Page 76 of Marked

“You were lucky,” Ace said. Apparently, he not only followed the same line of thinking as I did, but he also liked to state the obvious.

Or maybe my silence disturbed him, and he was trying to fill the void.

I nodded and swallowed down the fear. Now wasn’t the time to let my emotions rule my thinking or actions. “But why? I’ve been attacked twice now. Why me? Why these galeons?”

Ace turned to me, his brow furrowed, and opened his mouth.

My gaze snagged on an arrow laying on the slab beside Dita’s body. The fletching unmistakenly familiar, the arrowhead splintered and ruined. It might’ve pierced through the breastbone, but a large fragment had broken off.

“Is that…” I swallowed, unable to voice what was so obviously right in front of me.

“The arrow that killed her, yes,” Ace said. He reached forward and hovered his hand over the weapon.

My weapon.

I’d know that fletching in the dark.

Cold washed over my skin as I replayed the few facts about these killings—immortal magic, perfect shots, my arrows…

They hadn’t tried to shoot me with my own arrows. I would’ve noticed that.

I was being framed.

But why would someone or a group of someones go to the effort of framing me to then try to kill me? Or had they tried to kill me first and then when that failed, moved to set me up to take the fall? The sequence of events didn’t quite make sense or fit either scenario.

Before Ace could say anything more, the slap of shoes on hard tile echoed down the hallway outside the room. I held up my hand and listened.

Ace snapped his mouth shut, but I knew the moment he heard the footsteps as well, his whole body stiffened, and his gaze scanned the room. The footsteps grew louder, the person was heading toward us.

It might be Paul.

Or it might be someone else.

We couldn’t risk getting caught with the dead bodies of a murder investigation, especially when my arrow was the murder weapon. I flung the sheet over the body and frantically looked around the room. No windows. No other exits. And I’d rather get caught then slide into a cadaver freezer.

Ace reached forward and grabbed my wrist. He pulled me toward a tall metal cabinet, the kind that was the size of a large wardrobe. He flung the door open to reveal several lab coats on hangers, and work boots lined up underneath.

I didn’t need any further direction. I pushed the lab coats to the side and hopped in. Ace followed, somehow squeezing into the remaining space before shutting the door behind him.

No sooner than the cabinet door closed, the mystery person swung open the door to the room.

“My lovelies.” A woman’s voice crooned.

28

The coroner spoke to herself as she moved around the room to set up for the autopsy. Meanwhile, we remained stuffed in a metal cabinet, pressed into the man I despised.

He smelled like pine and campfires, and he had no business feeling so nice beside me.

Maybe I needed to get out more. Start dating. Phaan, maybe take Orion up on his offer.

“Single arrow shot to the chest. Poor thing. Why didn’t you heal? You’re a bonded galeon and supposedly immortal and indestructible.” The corner kept talking as she studied one of the bodies. Metal clanked and her shoes scuffed the floor as she moved around.

“The arrow struck the breastbone, shattering it. The arrowhead fractured on impact.” Metal clanked in a bowl, and I envisioned the coroner pulling out a fragment of the arrowhead to drop it into the collection dish.

“Only a very skilled archer could make this shot. Immortal magic of some kind is coating the arrow. This may have acted as an inhibitor to healing, or maybe it was the true death blow. Small slivers of bone, wood and metal travelled through the chest cavity and sliced the superior vena cava. Death was quick for you, assuming your immortality didn’t prolong your suffering. The lungs are also filled with blood, so a fragment must’ve punctured that, too. You would’ve collapsed quickly, if not immediately—hard to tell with galeons—but you suffocated. There is no evidence of healing. I’m so sorry, Dita. That’s not the way anyone should have to go.”

The coroner changed utensils again. “But just between you and me, we both know there were a number of people who wished you dead.”

---