How odd that he had family on both sides of the equation. She watched him and wondered how he kept any sort of balance when his loyalties lay in more than one place. Then his words penetrated her foggy brain. “I’m a historian,” she murmured. “Ancient history and languages were my emphasis in high school and then my major. I studied current languages to help me with the older ones.”
Garrett zeroed in on her. “You’ve never tried to decipher your marking?”
“They’re just blotches,” she said. “I never saw anything to elucidate.”
Garrett handed his phone to her. “Look closer.”
Her hands trembled, but she accepted the device to see what he meant. Her heart stuttered. “Oh.” The butterfly shape was the same mark that had always been there, but the blotches on the wings and center had taken shape. They were now crisp. “This is new. They weren’t like this before.”
“Before what?” Garrett asked, tension evident in his guttural tone.
She opened her mouth and then paused before speaking. “I don’t really know.” When was the last time she’d really studied her birthmark? Was it possible that the symbols had taken shape during the last few years and she just hadn’t noticed? It wasn’t as if she looked at the nape of her neck very often.
Sam sighed. “My best guess is that her first interaction with Ulric made the symbols more pronounced. She’s an Intended, so her blood would naturally react to his in a way we still don’t understand.” He cut Garrett what looked like a sympathetic look. “It’s probably the same way we react to meeting our mate when the mating mark appears.”
Logan nodded. “Makes sense. It’s all blood and DNA and reactions, if you ask me.”
“Agreed.” Garrett held up his palm, showing his beautiful and deadly marking.
Was the marking really meant for her? Dessie swallowed over a boulder-sized lump in her throat. “I don’t want to mate Ulric.”
“You won’t,” Garrett said shortly.
She tilted her head, looking at the digital image of the right butterfly wing, which held a circular symbol with thick lines that divided it in quarters. “The top symbol is a Celtic knot symbolizing a shield. The four separate corners depict an unbreakable barrier.”
Garrett crossed his arms. “Go on.”
She studied the symbol in the bottom of the same wing. This was on her nape? “This bird here is actually a quetzal, which was a revered creature in the Aztec culture and symbolized the incarnation of force, power, freedom, and dominance.” She squinted at the three symbols taking up space between the two she’d recognized. “I don’t know these. I’ll need a library to identify them. Preferably the library that no longer exists on the island.”
Sam scratched his neck. “I wonder if there’s a sort of code in here? Maybe about the ritual.” He looked up at Dessie. “It would make a sick kind of sense that the Intended marking holds the answer to how to kill Ulric.”
Dessie’s stomach rolled over. She wasn’t liking this new world she’d entered but destroying Ulric and freeing herself from his pull held a certain appeal. “I can decipher this. Surely you all have a library stocked with ancient texts.”
“We surely do,” Garrett agreed. “You’re free to roam the entire thing once Emma finishes conducting a few more tests on you. There has to be something in your genetics or blood that we missed.”
For the very first time, a small hope began to tap dance in her breast. Was there a chance she had a full life ahead of her? Her body had changed to make the marking more distinct. If that could be altered, what about the mass attacking her brain? Was it possible?
Garrett rolled his shoulder. “I’m getting pressure from the king as well as the rest of my family, and we need that vote from the Seven.”
“Ditto,” Logan said grimly. He glanced at Dessie. “Our older brother Zane is the king of the demon nation. He’s not happy to be out of the loop on this one, and when Zane’s not happy, things blow up.” He grinned. “Zane is mated to Janie, Garrett’s sister. You met her, right?”
Dessie nodded. “You’re all pretty much connected, aren’t you?” What would that be like? Her only connection in life was her aunt, who’d hired a hitman to kill her.
“You could say that,” Sam said, shaking his head. “Too connected sometimes.”
She looked at the middle Kyllwood brother. “Sam? You’re not part of the Seven, so how do you know all of this? Just because you and Garrett rode together with the Grizzlies?”
Sam rolled his eyes. They were a darker green than Logan’s tonight. “No. I’m the Keeper of the circle and have the fu—darn marking to prove it. That means I need to find and protect the locale where this ritual is supposed to take place.”
There was something in his voice she couldn’t grasp. Couldn’t pin down. “You don’t want the ritual to happen?” But then Ulric would live.
Sam eyed Garrett.
None of the men spoke.
What were they hiding? Was there a reason these three actually didn’t want the ritual to occur? If so, did the rest of the Seven know about their opposition? What exactly was she walking into here?
Logan frowned and leaned closer to his phone, widening the screen. “Uh, take a closer look.”
