Carve the Mark (Carve the Mark, #1)

by Veronica Roth

grieved the loss of a man who robbed my sister of two brothers and a father.” He had a sister. I had almost forgotten, though I had heard her fate from Ryzek: The first child of the family Kereseth will succumb to the blade. It was almost as grim a fate as my brother’s. Or Akos’s. “You should put a hash through your second mark,” I said. “Diagonal, through the top. That’s what people do for losses that aren’t kills. Miscarried babies, spouses taken by sickness. Runaways who never return. Any . . . significant grief.” He just looked at me, curious, and still with that ferocity. “So my father . . .” “Your father is recorded on Vas’s arm,” I said. “A loss can’t be marked twice.” “It’s a kill that’s marked.” His brow furrowed. “A murder.” “No, it isn’t,” I said. “‘Kill mark’ is a misnomer. They are always records of loss. Not triumph.” Without meaning to, I brought my right hand across my body to grip my forearm guard, hooking my fingers in its straps. “Regardless of what some foolish Shotet will tell you.”