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

pointless. Had we just expected to walk in and out of town without anyone stopping us?

Maybe it could have worked that way if all we did was get our information from Haygrove’s library and leave the next day. But as soon as we found out we would have to wait an entire week for Ed to create an enchantment, we should have run fast and far.

It was too much risk, and we lost the gamble.

“All of this was for nothing. I don’t know what I was thinking,” I said.

“You were thinking that you saw something wrong, and you wanted to make it right.”

“If we stay here, we’re going to die,” I said.

“Will you be able to live with yourself if we leave now?” he asked. “What my father and the rest of the Council are doing with these demon lords is wrong, and you found a way for us to stop it.”

I closed my eyes.

Jacob was right. We had to finish what we started, no matter the cost.

Orion deserved nothing less.

Chapter Twenty

Jacob and I stayed on the stairs until long after the chaos of the trial passed, and the commanding officers filed out of the building. I was glad to be away from their judgmental looks, but there was no point in rushing home if we were staying in town a few more days.

Especially if we had to push our way through the mob outside. No, I was content to wait them out and leave once they dispersed.

“Come with me. Now.”

I jumped to my feet to see Celia Lawrence behind us, standing with her arms crossed. I hadn’t seen or heard her approach, and I wondered how long she’d been lurking there… and how much she’d heard.

The last time we spoke with her, she seemed like she was sympathetic to Orion, but she was still a member of the Council who framed him. She voted against him, the same as all the rest.

“You’re here to collect us, then?” I asked.

She shushed me with a finger to her lips. “No. Well, yes—but not like you think.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jacob stepped in front of me.

“Marcus did send me to find you, but we have things to discuss before he shows up.”

“Why should we trust you?” I asked.

“Orion trusts me. Well, he mostly trusts me, I think,” she said. “I’m the only one on his side, and you two are going to need someone on yours. I can keep you safe for a few days, at least. Long enough to get you out of here.”

“You didn’t do him much good in there when you voted against him,” I said.

Her dark braids fell in front of her face as she looked away from me. “There was nothing I could do for him. He was right—that trial was just a formality.”

“So, you just let them drag an innocent man away to his death?”

“I’m only one person. My vote wouldn’t have made a difference.”

Jacob shook his head. I was reluctant to trust her, too. Going with her would put us right in the Council’s hands, but what other choice did we have?

We were in way over our heads, and I didn’t see any other option. We’d run out of allies, and we were quickly running out of time as well. If Celia was offering us help, we had to take it.

“If Orion trusts you, that will have to be enough for now,” I said.

“Good,” she said. “I’ll bring you back to my house, and we can talk.”

“Please don’t drag us out through that mob,” Jacob said.

“No, of course not. We can go out back.”

Jacob and I exchanged a nervous glance. I’d never heard of a back entrance to the town hall, and it looked like he hadn’t, either. As we followed her downstairs, my fingers twitched at the space just above my hip, where my sword should have been.

At least I still had the gun. That made me feel a little better.

She turned down a long hallway and stopped at the dead end to press a panel on the wall. The end of the hallway opened up, and sunlight poured into the narrow corridor.

“I didn’t realize this was here,” Jacob said.

“It’s not exactly common knowledge.” Once we were all outside, Celia pushed a stone on the outside wall to close the hidden door.

We avoided the crowd and climbed into Celia’s SUV, leaving the town hall behind. She drove us to the part of Haygrove where the Council members and the most senior commanders lived in their over-sized homes.

“I haven’t even been on this street since I moved out,” Jacob muttered.

“Which one was yours?” I asked him as Celia parked her car in front of the first house on the left.

He pointed to one near the end of the row with three floors, two driveways, and a balcony overlooking a pool in the backyard. The perfect suburban mansion. “I grew up there.”

“It’s nice,” I said.

“I guess. Wish I could say I had nice memories to go with it.”

“Here we are.” Celia welcomed us inside into a bright interior that looked like it had been pulled straight from Pinterest. Everything was pristine and organized, like a staged magazine cover that made it hard to believe anyone actually lived there.

After pulling the shimmery gold curtains closed, she gestured for us to sit on one of the white couches.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” She fiddled with the sleeve on her suit jacket.

“I’m fine,” I said. “What did you want to talk about?”

She sat across from us and crossed her legs, then stood up again to pace around the room. “Orion filled me in on the basics of what happened and told me you couldn’t leave town yet. I don’t fully understand why, but he insisted.”

“We need—”

“Stop. Don’t tell me any of the details about what you’re planning.”

“I don’t understand,” I said, frowning. “Are you helping us, or not?”

“Even with my position, my influence only goes so far. And the more I know, the more dangerous I