When she woke, she was still in the forest, a gentle hand tracing over her throat where the skin was still ragged and stinging.
"What did he do to her?" a low voice asked, rage and fear in the tone.
"Made her sleep. It's a good tactic for taming hostile creatures."
"What about her face?"
"Marking her. It's what Hunters do when they want to stake a claim on a mate."
"Think of it like a giving a girl a ring. He's asking her to be his."
A low growl sounded, and she wanted them to shut up and go away. She wanted to sleep, warm and safe on the grass with the scent of him all around her and the taste of his blood on her tongue.
"Did...? Did he touch her?"
"I'm not checking that," Vincent growled and there was a sigh.
"You're not checking either, just ask her when she wakes up." Was that Dainin?
"And you think she would tell the truth?" Daemon snapped.
"This is why she doesn't tell you things. You don't trust her."
"Why would she come out here with him?"
"Bet you it's because she wanted to escape you and your overbearing father act," Dainin said snidely.
"How about you shut up? Why did he make her sleep?"
"I don't know. Her fingers are black," Vincent said, and his hand took her hands, lifting them to his nose and sniffing the black substance. "It smells like berries."
"There's a blackberry bush just over there," Dainin said.
"Well, that explains the fingers," Vincent said gently, his arm sliding up under her legs and around her back.
"Stop trying to look up her dress, you pervert," Dainin snapped.
"Fine, we'll ask her, and she'll lie, and we'll find out in a few days that your weird little Hunter friend took advantage of her."
"Neah isn't our friend. No one really likes him."
"Why not? What's wrong with him?"
"He's creepy," Vincent said.
"You're all creepy. Etani is the only being alive who doesn't think you're creepy."
"And her opinion is the only one I care about," Vincent said, hitching her up against his chest.
"I think she's starting to wake," Dainin said gently, his warm hand brushing her face.
"Etani?" Daemon asked, his fingers sliding into hers.
Frowning, she squinted at the brightness of the sun coming down through the leaves.
Looking at the demon through fuzzy vision, she tried to make out his features, but he was little more than a smear of colour and movement.
"Where's Neah?" she asked groggily, trying and failing to see where they were. She got the feeling they were still in the forest and the clearer things got, the less sense the situation was making and there was something dark on her lower eyelid, dry and dark that pulled at her skin.
Lifting her hand, she touched her face, several small flakes of red-brown coming off on her fingers.
"Did you sleep with him?" Daemon asked.
"No…" she said to the brown flakes, trying to figure out what they were and why they were on her face.
"Are you sure?" he asked, and when she looked up at him, she could see him clearly enough. "He could have... while you were sleeping."
"He's not like that," she growled, irritated by insinuation that Neah would take advantage of her. "He didn't touch me and wouldn't if I didn't want it."
She saw Dainin exchanging a worried glance with Vincent, but she chose to ignore them.
"What's on my face?"
"Blood," Vincent said, and she did her best to look down at her cheeks, but it was impossible.
"Why is there blood on my face?"
"Neah," Vincent said gently.
"Why?" she demanded, their answers only making her more confused.
"I told you to stay away from him," Vincent said, and she looked up at him, his face angry and jaw set.
"And I chose to ignore you," she said in return.
"He marked you," Dainin said.
"What does that mean?" she was wary now, uncertain of what had been a dream and what was real.
"He wants you for his mate. It's a really old custom, marking the face or chest of a prospective lover with your blood. No one does it anymore, but he did."
Looking up at Dainin indignantly, she rubbed the specks between her fingers, realising it was dried blood.
"What did he put on me?"
"Markings like his own. The tear tracks."
Markings like she had drawn on his mask in berry juice. Looking at her fingers, they were stained with it.
"And how does the woman respond?" she asked slowly, uncertain.
"Marking him with her blood," Vincent said, watching her.
"I drew on his mask with berry juice," she said, wiping the flecks of blood off her fingers.
"You what?" Daemon demanded.
"It looked pretty; his mask matched his face."
"What does that mean?" Daemon asked of the two Hunters.
"Technically nothing, unless he chooses to interpret the juice as her blood. But it would be a stretch and he would have to want to see it that way. But in itself it is meaningless when it comes to courtship."
"How did you find me?"
"He told us where to find you. Wouldn't bring us directly to you so it took us a while to find you."
That was odd, and admittedly, a little hurtful that he would just leave her there like that. He had left her vulnerable, but the area was secluded so it was unlikely that anyone would have found her unless they had been actively lookingfor her. Her bindings made that a difficult task, but not impossible. Perhaps he had an idea of what he was doing.
"You're not to go running off again," Daemon growled.
She frowned up at him, anger flaring up in her as she recalled why she had gone with Neah in the first place.
"You can't tell me what to do."
"I can, and you will obey me," he growled.
She could see that he was starting to get angry just as she was.
"Let's discuss this back at the castle. We're not safe out here," Dainin said, though both she and Daemon ignored him, glaring at each other.
The world shimmered away, and they stepped out into her rooms, quiet for once.