And because Niamh held influence over them her will bled down into the hunt.
“Tell me about the hunt’s mark,” I said.
Niall went very still. “How do you know about that?”
How much to tell them?
“Because I have one on my back,” I said.
The words that came from Inara would have put a sailor to shame. They were jarring coming from the small pixie queen.
“Show me,” Niall said, sitting forward.
I turned and moved the back of the dress from the mark.
There was an indrawn breath and then warm fingers touching me lightly. “You’re lucky. It’s only half a mark,” Cadell said from behind me.
I let the dress fall into place and turned to face him. His gaze was intense and his thoughts hidden.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“You’ve been marked by the hunt, but you are not yet its prey,” Niall said.
Okay, that fit with what Liam and Thomas had said.
“A lord of the hunt would have needed to physically place that mark on her,” Inara said, fury radiating from every small line of her body. Her glare could have scorched flesh as she aimed it at the two Fae.
The revelation was jarring. “Neither Arlan nor Niamh got close enough to lay a hand on me.”
I tried to think back if I crossed paths with any of the other Fae in their party. I didn’t remember any run ins, certainly not the type where they could lay a mark on my back.
The only Fae who’d gotten close to me all night was Cadell when he passed me the note.
I’d looked at the mark in the mirror earlier. It was simple, something any tattoo artist could do, a drawn bow with arrow nocked in it.
“That may be, but someone got close to you,” Cadell said.
The statement was disquieting in more ways than one. I turned my attention to matters I could still control.
“You said it’s only half a mark. What would turn it into a full mark?”
Niall’s expression was sympathetic. “I don’t know.”
I rubbed my forehead. That wasn’t the answer I wanted. Not even by a little.
The situation was starting to spiral out of my control. I was marked for a hunt I wanted no part of, with no way of knowing how to keep myself from turning into its prey. Half the city wanted me dead and I could no longer trust Liam or the other vampires, not after what happened tonight.
Nor could I trust the people in front of me. They had an agenda, the same as everyone else. They might appear to be on my side for now, but they were working from a plan I couldn’t yet see.
Being out on my own in the cold was a lonely and scary place. It was a position I’d promised myself I’d never be in again.
“The attack tonight. Was that aimed at you or Thomas?” Dwelling on my problems wouldn’t solve them.
“I’m not sure,” Niall said.
“Why would they want to kill you or Thomas?” I asked.
“We don’t know if that was their goal,” Niall said carefully.
