gone. I saw her topple off the back of the carriage and go crashing into the snow, into the tracks we had left.

“I can’t stop Ollie!” Mel called out. I could hear her trying, but the elk was still spooked, so I did what I had to do.

I dove off the back of the moving carriage.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

 

Gullie took flight, zipping out of my hair as I hurled myself off the back of the carriage. My body twisted and contorted in the air, instincts taking over as I raced toward the ground. Tucking into a roll just as I landed allowed me to quickly get back up and on my feet, and then I was running, sprinting toward Mira.

I could see her, she hadn’t fallen far behind, but the Vrren had gotten used to the light bomb I had dropped a moment ago, and they were tentatively starting to approach. I raced to Mira’s side and threw myself to my knees. She was face down in the snow, surrounded by little splatters of blood red.

Turning her over, I saw the damage the impact had done. Her cheek was split open, her skin was already starting to turn black and purple, and blood was pooling inside of her mouth. Frantically, I checked her pulse; unconscious, but alive.

“Thank the Gods,” I said.

Gullie fluttered down and winced when she saw the state of Mira’s face. “She’s not going to like that when she wakes up.”

“I need to get her out of here.”

“And go where? The carriage is gone.”

“Is there anything you can do to wake her up?”

“I can try.”

I watched Gullie flutter over to Mira’s face. Turning my eyes up while the pixie worked, I noticed the light from the snowflake dimming, retreating as the magic inside of it faded. From the encroaching darkness, the Vrren approached. Hungry, slack-jawed, heaving, their bodies radiating steam from the exertion of chasing after us.

Their meal was near.

I noticed Mira’s bow wasn’t far from where she’d fallen, and there was an arrow embedded in the snow next to it. I also had my dagger strapped to my belt. The problem was, there were still half a dozen monsters closing in, and there was only one of me.

Well, me and Gullie.

The pixie blew a cloud of sparkling green mist into Mira’s face, and her eyes shot open as if she’d just been hit with smelling salts. The pain took a second to register. When it did, she went to scream, but her mouth was filled with blood and snow. Turning to the side, she started spitting it out onto the ground.

“Mira, thank fuck,” I said, “Are you okay?”

“No!” she groaned.

“We need to get up, come on.”

I tried to help her up, but the moment Mira set her foot down, she cried out in pain and toppled over again. She had to stick her hands out to stop from falling face first. They shook as she tried to hold herself up. “My leg,” she groaned, “I think my ankle is broken.”

Looking at her foot, it became apparently obvious that her ankle was broken. The skin was black and purple, just like her face. I was sure she wouldn’t be able to walk on it, let alone run, and we needed to run if we wanted to get out of here.

“I’ll carry you,” I said.

“Carry me?” she asked. “How?!”

“I don’t have time to banter with you right now, just wrap your arms around my neck and let me get you up.”

I could see the objection on her face, but I lowered myself to her, and she did as I asked. Once she’d secured herself around my neck, I picked her up and stood upright, surprising myself at how light she felt in my arms.

I didn’t exactly have arms to speak of, not in the way that Aronia did. And Mira, thought slight, was tall enough that she should’ve been heavier than she was. Scanning the area, I noticed some of the Vrren had started coming out of the trees and getting back onto the road. I backed up, my feet crunching in the snow.

“Do you know any magic that’ll get us out of this?” I asked.

“I can barely think,” she said, though her words came through a little muffled.

“Gullie, I want you to fly up. Get away from them.”

“No way,” the pixie said, “If you’re getting eaten, I’m getting eaten.”

“That’s irrational, Gull. You have to get out of here. Find Mel, she’s on her own out there somewhere.”

“Stop trying to shoo me. I can help.”

“How can you help?” Mira struggled to say.

Gullie circled around us, leaving a trail of glittering, green dust wherever she went. Before long, it was everywhere, encircling us, all around us. Gullie settled inside of my hair, and a moment later, a freak wind kicked up and pushed the dust toward them. The beasts closest to us sniffed the air, paused, and then started frantically sneezing. One after the other, they all broke out into an unstoppable sneezing fit.

“Take that!” Gullie yelled.

“That was your plan?” Mira asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry, does her highness have a better idea? Also, Dee, how about we start running now?”

“Shit, right!”

I turned around and started moving as fast as I could. I couldn’t exactly run, not with Mira in my arms… at least, not at first. It took a couple of steps for me to figure out how to walk while carrying another person, but once I got the hang of it, I was able to break out into a run.

“How are you doing this?!”