Page 53 of Fallen Thorns
Since I began my stay, I was growing increasingly more aware of how much of a status Marianne held within The Thorns. She was a bornruler.
“Hall. Now. Everyone,” Marianne shouted over Mars in complete dismissal. I watched their face drop.
The five people in front of us started to move and Marianne barged past Mars to get to the front, leaving them with no choice but to give up.
At least we were in the same boat now.
Mars looked at me but I dared not speak after that. Their face cooled and eyes drooped downwards with a sigh. “Sorry,” they said, genuinely.
I was caught off guard, still reeling over the events in my head as I tried to figure out where I went wrong. Words failed me.
“I… seeing Jade triggered me. She, well… Huh.” They shrugged, brushing a hand through their hair, pushing back stray strands. “She made my life hell.”
I simply nodded in understanding; I figured that was the case. I tried to picture a younger Mars, more shy and reserved perhaps, with their innocence stripped away from them.
“Then when…” they looked over to where Marianne had been moments before, “she didthat, I dunno I just… I wish…”
“She’d been more honest?” I suggested.
Mars nodded slowly, then their expression morphed into one of realisation and guilt.
“I guess that’s how we’ve all made you feel lately. Out of the loop. Truth watered down.”
I shrugged, but they were right, of course. “For my safety, right?” I didn’t mean to sound patronising.
Mars’ eyes glistened, a partial huff of a laugh erupted from them. “I suppose.”
“I just hope she knows what she’s doing,” I said, staring off into the distance.
“I hope so too.”
ChapterThirteen
“We’re putting an end to this.” Marianne stood before a handful of us, adjusting her hair with a stern look on her face. More of The Thorns filtered through after a while and I started to recognise many of the faces. This community.My community?I still couldn’t remove the memory of how easy it was for Marianne to kill. And she was our leader.
“Something happened. I can tell something happened,” Casper announced as he and Ben found their way over to us. “She’s got that look on her face.”
“Death look,” Ben added in a much lower tone from behind his boyfriend. He was playing with his cross again.
Mars explained the past hour, albeit briefly. I stood silent, playing it out in my head as Mars spoke. I watched the shift in expressions over Ben and Casper’s faces. Casper took it with a serious nod, like he’d seen it all before. Ben blinked multiple times. Three to be exact. I glanced back to Casper, who at that exact moment, looked to me. His seriousness softened. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said. I hoped my expression was one of acceptance as I didn’t really know what to say.
The room was significantly colder than it ever had been and I tugged at the sleeves of my jumper — a habit I couldn’t get rid off.
“Some of you have done this before, most of you will think I’m patronising, but all of you need to listen regardless.” Discussions in the hall dissipated as our leader’s voice carried.
“Manipulation.”
Blood sprays across stone.
“Our kind’s greatest gift.”
Light leaves her eyes.
“Our most deadly gift.”
Body thumps to the floor.
“We think because we ourselves have mastered it…”
