I drew in a sharp breath.
Indigo narrowed his eyes and gathered me closer. “What do you mean by that?”
Olivander glanced at the scene around us. “What do you think I mean, Indy? The king’s going to be livid enough when he learns Lowden kept a Graykey on the throne all this time, deceiving him, and that this very Graykey murdered his close friend, Everett. But when you add in another Graykey at the crux of it all—one who still breathes.” He nodded his head my way. “He’ll be more determined than ever to find and kill her. Because he’s going to need someone to punish for it all. So you’re going to have to run. And hide. And I can’t know where you flee to, in case they try to torture the information out of me.”
“But why would the king turn on Indigo?” I demanded. “He should be hailed a hero for exposing the imposter king and killing him.”
With an agreeing nod, Olivander said, “He really should. Your mate should be safe in that regard. But I can’t imagine he’d merely let you run off and disappear by yourself. I figured he’d want to share your fate with you.”
“He’s right; I do.” Indigo turned to me, his eyes swirling with pain and determination. “Unless it was better for you to go somewhere without me.”
I blinked, unable to believe what I was hearing. Did he just announce he didn’t plan on spending the rest of his life with me? I shook my head, confused, hurt, enraged. “What’re you saying?”
He smiled sadly and brushed the backs of his knuckles across my cheek before holding up the necklace he’d taken off Qualmer’s body. I gasped at the amulet, realizing what he meant.
“You can still go,” he murmured. “Melaina refused to leave without you, by the way.”
I flashed him a startled glance, and he nodded.
“She found me and was so upset about your disappearance she almost bled to death from crying so hard. We left her convalescing at an inn in Belle. She still has the other amulet. So we can take you there to her, and the two of you can go to Earth together. Like we originally planned. Because you can’t stay here. Not now when they’ll be more determined than ever to catch you.”
I was already shaking my head, hating that idea. “But we don’t have an amulet for you yet. We can’t—”
He pressed his forehead to mine, silencing me. “It doesn’t matter where you go; I’ll still love you. And I’ll be with you here.” He pressed his hand to my heart. “Always.”
Tears filled my eyes. “But I claimed you,” I rasped, gripping the front of his tunic and holding on, not about to let him go, ever. “That first night, after you fell asleep, I said the words and made you mine. You could’ve always come with me, from the moment you told me you had another amulet.”
“You did?” His eyes widened with wonder. And then a grin stole over his face. “You claimed me?”
I nodded. “Of course, I claimed you. I love you.”
He exhaled roughly. “God. I love you too. I love you so much.” Gripping my face, he kissed me hard. “Then I’ll come with you. And I’ll return to Earth again as soon as I can, once I’m sucked back to the Outer Realms. Thank you.” He nuzzled his nose against mine. “Thank you for trusting me enough with your soul to claim me.”
I didn’t feel like arguing with him at the moment, because there was no way I was going to Earth with an amulet if he wasn’t. But we could discuss that later. For now, I merely touched his face and replied, “Thank you for being the kind of man I could feel confident in giving my soul to.”
He kissed me hard, attacking my mouth with a fervency that had his prince friend clearing his throat discreetly.
“Uh, sorry to interrupt,” Olivander said, his voice dry yet amused. “But we should probably clean this scene up and get back on the road now. If you have a place you can go, I suggest we get to Belle and fetch the violent redhead with the utmost haste so you can be on your way.”
Indigo curled an arm around my shoulders and tugged me close. “Good idea. Let’s get moving.”
As we all set about the task of preparing to leave the area, Olivander frowned our way and asked, “By the way, what is this Earth you mentioned?”
Indigo and I exchanged a grin. Then he glanced toward his friend. “We’ll explain everything on the way.”
Chapter 41
Quilla
A possessive arm curled around me, cupping my breast.
“You’re mine now,” Everett breathed into my ear as he pressed his erection against my bottom. “No one’s ever going to take you from me.”
I gasped awake, shoving at the heavy arm draped limply over my hip. Scuttling forward to escape the warm body that had been tucked behind me, I flew from the bedroll where we’d been camping and whirled around, ready to attack.
On the bedding, Indigo jerked upright, and though his tired eyes widened in alarm, the nearby campfire reflecting onto his face showed how heavily ringed with sleep they still were.
The man was exhausted.
“What? What’s wrong?” he asked anyway, his voice urgent with concern. “Are you okay?”
I gaped at him, blinking rapidly, then relaxed my tensed muscles and tried to catch my breath. “I—I’m sorry,” I gushed.
“What’re you apologizing for?” Shoving his legs free of the blankets, he draped his feet over the side of the bedroll before lifting his arms and inviting me to return to him.
I did immediately, crawling onto his lap and letting him wrap his arms around me. My head landed against his sturdy heartbeat, and I lifted my hand, shifting my palm over the comforting security of his presence.
“Quilla,” he murmured, kissing the side of my bald head, his lips warm and tender against my skin. “I hope you know you can tell me anything. Absolutely one hundred percent anything. You don’t have to worry about my reaction. You don’t have to fear any consequences. You don’t have to protect me from an unpleasant truth. Whatever the case may be, conversations between us will always be a safe place—confidential and judgment-free. Even if it’s something you’re afraid I won’t like or would hurt me, I want to hear it anyway.”
“I…” I shook my head, not even sure what I wanted to say. There were so many painful, horrifying memories locked in my head. It seemed like letting them out would destroy me. I just needed to stay strong. I needed to hold them in and ignore them until they went away. That was all. I just had to stay quiet and—
“Keeping something bad inside you for too long will only make it fester and grow,” Indigo murmured, pressing his brow to my temple as if he could read my mind. “I don’t want that for you, empress.”
“But…” I glanced at him, my eyes wide and frightened.
There was just so much of it. So much darkness. So much horror. I didn’t want any of that on him. He was my pureness and light. Smiles and optimism. He couldn’t be ruined by this too.
“What happened to you does not have to control you. And you don’t have to talk now or even anytime soon, but the best thing for you would be to get all this shit out of your head and for you to take control of it by giving it a voice and talking about it.”