Page 31 of Marked By the Enemy
In the past, I disregarded enchantments, but this bond transformed me. Despite that, I disliked it because I always saw myself as a practical, straightforward woman. Footprints from a bygone time remained imprinted on the earth, forming faded loops and scattered traces, echoing the cadence of battles lost long ago.
The soil appeared to keep the memory of each sword and every breath, unable to let go of the past. I built the fire from dry moss and deadfall pulled from under the eaves of the old forge.
Darian walked around the perimeter, twin blades sheathed but ready. “No one’s come yet,” Darian said, his voice low as he returned from the edge of the ring.
“They will,” I murmured.
The wind skimmed across the top of the ring, rustling through the scrub-grass and snagging in the ruined barracks behind us. I spread my bedroll by the firepit, the ground still warm underneath.
Cross-legged, I sat, knees pointed at the fire, my blade at my side. The sky above was wide, veiled with cloud-thin strands, and the first stars bled through. The bond hovered gently, like it knew we’d need more than flame to keep watch tonight.
I didn’t trust the way it had gone so still. Not after what the Keepers told me. What if they weren’t what they seemed? What if the bond wasn’t being generous, but was waiting for something? It had led us here. But to what?
Something in my chest started to close, like a fist around my heart. Too many hours without rest. Too much silence between us. I didn’t trust the quiet here in the woods. Someone had been spying on us earlier. I hadn’t seen them, yet I sensed their presence.
Only once, at the ridge top, did the bond tighten; afterwards, it was still. It alerted me to a tail. And that was the part that made my skin crawl—waiting for someone who was already waiting for me.
The ring held the heat well. Darian had caught a rabbit earlier that day, and now it sizzled over the fire, skewered on a stripped branch and turning slowly in his hands. I sorted through the packs, pulling free a wrapped bundle of flatbread and the last of the cheese. We didn’t speak.
The only sound was flame and soft wind brushing the ruins, a rhythm worn into the bones of this place. Again, I thought about how he looked that night I barged into his chambers.
His shirt had been half-unbuttoned. The firelight had caught on his throat, his collarbone. He didn’t know I was looking. I didn’t want to—but I did. When the meat was done, we ate with fingers and knives. I chewed slowly, trying not to think about how long it had been since we’d eaten warm food.
The bond didn’t hum or press. It lay still, as if it too was resting, recovering, observing the dark from behind my ribs. After, we rinsed our hands with water from the flask and let the silence settle around the edges of the fire. The warmthsoftened the hard lines of exhaustion in Darian’s face. His lashes lowered briefly. Then he met my gaze.
“Let’s test it,” I said.
He shifted closer, crossed his legs opposite me. The way he sat so open and alert made the firelight gather on his skin like it trusted him. I raised my arm. The third circle, highest up my inner arm, shimmered beneath my skin. The tether between us rose. It was as if it was waiting for this.
“Split,” I said.
The thread obeyed. One became two. Then four. Then eight. Each strand shimmered cleanly across the space between us. They glided gently across the fire like strands of light pulled from water.
“Shape.”
They turned inward. Folded once. Curved twice. A symbol formed. Then structure. Lines. Edges. Steel. A sword.
Darian leaned forward. “That isn’t a projection.”
When I held it, the blade thrummed beneath my fingers. It was cool and balanced.
He touched the hilt, his brows pulling together. “That isn’t your magic. It’s the bond’s.”
I didn’t correct him. But I sensed it selecting me, the way a knife chooses a sheath. “It belongs to me now.”
A gust rolled in from the trees. The fire snapped sideways, sharp enough to pull both our heads around. At the edge of the clearing, almost outside of the light’s reach, cloaked shadows waited.
“They followed,” I murmured.
Darian stood, blades drawn in the same breath. The tether between us tightened like a pulled string. But I didn’t rise. I stayed seated. I watched the line of trees. The shadows didn’t move.
“Let them watch.”
He looked down at me. “Why?”
“Because the bond isn’t afraid anymore.”
The fire crackled. The wind held its breath. They didn’t speak. But they stayed—like they were waiting for something neither of us could name. The fire burned silver until morning. I didn’t sleep. The bond should have fidgeted. It should have warned. Instead, it sat quiet and pleased, like a beast finally let loose on the path it had chosen.
