CHAPTER 14

A Broken Mark

 

CARRIED ALONG ON a wave of other people’s decisions and powerless to do anything to help, Irvana found herself back in Mikal’s bedroom again, hiding behind the curtain. So many people taking risks because of her. Niklos. Mikal. Even Rosann. She hadn’t meant for any of this to happen. If only Terenz had never seen her Mark . . .

Waiting now was harder. The silence was deafening, filled with worries about things she couldn’t control. The heavy curtains were stifling her, she had to open them, get out . . . In an effort to distract herself, Irvana paced the room. She picked through an assortment of odd-shaped stones, a couple of broken arrows, and some loose feathers on top of a chest of drawers. She lifted a book from the untidy stack on a shelf and thumbed through the pages, but there were no pictures and she could not read it. She knew only enough letters to recognise and write her own name. After dropping the book back onto the stack, she skirted round the open trunk and its related mess. Lying on Mikal’s bed, where she’d left it, was Gramma’s box.

She reached out to pick it up and the door behind her opened. She spun round.

Terenz! Standing in the doorway!

Fear crawled from her toes, up her legs, and settled in her stomach like a lead weight.

Terenz’s grey eyes were like magnets, holding her captive.

“How did you . . . ?” Angry colour flooded Terenz’s face as he pushed the door to behind him. Then he covered the distance between them in a few easy strides and raised his hand.

Pain exploded in Irvana’s head. White lights flashed in front of her eyes and her cheek burned, red hot. Did she hit the floor? Perhaps. She wasn’t there long—a vice-like grip closed on her throat and lifted her up. She tried to prise it free.

“I think it is time for you to disappear for good, beet girl.”

The stranglehold tightened. Irvana clawed desperately at the hand crushing her windpipe. She couldn’t breathe, there was no air. The white flashes in her vision multiplied until she saw only a glittering tunnel with Terenz’s smile at the end of it. The smile disappeared, swallowed up by darkness. She was falling, falling through deepest blackness towards a tiny spot of pure white light. 

A shudder of impact ran through Terenz’s hand.

Irvana was released. She fell back, gulping at the air, trying to shake the darkness from her head. As the blurred edges sharpened and colour came back to the world, she thought she must be dreaming.

Terenz lay on the floor beside her. Motionless. Bright red blood stained the carpet beneath his head.

“I’ve killed ’im!”

Irvana blinked, trying to focus on the speaker. Was it really Rosann, her face ashen, Gramma’s box gripped tightly in her hands? Rosann dropped to her knees by a bundle of clothing that looked vaguely familiar. From somewhere, Irvana found the strength to drag herself away from Terenz and throw her arms around Rosann, clinging to her like a drowning sailor clings to driftwood.

“What the devil—?”

Irvana looked up and couldn’t force the words past her swollen throat as Niklos and Mikal hurried into the room. Niklos crouched beside Terenz, his knees cracking loudly in protest as he reached to take the overlord’s pulse.

“I killed ’im!” Rosann’s voice rose with hysteria. “I grabbed the box and I ’it ’im . . .”

“He is not dead.” Niklos’s tone was sharp. “But you have knocked him senseless.”

“The blood—”

“There is a gash on his cheek, that’s all.”

It was true. A deep gash ran straight through the centre of Terenz’s black star.

Irvana was paralysed by the sight of blood, dripping steadily onto the floor. Hands lifted her, helped her to sit on the bed while Niklos tried to stop the bleeding. How her throat ached. And her tongue seemed to be stuck to the roof of her mouth . . .

Rosann’s voice sounded as though it was coming from a long way away. “I snuck up ’ere to bring the clothes, like you asked. When I got ’ere, ’is ’ands were round ’er throat. I ’ad to stop ’im. ’Er lips were blue, so I grabbed the first thing I saw and ’it ’im. ’E dropped like a stone.”

Gods, he’d so nearly killed her. Irvana buried her face in her hands.

“This changes everything,” Niklos said, his voice shaking. “Rosann, I’m sorry. There is no time to pack. You must leave with Irvana. Immediately. Before Terenz recovers.”