The chapel's walls felt like they were closing in.
Old bricks crumbled, glass crunched underfoot, and somewhere beyond these forgotten walls. The Queen's soldiers were hunting.
Bht it wasn't fear their footsteps or the hum of danger had been my pluse racing. It was her.
Kael.
The girl with eye like the storm about to break. The one who grapped me off the streets, dragged me through alleyways like we're part of the same nightmares.
The one with the same Mark glowing under her skin as mine.
I didn't even realize i was staring until Kael tilted her head, sliver eyes narrowing like she could read my mind.
"You good?"
I forced myself to look away, gripping my wrist where the Mark burning faintly beneath my hoodie.
"Define good." I muttered.
Kael smirk came nd went too fast, Replacing by her usual hard edges. She shifted her stance, her hand hovering near the blade at her hip, always ready, always tense.
"Your Mark's new". Sge observed, i can feel it.
"Feel it?" My voice cracked on the words.
Kael nodded once. "It pulls".
She stepped closer, and i swored my Mark pulsed like it heard her voice before my brain did. A faint golden glow stuck out from under my sleeve, curling like veins along my skin.
Her eyes flicked it, unreadable.
I yanked my sleev down, "Stay on your side".
Her expression barely shifted, but i caught it.
The tiniest trace of amusement, like my panic was cute or something.
"You think you got a side?" She askedx voice lowed now, rougher. "That's cute".
My chest tightened, fear tingling with something i didn't want to name yet.
The door creaked behind us — a dust of wind slipping through cracks in the stone, whispering forgotten prayers.
I should run.i should have run thr seconds the grapped me back in the alley. But i was still here, still breathing her in, still feeling fate's chain coil tighter around my ribs.
Kael took another step, close enough i could see a slight scar slicing through her left eyebrow, the tired shadow under her eyes. She doesn't look much older than me, but her energy said she had seen hell twice and walked out both times.
"How long you been Marked" i asked, voice steadier than i felt.
"Long enough to know you are not ready," kael replied.
I hate how my cheeks flushed at that. I hated more that she was probably right.
Before i could argue, a sharp whistle cut through the quite chapel.
Kael froze. Her hand shot to her blade.
I didn't have time to process before she grabbed my wirst — not rough this time, but firm — pulling me towards a hidden door near the alter.
The whistle came again, closer now, high pitched and wrong like a predator calling its pack.
"Move", Kael ordered, dragging me down a narrow hall behind the chapel.
We burst into the street, shadow twisting around us, the city unfamiliar and cold.
I stumbled to keep up as Kael led me through the alleyways, jumping fences, cutting corner like she memorized every escape route.
My leg burned, lungs screaming for air. But i couldn't stop. Not with whenever that whistle was still echoing behind us.
Finally Kael slowed, pressing herself against the wall in a quite alle. She pulled me beside her, one hand still on her blade.
"You hear that" she whispered.
I nodded, chest heaving.
Kael's eyes darting around,sharp and calculating. "Hunters" she muttered.
"Hunters" i echoed, throat tightened.
She nodded. "Marked bounty hunters. They don't work for the Queen but they are worst".
I tried to quite my breathing, every instinct screaming to disappear.
Kael's eyes softened for half a seconds before the storm returned.
"Stay close," she ordered. "They can smell fear....and your Mark."
I barely had time to proceed before the shadows at the end of the alley shifted.
Figures stepping into views — dark hoods, faint glowing symbols etching along their weapons, eyes hidden but burning with hunger.
I pressed my back to the wall. Panic rising.
Kael drew her blade, stance deadly. "Whatever happens, don't run unless i tell you".
"I'm not —
She cut me off with a look.
I shut up.
The hunters moved closer, their footsteps eerily quite. One of them lifted their hand, revealing a Mark spiraling up their wrist – different from oursz but still glowing like dangerous power.
"You are in my territory", the hunter called out, voice smooth like silk over broken glas.
"New Marked aren't welcome here".
Kael didn't flinch. "We're just passing through".
The Hunter's head tilted, eyes ranking over me. Their glaze lingered — shape, curious and hungry.
I clenched my fistsz my Mark burning hotter than before.
"You smell like fate". The Hhunter sneered. "Like someone bound you.... or broke you".
The accusation rapped around me like chains.
Kael stepped in front of me slightly, blade gleaming under the moonlight.
"She's with me",Kael warned.
The Hunter laughed softly, the sound like poison.
"Then she dies with you".
The air snapped with tension.
My Marked pulsed violently, glowing through my sleeve. I couldn't hide it anymore.
Kael grip at her blade tightened. Her eyes flicked at me, unreadable then back to the thread in front of us.
"Get ready", she whispered.
I swallowed my fear, locking eyes with her for the first time without hesitation.
"Ready."
The alley exploded in chaos.
TO BE CONTINUED.....