Forged of Shadows: A Novel of the Marked Souls by Jessa Slade Page B

fingertip along one path.
    He tried to ignore the pain that unfolded through his chest as if in echo. “Welcome to the league of demon-possessed warriors, Jilly Chan.”

CHAPTER 7
    Jilly craned her neck to follow the course of his finger down the side of her breast where the knot of the knife scar had faded to a mere memory on her skin. “Instatattoo. Not temporary, I’m guessing.” She shivered at the tangled memories of trickling blood and now her new boss’s erotic touch. God, it was all fading. Her scars that reminded her of bad choices, her courage, and—oh yeah—her very life . She scooted away and snatched up the T-shirt flung over the back of the couch.
    Liam wiped a hand down his face. “The reven is the teshuva’s mark on you. Once, the patterns told the league how strong and what sort of demon had crossed into our realm. I’ve read accounts from previous leaders who organized their ranks by teshuva class and power.” A tick beside his eye jerked once. “I don’t have enough talyan to give me choices.”
    She studied the mark at his temple. “What’s yours? How strong is it?”
    “Ravager class. And strong enough.” He returned her narrowed, assessing gaze. “I don’t need to check the archives on yours. Discord class, undoubtedly.” She opened her mouth to protest, but he continued. “The reven shows you passed the first ascension, and the conflicting emanations are balanced enough that you won’t be pulled into the demon realm. Against your will anyway.”
    She frowned. “Why would I go willingly? As if this hasn’t been bad enough.” When his expression went blank, she winced inwardly. She hadn’t meant that quite the way it sounded. But she didn’t correct herself. Not like they were going anywhere with that anyway. Discord, right?
    All these negative thoughts—blood, demons, the sad lack of long-term relationship potential despite her new immortality—were really taking the shine off her afterglow.
    He pushed to his feet. “There is much about being talya that you don’t know, that none of us know. Despite all Sera has apparently shared with you.”
    “You could share more,” she pointed out. “Or have we shared enough for tonight?”
    He gave her another unreadable look, then bent to collect his clothes.
    She indulged a wistful mental sigh at the sight. Too lean by half, though the sensuous play of muscle under his skin made her fingers tingle. But she knew better now than to be tempted. Twice anyway.
    Not only was he her new boss; he was her eternal boss. Meetings around the watercooler could get way complicated after a few hundred years of clandestine sex.
    Or, considering the lamp, table, and transmitter she’d smashed, even more awkward after not- so-clandestine sex.
    “What have I done?” she whispered as she tugged her shirt over her head.
    In the dim lighting, Liam’s gaze flickered toward violet. “What we had to do.” He zipped his jeans with a touch more force than necessary. “It’s how we survive long enough to erase some of the stain on our souls.”
    Here she was worrying about the mark on her skin when the fatal stain was on her soul. Silly her.
    She wiggled into her jeans while Liam searched for the scraps of his shirt. Sera had promised her a metabolic boost, but the jeans seemed snug as ever.
    Letting the demon in her soul, then the demon- killer into her body. She was becoming quite the slut. She tried to dredge up a silver lining. At least she could kick some of the ass that so seriously needed kicking, now that she’d finally identified an appropriate target. That target being all of evil. And she was always telling the kids to set specific, realistic, and achievable goals.
    She was fiercely glad they couldn’t see her now. She’d always considered herself an outsider, and now continuing the fight from the shadows would have to satisfy her forever.
    As for the satisfaction glowing through her body tonight . . . She steeled herself against the