WAIT FOR LOVE (Lovemark #4)

Prologue Unity Where: On the bordering edge of the two kingdoms of High Cliff and Tipton. When: Outer Realms Year 320“What’s that?” At my question, the young man sitting on a fallen tree log across the campfire from me jumped in surprise and guiltily jerked his attention up from whatever peculiar-looking object he was writing on. Eyes widening in surprise when he found I was still awake and had vacated my tent, he immediately snapped the mysterious item shut by slapping the two halves together until it folded in on itself and compressed into a smaller version of the original. Then he cleared his throat and discreetly tucked the gadget under his thigh as he asked, “What’re you doing out of your bedroll, my lady?” Once the item was out of sight, his nervousness seemed to dissipate, and he lifted his eyebrows with reproach before more sternly adding, “It’s late; you should be asleep. Tomorrow will be a busy day.” Tomorrow. Ugh. My stomach roiled at the very notion. Because tomorrow, we were set to arrive in the Kingdom of Tipton, where I would begin my training at the most astute ladies academy in the Outer Realms. It was a great honor to get to attend, and I had been dreaming of becoming a learned lady from the moment I’d first spotted a group of them at court. Their beauty and poise and knowledge had just been so alluring. Who wouldn’t want to emulate them? But now that the time was nearly upon us for me to start there, I felt very unsettled. “Well, I can’t sleep,” I grumbled, sending my escort a petulant scowl as I caught a piece of my hair and began to nervously wind it around my finger. Indigo hissed out a long, tired sigh. Then he patted the log in invitation. “Come.” Since it brought me closer to the intriguing thing he’d hidden from me, I eagerly gripped the skirt of my nightdress, lifted the hem to just above my ankles so it wouldn’t scrape across the ground, and I scampered around the crackling fire to plop down next to the knight-in-training. He was a handsome young man, six years my senior at age eighteen but seven years younger than Ollie, with thick, dark hair and a smile that always made me feel as if I were being let in on a secret joke. When Olivander had been interviewing soldiers from his father’s royal army to escort me to the academy, I had immediately clicked with Indigo. He irritated me constantly with his unfailingly dutiful ways, he always found something to tease me about, and he was almost as overprotective and stifling as Ollie was. So of course, I adored him and already thought of him as the annoying big brother I was supposed to have. “Now…” he started, clasping his hands and setting them on his lap, where he tapped his thumbs together in thought. “Tell me what’s troubling you, Little Bug.” I rolled my eyes. “I do wish you’d stop calling me that. I’m about to become a learned lady, you know.” And learned ladies wouldn’t dare stand for being called Little Bug. He’d taken to labeling me the obnoxious term about halfway through our journey because—as he put it—I bugged him constantly with my interested inquiries. But who could figure anything out without questioning it first? Honestly. Olivander said my curiosity was refreshing. “Well, you’re not a learned lady yet,” Indigo countered in that mocking way of his that told me how much he enjoyed teasing me. “So to me, you’ll remain Little Bug until I deem you worthy of a nobler address.” With a roll of my eyes, I muttered, “I should’ve had Ollie assign you to pig-slop duty instead of being my escort. You’re quite impertinent, you know.” Instead of growing intimidated by my threat or even indignant, Indy merely threw his head back and shouted out a hearty laugh. “Indeed,” he readily agreed. “Your mate very well probably should have. And yet here I am. Are you sure you even need to attend this academy? I’d say you’ve already mastered that uppity, superior countenance it takes to be a prince’s wife.” Stung by his summation of me—because I wasn’t uppity, was I?