I rolled my eyes as she trotted on ahead without even considering to say a simple thank you. Then I gave a silent chuckle because I hadn’t exactly expected her to either.
I began to hum “Singin’ in the Rain” again when pain zapped through my mark, making me gasp in surprise and press the heel of my palm to my temple, trying to staunch the agony. But just as quickly as the pain came, it was gone again.
Melaina glanced over and lifted a bored eyebrow. “What’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, shaking my head and trying to make sense of it. “One second, it felt like someone was stabbing my temple. The next…” My words died off as I realized something key.
Something Graykey.
I turned slowly toward the only blood-born Graykey present. “It was you,” I murmured in realization.
Gaping at me with wide eyes, Quilla shook her head and clutched her forearm to her chest. “No, I—”
“You were hurt,” I accused, swinging one leg over my saddle and leaping off Holly so I could rush to her side. Reaching up, I snagged her from her horse, already demanding, “Where? What happened? Are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” she said, pushing me away when I set her on the ground and immediately tried to search her for wounds. “Stop! I’m fine.”
“But you weren’t,” I argued. “I felt it.”
“Then you must’ve felt it stop hurting too, then, right? So you know I’m fine now. Jesus. Give me some space to breathe.”
Realizing I was crowding her, I stopped edging closer and trying to find physical proof of her pain, but I couldn’t seem to back away and give her extra room either. “Where did it hurt?”
“My mark,” she started with an impatient sigh. “But it…” She shook her head, obviously not wanting to make a big deal about it.
“Let me see.” I took her elbow before she could object and evade my touch. Then I flipped her hand over and ran my finger along the soft inner side of her arm. The skin was intact, not even red or abraded. The temperature of the marked area felt exactly like the rest of her skin, too.
“Christ,” she muttered on a shiver as she yanked her hand back, out of my grip. She covered the mark with her palm. “It told you it was fine now.”
“What happened?” I demanded.
“Oh my God,” she groaned, shaking her head. “You’re the most annoyingly persistent man I’ve ever met. Nothing happened. My mark felt a little twinge, and then it went away.”
“A little twinge, how?” I pressed.
Melaina had ridden her horse closer and was watching our exchange with a confused squint.
“Like…” Quilla threw her hands in the air, clearly exasperated. “I don’t know, okay. There was this sudden heat as if my mark was on fire, or I was being branded or something. And then it was gone. There wasn’t even five seconds of pain. Certainly, nothing to cause this kind of commotion.”
“Branded,” I repeated, squinting as I glanced toward her aunt.
Melaina shook her head cluelessly, only to ask, “What does that mean?”
I shook my head too. “I’m not sure.” I returned my gaze to Quilla. “But I had a similar sensation like that happen to me once. To my love mark. I was in Far Shore, following Nicolette before she took over the reign. They didn’t take well to High Clifters being in their realm then, and this one band of locals set up a magical booby trap of sorts to catch my kind. The moment someone with a love mark stepped into the area they had sectioned off with a magical ward, an alarm would alert them to the trespass, and they could thereafter track the intruder. It’s how I ended up on a damn pyre about to be burned at the stake.”
Taking Quilla's arm, I lifted it to look at her mark. “I think someone here has a similar trap set up for Graykey marks. And you’ve just sprung it.”
Melaina shifted suddenly closer. “What’re you saying?”
“I’m saying we need to prepare because we’re about to get company. Violent company.” I glanced around, thinking quickly. When I spotted the unicorn, an idea formed. “Holly! Can you fly?”
Wings immediately grew from either side of her shoulders. They were great, white, feathered beauties that probably spanned fifteen feet when she spread them open, showing them off. She began to flap them so she could levitate a foot off the ground, and the wind current they created blew my hair back and pressed my tunic against my chest, making me take a step in reverse to catch myself.
I blinked, struck dumb for a second. “Um…” Well, that answered the flying question for sure, but, hmm…
“I, uh, I was thinking something a bit more inconspicuous. Like taking the form of a bird, possibly.”
Holly immediately turned into a pink flamingo.
Closing my eyes briefly, I bit back a sigh before wincing and saying, “Maybe something that’s indigenous to the area perhaps.” I really hated stifling her more flamboyant tastes, but I had an important mission here, and time was of the essence. “Something that blends in well.”
Please don’t get pissed off, I silently begged. But Holly didn’t seem offended by my agitated suggestions, and the flamingo promptly melted into an icy black raven.
“Yes!” I snapped my fingers and pointed. “Perfect. Thank you. Do you think you could fly above and scout the area? Let us know if it appears that anyone might be searching for us?”
Holly cawed in consent and took to the air.
“Now, you two,” I ordered, nodding toward Quilla and Melaina as I tugged my all-key from the necklace that rested inside my shirt. “Gather all the weapons you have and prepare yourselves for battle.”
“Battle?” Melaina repeated incredulously as I tucked the key pendant between my teeth then brought the shackles at my wrists up to my mouth. “Are you exaggerating about some non-existent threat again, boy? Just like you did at the canyon—hey!”
Her mouth dropped open as I unlocked my shackles.
“What the hell?”
I glanced down as the chains fell away from my wrists and landed on the ground between my feet. “Oh. Sorry, you probably want these back.” I bent and picked them up, then tossed them her way. “Here you go.”
She caught the chains against her chest and kept staring at me as if I’d lost my mind. “So you could get out of those any time you wanted?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” I answered in a distracted voice, as I rushed to my pack and began to yank out weapons.
“Then why the hell did you keep wearing them this whole time?”
I glanced at my true love’s aunt as I clicked my magical leather wrist guards into place where the shackles had been. “You’re the one who said I’d be more appealing to her with them on.”
“And you actually believed me?”
I shrugged and pocketed a handful of daggers. “I mean, it didn’t hurt anything to test the theory.”
“So you’ve been lying to us this whole time?” Quilla broke in.
Pausing, I took in her expression. She looked so aghast and betrayed I immediately shook my head. “I wasn’t lying. I was being accommodating.” I could be accommodating when I wished. “I was trying to be considerate and mindful of your wishes. And you seemed to be more at ease with me bound, so I remained bound. For you.”