Marked (The Coldest Fae Book 3) Katerina Martinez (best novels of all time TXT) 📖

mentioned that. And she had also suggested you would be upset by the news, but you—my niece—cannot tell either of us what we should or shouldn’t do with our time.”

I shook my head, purely because I didn’t know what else to say. Yes, he was right, I didn’t have a leg to stand on here. But Mira and I were friends! It was weird that they were getting close, and I didn’t like it. I mean, what would happen if they hit it off and—oh Gods—got married or something?! Would she be my… my aunt?

Oh no… no, no, no!

I spun around and faced away from him, shutting my eyes and letting the wind cool my face as it rushed past. It didn’t work. My heart was slamming against my chest like a caged animal desperate to get out and tear him to pieces.

Tear them both to pieces for putting me in this position.

“Dahlia…” Toross called out to me.

I didn’t turn around.

“I thought you would want me to be happy.”

Under different circumstances—for instance, if I hadn’t heard the smirk in his voice—my rational mind may have kicked in, and I may have calmed down. But he was being an absolute little shit, and it had worked.

I turned around again. “Do you think this is funny?!”

“I do.”

“How is this funny?” I asked, advancing on him this time, my dagger gripped tightly in my hand. I could feel a current building, but I couldn’t stop to think about it. I was like a train off the tracks, unable to stop.

Toross smirked, then laughed as he backed away. That only made me angrier.

“This isn’t funny!” I shrieked, and I whipped the dagger toward his feet.

Lightning shot out of the tip of the dagger, leaving a sound like a thunderclap echoing through the valley below us. The lightning had struck with so much force, it had melted the snow in an instant, leaving a puddle of steam over scorched, dark earth. I stared at it in total wonderment. The current I had only just about felt a second ago was still there.

What’s more, the turquoise gem embedded into the dagger’s small cross guard was glowing.

“There…” Toross said, exhaling. “There she is. Can you sense her?”

“Sense who?”

“Your mother. Evelynth.”

“Eve…” I said, the word slipping out of my mouth on the back of a sigh. I looked around. “It’s her, she’s here…”

Toross nodded and looked up. I turned my eyes up too, only to find snow starting to fall from the sky. It wasn’t much, a light dusting, but it was coming from nowhere. There were no clouds hanging over us, only clear blue and bright yellow.

More snow fell as the seconds passed, little snowflakes that dissolved as soon as they touched my skin. I thought I could smell flowers, too. It was as if the snowflakes themselves were carrying the scent all the way from the garden down in the village. That was impossible, but that was the impression I got.

I fell to my knees, staring up at the sky. Shutting my eyes, I let the snow fall over me, experiencing every single flake as it turned to water against my cheeks. A moment later, the snow stopped, but the scent lingered for a while longer. The dagger in my hand, though, was still humming with power, the stone glowing with inner light.

Toross came over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I am proud of you,” he said. “Well done.”

I looked at the dagger in my hand, turning it over once, twice. “Is this… her?”

“No, it’s you.” He pointed at a rock jutting out of the snow up ahead. “Hit that rock.”

I glanced at him, then turned my attention on the rock. Gripping my dagger, I whipped it quickly toward the rock. The current moving through me surged, lightning erupted from the tip of the dagger and instantly struck the rock, breaking it apart and sending tiny splinters of it in all directions.

“Holy shit,” I said, breathless. “That was incredible.”

“It is only the first step,” he said, “But now… now I can teach you the rest.”

“Am I going to have to get angry every time I want to use my magic?”

He shook his head. “Once the door to magic has been opened, it cannot be closed. The trick will be controlling it, shaping it into what you want it to be. Come, we have more to do today.”

I got up. “More? I’m exhausted.”

“I know, but the sun still burns in the sky, and our work has only just begun.”

Dusting my knees, “So, that thing about you and Mira?”

“What about it?”

“Did you say that just to get a rise out of me, or…?”

Toross cocked an eyebrow. “Or… what?”

“Well, is it true? Are you really going to eat with her tonight?”

He grinned. “Would you like me to lie to you?”

“I thought you didn’t lie.”

“I don’t, but if it will get us working again, I will lie to you and tell you I am not seeing her tonight.”

I shook my head, huffing out my frustration. “You know what? Lie to me about this. I’ll allow it.”

Toross gestured down the path. “Very well,” he said, “Tonight, I’ll eat alone. Let’s continue.”

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY

 

 

I went to see Melina later that evening, after spending the day training with Toross. My body was still entirely buzzing from the magic I’d been able to summon, as was the dagger I kept in a little ankle sheath I had made for it.

I couldn’t understand any of it.

A few months ago, I’d just been a human who made magic dresses. Now, I was a shapeshifting fae who could blast lightning from the tip of her dagger. Now there were some words I never thought I’d string together in a sentence, especially not when referring to, well, me. Add to that the whole sleeping with a prince thing, and the whole situation just became absolutely bonkers.

It was weird, walking around constantly feeling like I had to pinch myself. It was even weirder