Chapter Eighteen

The Unmarked, Book One.

Dec 05, 2025

[Ch.1] [Ch.2] [Ch.3] [Ch.4] [Ch.5] [Ch.6] [Ch.7] [Ch.8] [Ch.9] [Ch.10] [Ch.11] [Ch.12] [Ch.13] [Ch.14] [Ch.15] [Ch.16] [Ch.17]

Scarlet.

Forrest carried Scarlet in his arms down the hallway of the Athenaeum Residence. She got lost in his brown gaze. He smiled down at her and she giggled in return. He set her down in front of her door, and she fumbled for her key as he kissed her neck. Her heart pounded, and she was excited and terrified all at the same time.

Scarlet and Forrest had officially met each other only a few weeks ago, but they had studied around each other for months. It first began with them sharing glances and then evolved into exchanging shy smiles, until finally Forrest had gone up and introduced himself. From then on, they had studied together daily, and were able to get to know each other better.

Normally, at this time of the evening, Scarlet would still be pouring over her assignments. But by some blessed miracle, stick-in-the-mud Rowan had let her out of study early. Forrest had taken advantage of her sudden free schedule and had asked her out on a date.

They had gone to the pub. Scarlet wasn’t much of a drinker, and after only a few sips of ale, she had begun to feel tipsy and had decided to stop. Forrest, on the other hand, was chugging down his drink, and he had had too much of it. He had kissed her on the hand, moved up to her neck, and then his lips ended up on hers. The kiss was sloppy and tasted like beer and sweat. But it was her first kiss nonetheless, so she savored it.

She really hadn’t planned on bringing him all the way to her room, but he had kept complementing her and stroking her hair and kissing her skin and insisting that they go somewhere less crowded.

“Like your room?” he had whispered into her ear.

“Okay.”

The word had slipped from her lips before she had had time to process what she was saying, and Forrest had already scooped her up in his arms before she could take it back.

Scarlet pushed the door to her dorm open. Forrest kissed her neck and shut the door behind them. He began to usher her further into the room, but she pushed him away gently.

“Let me put down my bag” she said shyly, beginning to feel nervous as to where this was going. She turned and screamed when a figure suddenly bolted up from her bed.

It took a moment for Scarlet’s eyes to adjust to the dim light and recognize the intruder.

“Dawn?” Scarlet asked in dismay.

Her sister glared at Forrest, who was holding Scarlet by the waist.

“Who’s this oaf head?” she demanded.

“Who are you?” he slurred in response.

Dawn had murder in her eyes.

“What are you doing here!” Scarlet squeaked.

“We’ll talk about that later!” she said, glaring at Forrest

Scarlet turned to him and insisted that he leave, “now”.

“What am I missing?” he asked. But Scarlet pushed him out of her room and bid him goodnight and shut the door behind her.

Dawn was furious, “New friend?”

“Yes, no… Dawn. Why are you here?”

But Dawn ignored her question. “Were you planning on spending the night with that boy?”

“No! It’s just…I… He came with me… I was going to…” but Scarlet didn’t know what to say.

“Guys like that take advantage of girls like you! You need to be more careful Scar! You’re better than this!”

“Okay!” she yelled, raising her hands defensively. Scarlet leaned against the door and took a deep breath. She brushed the hair out of her face. “Dawn?”

Her sister walked over to her and pulled her into her arms. Scarlet was caught off guard but returned the embrace.

“What’s going on?” she asked, words muffled through her sister’s shirt.

Dawn pulled away and held her by the shoulders. Her furious expression was replaced with one of anguish. “There’s so much I need to tell you”.

***

Scarlet sat on the floor, facing Dawn. She rubbed her temples as she tried to wrap her mind around everything that Dawn had just told her.

Lilly was a Rebel. The Governor had threatened to kill Dawn. She had been rescued by Wolfe Bloodwood, the convict. They had travelled through the Raylesswood together. And now Dawn was on her way to the Palace to seek pardon.

“You’re in danger Scar. I’m afraid the Governor will come after you because you’re my sister”.

“What am I supposed to do?” Scarlet asked.

“You need to come with me.”

She shook her head. “I-I can’t” she stammered. “I have so many responsibilities here…”

She couldn’t imagine dropping everything and travelling across Erom because she might be in danger.

But then there was the secret.

She hadn’t been surprised when Dawn told her the Governor had imprisoned her and wanted to steal the information about the Rebels. Mother had told her what kind of a man the Governor was. He was not a man at all. He was a snake.

“Your responsibilities won’t matter if the Governor comes for you!”

Dawn was right. But it wasn’t just her relation to Dawn that caused her to be in trouble. It was what she knew about Dawn, it was what she knew about the Governor.

Mother had used to tell Scar a story when she was growing up. She would say that the story was their little secret, and that not even Dawn could know about it. When Scar would bring up the fact that stories were forbidden, Mother would tell her that the story was not outside of past nor present, and that one day she would understand.

That day had come two years ago, only a handful of months after she and Dawn had moved away to live with their mentors. Only a handful of weeks before Mother had died from an illness that had withered her flesh. Mother’s letter read “You are the rabbit, Dawn is the snake”.

For a while, after discovering the truth, Scarlet had suspected that Mother’s illness had not been a natural illness. It felt all too convenient for her to die immediately after the girls became Marked Members and were apprenticed. As if Mother had served her purpose and was no longer needed.

And now, it seemed as if the perfect opportunity had presented itself for the Governor to eliminate the rest of the cast of characters that might tarnish his reputation, without drawing any suspicions to himself.

Scarlet had never understood her mother’s coldness towards Dawn until she had understood the meaning of the childhood story.

She looked at Dawn, the girl who she had called sister her entire life, and her heart broke. Dawn had already learned terrible truths about the people in her life. Scarlet wasn’t sure if she could bring herself to add more. Now she wished she hadn’t burned the letter. That she could have simply given it to Dawn and been spared having to speak reality out loud.

But Scarlet felt like retaining the truth was more of an act of mercy than cruelty.

When the time is right, she told herself. If that ever came.

Scarlet fiddled with a piece of loose fabric on her dress. She silently mourned for all the things she would lose. But losing Forrest and her prestigious internship was the price she knew she needed to pay to preserve her life. It was also what she owed Dawn. Her sister had risked her own life to come to Ardus and save her from the Governor. If she hadn’t, Scarlet wouldn’t have found the courage to leave, and the Governor probably would have found a way to destroy her because of what she knew.

She wrapped her arms around her knees and let out a long sigh, “okay, I’ll leave with you”.

Dawn’s shoulders loosened. “Good”.

Scarlet didn’t meet her sister’s gaze.

“Hey” Dawn said gently, lifting Scarlet’s chin. “I’ll take care of you Scar. Like I’ve always done”.

Scarlet nodded. Her throat tightened and tears threatened to spill from her eyes. “I know”.

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