Marked For Death: A Dark Urban Fantasy Novel Becca Blake (fiction novels to read .txt) 📖

“What about you?” she asked. “Did they assign you a new partner?”

I groaned.

“That bad?”

“Jacob Thorne.”

“As in, the Councilman’s son?” When I nodded, she burst out laughing. “At least he’s easy on the eyes, if I remember right.”

“The eyes are the only thing he’s easy on,” I said.

“He can’t be that terrible.”

“He didn’t even bother going to my dad’s funeral to support me,” I said.

Ayla stopped walking. “Owen’s dead?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and looked away. Being around her again felt so natural that I almost forgot how much she missed.

“I’m so sorry, Riley.” She wrapped her arm around me as we sat down together on the curb.

My father’s funeral felt like a lifetime ago. Too much had happened in the short time since then, and I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. Maybe it would have been better if Ayla never told me the truth. I was finally moving past her death. Now, on top of everything else, I would have to deal with the fact that she wasn’t dead at all. She just left me behind.

I told her about all of it—about Maki’s note, the ritual and the demon lords, the dark magic—everything I’d been through and everything I feared to come. She listened to all of it with no interruptions, letting me unload all my troubles.

We stayed there until dawn broke and the city began to wake, and though I didn’t want to leave, I had to get back to the hotel. Orion and Jacob had likely woken up already, and they’d be wondering where I was.

“Orion and I might need a place to stay once we leave Haygrove,” I said as we got to our feet. “Do you have space? At least for a little while until we can figure things out.”

“I don’t know if I can help you with that,” Ayla said.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to risk them finding me. I’m out—for good.”

“And we’re trying to get out, too. You can help us do the same thing,” I said.

“Alright,” she said, sighing. “Just try not to bring any Arbiter crap with you. I’d prefer not to spend the rest of my life on the run.”

“I’ll do my best.”

As I headed back to the hotel, I caught myself feeling just a bit more hopeful. We had somewhere safe to go once we left Haygrove… Now, we just had to focus on surviving while we were there.

Chapter Seventeen

My chest tightened as we approached Haygrove. The buildings seemed taller than usual somehow, casting dark shadows across the flat landscape surrounding them. I didn’t know what to expect when we arrived, but every mile we drove knotted my stomach further.

I glanced over at Jacob, who focused on the road with a stoic expression that made me nervous. He hadn’t spoken a single word to me since we left Omaha.

I wanted to ask him what he thought about everything that had happened, but I dreaded what his answer would be. I hadn’t told him that Orion and I planned to leave Haygrove once we got the information we needed, and it would have to stay that way.

“So, you’re still good with the plan, right?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’m good,” Jacob said. “Orion will give the report and say we were there as backup. If we’re asked for details, we’ll give the same story about what happened last night and hope that none of us get into too much trouble for it.”

I studied his features, but the firm set of his jaw and the straight line of his mouth revealed nothing.

“I’m just asking because—”

“Because you don’t trust me. You think as soon as we get back, I’ll tell my dad everything I saw.”

“That’s not true,” I said.

He glanced sideways at me briefly before returning his attention to the road. “If you trusted me, you would have believed me when I agreed the first dozen times you asked back in Omaha.”

I didn’t have any reasonable defense, so I stayed quiet as we drove through the streets of Haygrove.

He was right. I didn’t trust him, though he hadn’t exactly given me much reason to. If I had any other choice, I wouldn’t put myself in a position where I was counting on him to lie for us. We hadn’t gotten off to the best start as partners, and we still hadn’t had much time to get to know each other. He was a stranger to me, and Orion and I were trusting him with our lives.

“So, are we going to talk about it?” he asked.

“Talk about what?”

“How you defeated him.”

My use of dark magic had been the elephant in the back seat for the entire ride. It was the last thing I wanted to talk about, though I knew it was stupid not to address it before giving our reports. He saw how the magic exploded out of me, the fire unleashed in all its fury. There was no denying it.

“Will you turn me in?” I asked.

“You really think I’d do that?”

“I don’t know. It would be a great way to get rid of me.”

“We both know what the consequences are for doing dark magic. You’ve been a pain in my ass since you jumped down from that balcony during my evaluation, but if I turned you in, I’d be responsible for what they do to you. I’m not that heartless.”

I settled back against the seat, but my heart kept racing. “How do I know I can trust you?”

“I didn’t turn you in after you used dark magic back at the warehouse, did I?” he asked, raising a brow as he glanced at me. “I didn’t even tell Commander Orion.”

“So, you did see that.”

Jacob pulled the car off on the side of the road, leaving the engine running. “Look. I don’t know what all is going on with your parents, or these demon lords, or that dark magic I’ve seen you use twice now. I’m still making sense