Mark of Betrayal (Dark Secrets #3)(112)
Author: A.M. Hudson

Morg laughed at Mike, shaking her head, then said something that made him laugh, too.

“Morg?” I whispered, trying to make it loud enough for her to hear, but not the vampire directly across from her. She didn’t hear it. “Psst,” I said louder and ducked down.

“What are you doing?” Jason asked.

“Hiding.”

“Get up. You can’t psst someone then hide from them.”

“Oh. Sorry.” I stood a little taller and peeked over the door again. “Psst.”

Morgaine frowned then looked around, as if she wasn’t sure she heard that. I waved my hand and quickly pressed my finger to my lip when she opened her mouth.

“Here, I’ll take that,” she said to Mike and took his cup, then wandered over to the sink just near the door.

I squatted down when Mike stood, his chair scraping loudly against the stone floor.

“Yep, I’ll see you up there,” Morgaine said—not to me.

“Okay. I gotta go see Quaid before his shift change.”

Gulp. Crap, Quaid was about to be caught out with a missing queen.

A head popped over the door and Morgaine’s piercing gaze made me shudder as I stood up and stepped back. “What are you doing, Amara?”

My shoulders came up; I nodded down the steps to Jason, hiding flat against the wall.

“Oh, my God!” Her hand flew over her mouth.

“Shh.” I grabbed her and we hustled down the stairs to stand with Jason, concealed from the gardens by the steps.

“Ara! Are you crazy?” She grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Jason. “How is he magically alive?”

“I’m not magically alive—” Jason placed his hand between us and gently pushed Morgaine aside. “I was never dead to begin with. I staged my death.”

“Staged? Why?”

“Because of the oath, Morgaine,” he said, like it was obvious. “Drake compelled me to hurt Ara. I wasn’t free of that until she was crowned.”

“So…you’ve been alive? All this time. Just waiting to come back here and—”

“No!” Jason practically yelled. “Don’t think like that and don’t say it!”

Morgaine shrunk, folding her arms. “Sorry. I know.”

“You know what?” I cut in. “What did she think?”

Jason huffed and leaned on the wall, his head angled to the sky.

“Okay,” she said, both of them ignoring my question. “So why are you here?”

“Why do you think?” He sounded a bit defeated.

“Does Arthur know you’re not dead?” she asked.

“Yep.”

“Does…”

Jason looked up and smiled, dropping the foot he had propped under him. “Morg, I know he’s alive. I knew about immunity all along.”

“You did?”

Both Jason and I nodded.

“Does…anyone else know?”

“You mean Drake?” he said, his brows high. “Yeah, he knows.”

“How do you know he knows? I mean, how can you be sure, Jason?”

“He’s still alive—that’s how. I was the one who gave that Warrior the venom-tipped sword, Morgaine. Drake should be dead. He either knows about immunity or is indestructible.” He shrugged. “You choose which one to believe.”

“Right.” She rubbed her brow. “So…you’re here to stay, then?”

“Yes,” both Jason and I said together.

“Okay.” She smiled—it was forced, though.

I looked carefully at Jason, knowing only too well that he was reading her mind and she was doing her best to think of other things.

“Ha!” Morgaine laughed, scaring me a little with the sudden noise. “Mike’s going to flip.”

“I know.” I spoke quieter. “That’s why I came to you. Can you tell him for me?”

“Tell Mike what?” Mike asked, leaning over the bottom half of the door.

“That I’m alive,” Jason said, stepping into Mike’s view.

“What the hell!” Mike jumped down from the top step, landing gracefully on the ground between Jason and I, as though Jason was some kind of threat.

“Mike?” I grabbed his arm. “He’s not here to hurt me.”

“I don’t care.” He pushed me aside and grabbed Jason by the shirt. “I get a second chance at killing you now.”

“Back off, Mike,” Jason said calmly. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me?” Mike laughed and slammed Jason into the wall. “I’ll rip your damn arms off.”

“Fine. You give me no choice.” Jason sighed then looked at me. “I’m sorry, Ara.”

“For wha—” My words slipped away as Mike’s grip loosened and he dropped to his knees, folding forward into an unconscious heap at Jason’s feet.

“What did you do to him?” Morgaine screeched, squatting beside Mike.

Jason just smiled, dusted off his shirt and stepped over Mike. “I put him to sleep—a deep sleep.”

“Jason?” I knelt beside Morg.

“Well, what did you expect? He wasn’t willing to listen.”

My shoulders dropped with a breath. “Morg, go find Jason a room and get him settled in, please. I’ll deal with Mike.”

“Uh, sure thing, Your Majesty. Um—” She stood up and looked back at Mike. “When will he wake up?”

“Now.” Jason winked at me and disappeared.

“Ugh,” Mike groaned, rubbing his head. “What the hell happened?”

“Jason taught you a lesson in humility. You should have been more civil.” I helped him to his feet.

“Civil? I’ll give him civil.” He held up his fist. “And then I’ll give him reasonable.” Held up his other fist.

“Stop being so macho, Mike—it doesn’t suit you.”

“I don’t care, Ara. That guy is the reason for all of this. If he’d never turned you over, we’d—”

“We’d never have known what I was, Mike. Or maybe we would, who cares. That’s not the point. He only did that because he was compelled to. Otherwise he’d have taken me away and looked after me!”

“Bullshit, Ara.”

“How can you say that? Mike, you made a blood oath. You know that what happened to me was out of Jason’s control. If my husband can forgive him, then you should, too.”

“Blood oath,” he scoffed, folding his arms. “No excuse.”