Marked By Lies: A Reverse Harem Series (The Marked Series Book 1) by Paige Orr (best english books to read for beginners .txt) 📕

trying to get away from them. Finally, a deep baritone voice breaks through the haze surrounding me and drags me from the depth of my mind.

“You’re okay Melissa, there’s nothing here that can hurt you.”

Turning towards the voice, I find an unfamiliar man with long white-blonde hair that’s hanging down past his shoulders. His eyes are the colors of raw amethyst, drawing attention to his long lashes that any girl would be jealous of. From there, my eyes trail to his high cheekbones and slightly pointed ears. His features are androgenous and ethereal, and yet he exudes raw masculinity.

My eyebrows furrow in confusion at finding a stranger in my room, but before I got the chance to ask him who he is, another four people crowd around the bed. Looking around them all, I find Annika, Morpheus, Zaphyr, and another man that I don’t recognize. Annika notices my confusion and thankfully clears everything up for me.

“Hey chicka, sorry about all the testosterone going on right now. Imagine calling this royal dickhead instead of calling me. He even dragged the other royal fucker and his aide along with him to rush to your rescue.”

I try to speak, but all I manage to do is make the burning in my throat worse and causing myself to have a violent coughing fit. When the coughing subsides, a glass of water appears in front of my face and I follow the long elegant fingers up the arm to the other man.

He gives me a warm smile that crinkles the corner of his eyes, and I take a moment to look him over as I take a drink. Unlike the others, he looks like he spends all of his time in the gym and I swear even his muscles have muscles. His obsidian hair is scrapped close to his head along with a five o’clock shadow. His cerulean eyes pierce through me, filled with kindness.

I move my gaze away from him when his eyes begin to twinkle with laughter at how seriously I’m looking at him, and a blush stains my cheeks as I look back at Annika. Clearing my throat, I test my voice and find that I'm not going to hack a lung up if I talk I get back on track.

“I can’t remember making the phone call. I just remember being pinned to the wall by the Harpies' claws and getting a lucky shot off as she was reaching back for the killing blow. Why don’t you introduce me properly to our new friends before I spill my guts in front of them… again?”

Nika gives me a mischievous grin that I can’t help but return before getting myself more comfortable on the bed. I know from what she said that at least one of them is Prince Cailean, which could be bad for me since I kind of stole from him, but I decide not to worry about that right now, there would be no point getting myself worked up.

“Well, this lovely man who just got you the water is Elias, Prince Cailean’s aide, and the lovely gent with the white hair would be the Prince himself. You already know these two fuckers, so that’s you caught up on the who’s who of your bedroom invaders.”

I give her a warning look at the laughter I hear in her voice before composing myself and looking back to the other. I can see they are dying to know what happened, but I know that to give them the whole story means spilling all of my secrets. Fuck, not even Nika knows what I can do, and yet I’m going to have to tell them all. How the fuck do I manage to get myself into these situations, at this point I’m wishing I turned that creep, Mr. Sullivan, down. Sure I’d have ended up homeless, but I could have always stayed with Adelaide or Nika. Well, they do say hindsight is twenty-twenty.

“Look, to explain to you guys what happened, I’m going to have to tell you something personal about myself that no one else[1] knows apart from Adelaide.”

They all nod their heads curiously, but I can see the hurt in Nika’s eyes that I’ve not been able to trust her with what she’s about to hear. I do my best to show her how sorry I am without letting the others know, but all I can do now is hope that she can understand once she hears what it is I have to say.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been able to talk with the dead. Nothing creepy like sitting in a graveyard and shit, but ghosts have always been drawn to me. Don’t ask me why, I stopped looking for answers a long time ago.”

They all do their best to hide the shock that they’re feeling, but they aren’t quick enough to mask it before I see it. I can’t stop the grimace that slips out as I straighten my shoulders, closing myself off to them and the judgment and disgust that I’ve learned to expect over the years. Thankfully, none of them get the chance to air their thoughts as Morpheus asks me.

“I can see why you don’t tell anyone, but what does that have to do with this investigation kitten?”

“Well, I went to visit Adelaide before going to the house. She can see certain things to do with people's futures, and she told me that what I can do is the key to solving the disappearances. While there, she told me to use my sight to find the clues.

At first, I had no idea what she was talking about, but then I put the pieces together and called on one of the ghosts that hang around me to try my theory. Anyway, long story short, I can see things like sigils, and using the sight I can see all ghosts, not