Carrion had known precisely what it was. “Oh,” I whispered. The mark, an X behind the female’s earlobe, had once been a simple tattoo, but now it was made of knotted veins, bulging up beneath the skin. They looked necrotic, and they pulsed, echoing with the memory of a heartbeat that no longer fed them. My hand raised of its own accord, moving to my neck and the small black cross hidden behind my hair. I couldn’t say the words. Fisher did it, albeit a little breathlessly. “Your sterilization mark? Is that what…” He nodded to the head that Lorreth still held. “Does she have it, too?” I nodded.
