Sinking back, she met his gaze. “The marking…” she murmured.
“I don’t know.” He looked at her palm. “After the ritual, it just… vanished.”
White hot fear surged through her veins. “What could it mean?”
“I’m uncertain.”
Aloisia clenched her fist, her knuckles turning white. “I made a promise to you. And I failed.”
“It’s all right.” He brushed her hair back from her face. “Rest.”
The grass beneath Aloisia’s feet was slick. Her boots could not find purchase, sliding across the dark red substance that mixed with the mud. She reached for an arrow and nocked it to her bowstring. Fear prickled at her skin, her senses alert as she journeyed through the Dead Woods. Rasping breath filled her ears like a sighing breeze.
“Blood,” a grating voice said. “Blood is the undoing.”
“I know,” Aloisia replied. “But what does it mean?”
Shadows shifted overhead, dripping like oil along the bare branches.
“Blood will release him,” another voice said, this one light and child-like. “Blood will bind her.”
“A warning was given.”
Aloisia turned at the unfamiliar voice, deep and steady.
“And it was not heeded.”
She looked up to the branches where the shadows gathered. Amongst them, a hawk perched, its head tilted.
“What warning?” she asked.
The hawk gave a cry. It was all the answer she would receive.
“Darkness gathers,” yet another voice said.
Aloisia spun, her bow raised to take aim. A figure stood between the trees, shrouded in shadows. She loosed the arrow, piercing the figure. They stepped into the moonlight, their fingers enclosed around the shaft protruding from their stomach.
Brighde.
“And death with it.”
Aloisia jolted awake, the remnants of sleep clinging to her, digging its claws in to drag her back. She blinked away the lingering images, those words she kept hearing over and over. Her ribs protested as she sucked in a deep breath. She winced, her fingers going to her battered side.
Kaja dabbed a damp cloth on Aloisia’s face.
“The trial?” Aloisia asked again.
“Still a couple hours away.” Kaja gave a small smile. “Ezra spoke. And I think you’ll want to hear what he said.”
Hope flared within her. “I do.”
“Then let’s get you presentable.”
Kaja aided her in changing into fresh leathers and furs, re-braiding her hair. Aloisia noticed more runes painted across her arms and shoulders, more of Inari’s work. Every movement was agony, but she gritted her teeth against it. She could not afford pain. Not today, not with the trial imminent.
“Inari has made some potions. He said it would help with pain.” Kaja held out a small vial, the liquid inside a faint purple.
“What is it?”
