The Marked Girl Read Online Free Page A

said.
    Emme let out a small cry. “Hundreds?”
    â€œBut . . . how did we not notice them approach the city? How did they get in?” Cedric asked.
    The king shook his head. “By the time we saw them coming, it was too late. They have infiltrated the whole city. We did not even have time to take up defensive posts before they overtook the castle. I have never seen so many in one place before, so organized, so armed . . .”
    â€œWe can fight them,” Cedric said. He gripped the hilt of the unfamiliar sword in his hand and forced himself to meet his father’s gaze.
    â€œYou cannot,” the king responded. His tone was certain and harsh, and Cedric tried not to feel the sting of it. “There is another way out,” the king continued. “The portal.”
    Cedric shook his head, uncomprehending. The rest of the jailed royals all stared at the king.
    â€œBut that is madness,” said Lord Esson, Kat’s father. “No one knows for sure where the portal leads. And the rumors . . .”
    Cedric knew as well as anyone what rumors surrounded the portal. It had been found just outside the palace grounds some twenty years earlier, at the beginning of his father’s rule. Many believed it led to the hellish ancient world of their people’s origin, though there was no way to prove that claim. No one who entered the portal had ever returned.
    The king’s face was set. “It is the only chance they have—”
    A clamor of noise from the top of the hallway interrupted him.
    The king pulled himself up against the bars, close to Cedric. “Go to the portal, Cedric. The wraths will not need all of us as prisoners, and they will likely kill those they do not need.”
    â€œFather—”
    â€œI am not only your father, but your king, and for once you will do as I say. And, Cedric . . . remember the scrolls!”
    Cedric didn’t have time to puzzle out his father’s words before a group of wraths were upon them, led by Malquin himself.
    â€œYou know, a wise prince would have run away from his captors,” Malquin said, looking at Cedric with a thin-lipped smile. He took a small handkerchief from his pocket and used it to wipe a smudge of dirt from his crippled left hand. Aside from the hand, and the shriveled, twisted arm to which it was attached, Malquin looked much like any other man in the realm. It was hard to tell his age—though his face was smooth and unlined, his shoulder-length hair was a shocking white.
    â€œBut then again,” Malquin continued, “wise isn’t exactly your reputation.”
    Cedric clutched the sword in his hand. Malquin’s quick eyes caught the movement. “Now, now,” he said. “This need not get messy.”
    Malquin gave a slight nod, and three wraths broke off and made for Cedric. Each was armed.
    â€œGo,” the king urged Cedric in a low, ragged whisper.
    Cedric startled at the king’s tone—his father wasn’t commanding him this time. He was pleading. Cedric made up his mind in an instant and reached to grab Emme’s hand.
    â€œRun!” he yelled.
    Instead of trying to charge through the wraths and up out of the tunnel, Cedric turned to head deeper into the dungeons, pulling Emme along. He looked behind once to ensure Kat andMerek were following him. Few knew the location of the portal. Many even doubted its existence, as the king had kept it a close secret since it was discovered. He’d erected an entire hidden courtyard around it, accessible only through a series of tunnels that led through the dungeons. Even Cedric had not known how to access the tunnels before his seventeenth birthday a few months earlier. On that day, he’d finally convinced his father to show him the portal’s location. After all, Cedric had reasoned, if he was going to rule Caelum someday, he should know of its secrets.
    The dungeon tunnels twisted and turned, gradually leading