But my temple gave a sudden twinge as if to remind me of what I could be heading toward if I didn’t stay. The mark knew who I needed at my side to help me become the best person I could be. And so, I had to go. No matter what I found out there, it was going to begin the rest of my life.
“I’ll be okay,” I told my queen, pulling her into an impulsive hug, which made the cat on my shoulder screech in protest until it found its balance again and caused the villagers around us, watching the show we put on, to gasp in shock.
“You better be,” Nicolette instructed, only to pull back and point at the cat with a severe squint, instructing, “Keep him safe, you hear me? That’s a request from a queen.”
I smiled. “Thank you,” I told her. “Thank you for being the best ward a bodyguard could have, and the best friend a man like me needed. I’m going to miss you.”
“Then you better come back and visit,” Farrow instructed, tugging his wife back to his side so she would let me go.
Nodding to both of them, I stepped back, took in a final look at the people I was leaving, and then I turned away, ready to begin my journey.
Chapter 4
Indigo
With an exhausted sigh, I dismounted from my horse and took a break from riding, stretching my sore muscles and pulling a snack from a side pouch on the saddlebags.
Grandpa Atchison had always told me that once I sensed my true love, my entire life would change. But I was realizing I’d had no idea what he’d really meant by that.
Until now.
Since getting near enough to my mate to lock on to his essence, my entire life revolved around simply catching up to him and figuring out what had him so spooked, so I could fix it.
Nothing else seemed to matter.
It was like an itching obsession that had set up residence in my brain, and I couldn’t focus on anything else.
After that, however, once I caught up to him, introduced myself, learned all the mysteries surrounding him, and then solved them all...
I wasn’t sure.
I guess that depended on him. Maybe he’d enjoy living life in luxury at the Far Shore castle and wouldn’t mind escorting me back to Blayton where Nicolette and Farrow lived so I could continue leading the kingdom’s armies.
I could handle that.
Or maybe I’d give all that up and go with him if he had some different determined destination in mind.
I’m sure I could handle that too.
All I knew was that he would be there, involved in the rest of my life, wherever I went.
This wasn’t the first time my entire world had been disrupted, and I’d had to start fresh in a new place with new people. I was an old companion to change and travel. But it would be the first time I’d be doing it all for a complete stranger and some as-yet-unidentified goal they might have.
I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. It was a little unsettling how strong the mark was to make me so willing to rearrange my entire life for my true love, to give up everything I knew, and follow an unknown, yet the other part of me controlled by the mark simply didn’t care. I just wanted my person at my side. The need was stronger than any addiction I’d ever felt before.
Made me wonder if the root of the magic used to make the love mark was actually a dark, forbidden enchantment. It hampered free will, made a person feel almost mindless to get to their mate’s side, and yet...
Here I was, still having logical thoughts, and I was cognizant enough to question it all. Would something bad and so mind-controlling allow for rational reasoning to intrude?
For someone who’d grown up in a kingdom where everyone had the mark and had been told what to expect by family and friends and had known what should happen, plus looked forward to being afflicted by it, it felt acutely new and foreign right now. Its intensity was a bit overwhelming, in fact.
How had Grandpa and Grandma, my parents, and everyone else dealt with this?
Finishing my break, I climbed back into the saddle, clicked my tongue, and urged my mount forward. I couldn’t explain how I knew I was going in the right direction to find him; I just knew. He was this way.
To my logical brain, I’d been wandering aimlessly for the past two days. But my instincts felt on course and insistent, certain they were locked on to the correct target.
My mate had wound around in a loop away from the village, yet now was circling back toward it.
I wasn’t sure if this whole exercise of running off and now returning was because of me, because he’d wanted to evade me, but I didn’t want to take the chance of spooking him again. So I decided to meet up with him in the village and not out here alone in the forest he’d been traveling through.
Instead of plowing forward, toward him, I retreated and planned my approach. Since he was so skittish, it’d have to be an extremely non-threatening, innocent encounter.
Maybe I could act as if I’d been hurt and was seeking his aid. Except he hadn’t struck me as the type of man who helped others.
Ask him for directions?
Accidentally bump into him as we crossed paths? Then start up a conversation about the weather?
God. I had never felt so inept about simply approaching someone before.
I would advance from behind this time, I finally decided, get close before he saw me coming and didn’t have time to run before we were right there, face-to-face, and he could ascertain for himself that I meant him no harm, not in any way. Quite the opposite, in fact. The rest of my life was dedicated to making sure he got whatever he needed.
Waiting for him to arrive in the village was the worst. It was early the next morning before my senses kicked in, telling me he’d moved back into close range, close enough for me to experience some of his stronger emotions.
He felt a wary uncertainty. I think I’d definitely spooked him last time.
I couldn’t do that this time.
Returning to the market, I felt his fear and then his determination as he remained in the bazaar. Was he trying to sell more bread? I hoped so, that would give me the best excuse to talk to him.
I reached the square a few minutes later.
Except...
The man I remembered was not among the faces. My frown deepened as I ruined the covert, stealth part of my search, and I stepped out into the open in the center of the bazaar, then turned in a confused circle. This couldn’t be right. I could feel him. Right here. Somewhere.
How was this possible?
Frustrated, I stopped dead and drew in a deep calming breath. Then I closed my eyes and relied on nothing but the mark to guide me. Following the source of my true love through instinct alone, I tilted my face slightly to the right and let my lashes flutter open.
A dark-skinned girl stood among the throng staring at me with wide eyes. Less than ten years of age with two of the cutest buns high on her head, she edged a cautious step in reverse as if intimidated by me. I offered her a warm smile and a wink, merely trying to calm her. But instead of smiling back, she turned tail and fled into the people.
That’s when I realized she’d had a pack slung over one shoulder, from which she’d been selling bread. A moment later, the sensation in my mark started to flee as well, and I finally realized the girl had been the source of it.
“Son of a bitch.” I darted forward, not sure what the hell was going on, but not about to lose the only clue I had in getting some answers, either.