—I let my brows furrow in consternation before I pursed my lips and nodded. “You’re right; maybe I don’t need to attend this academy after all. We should just go home now.” Home to Olivander. Indigo glanced over at me and blinked. “Go home?” he repeated in surprise before his eyes glinted in the firelight with understanding and he began to nod. “Ah, so that’s what’s caused the sleeplessness. You’re worried about tomorrow, are you?” “I’m not worried.” Sniffing as if he were wrong, I then almost immediately began to wring my hands. “It’s just that Ollie’s going to be over a three-day ride from me. I’ve never been that far away from him before. And now, I’m supposed to be that far away for at least six years? It’s just not right. How am I supposed to bear it? I stopped feeling him in my mark on the first day, you know.” “Well, you did mention it about eighty times,” Indy tried to answer. “So I’d say I’m quite aware, yes.” “The first day!” I repeated dramatically, ignoring his sarcasm and talking over him. “What if he gets hurt? Like mortally wounded. I won’t be able to feel it, much less get to him in time to heal his injuries, even if I could feel it. He could die!” “Hey, hey,” Indigo murmured as he bumped his shoulder gently into mine. “Olivander will be fine. I assure you, he can take care of himself.” “But—” “He said attending this academy was a dream come true for you,” Indigo went on. “It’s all you’ve talked about for the last two years. This is what you want.” With a moody scowl, I muttered, “I know, but I didn’t realize I’d have to be apart from him if I attended. He has nightmares sometimes, you know. I have to sneak into his room and snuggle up next to him before he’ll calm down again. Who’s going to settle his bothersome dreams if I’m not there?” Indigo merely grinned before hissing out a sigh and shaking his head. As his gaze moved to the crackling fire, he said, “Do you know why he couldn’t come with you to Tipton?” I growled out a sound of exasperation. “Because he’s a High Cliff prince.” Rolling my eyes, I added, “It just wouldn’t do for him to reside in Tipton for six years while I attended the academy. Yes, I know all that.” I wasn’t stupid. But still… It felt like a fist to the stomach. Olivander was my soul mate; the marks tattooed to the side of both our faces said so. And soul mates were supposed to stay together. “Oh, that’s not why,” Indy said, his lips spreading wide with amusement as he shook his head. “Nothing would keep that man from your side—certainly not royal boundaries—if it wasn’t what was best for you.” “Wait. What?” Tipping my head, I frowned at him. “So you think it’s best for us to be separated?” Who in their right mind would think that? “Not me,” Indigo corrected. “Olivander.” “Ollie?” The air whooshed from my lungs. But why—why would Ollie not want to be with me? “He told me that for your entire life, you have only known yourself as his mate. Your first concern has always been about his happiness or health or comfort. But now it is time for you to think about you. You need to learn who you are as a person in this world, and you can’t truly do that with him in the vicinity, clouding your judgment through the mark. So he could not come with you.” “But I—I don’t know who I am without him,” I confessed in a hoarse voice. When a tear trailed down my cheek, Indigo patted my hand. “And that is exactly what he wants you to discover,” he said. “It’s time for you to grow up now, Little Bug.” “But…” Shaking my head, I looked to my escort for guidance. “I’m going to miss him so. How will I breathe without him?” “You’ll breathe,” was all Indigo said. I frowned, not comforted. Because he didn’t know. He didn’t have a true love yet. How could he possibly realize what this felt like? How it throbbed like an open wound in the center of my soul. For some reason, I hadn’t even thought of how it would hurt when I’d left home two days ago. I had sensed a great sadness bleeding off Olivander when he’d seen me off on my journey, but I assumed it had to be because of something terrible his father had done again. Now, I understood that he’d already been missing me. The entire time he’d hugged me goodbye, kissed my brow, and then waved as my carriage rolled away, he had known it would ache like this for us to be separated. I suddenly felt stupid and small. If only I had realized then how the distance between us would feel, I would’ve hugged him longer. Breathed in his scent deeper. Actually, I probably would’ve refused to go entirely. Which had to be exactly why he hadn’t told me. It’s time for you to grow up now, Little Bug. Scared and intimidated by the notion, I gulped painfully. Before, I’d always thought growing up meant I’d get to do more and someday be old enough to finally marry Olivander. But now—now it was starting to feel more like a heavy, burdensome responsibility. What if I couldn’t handle the weight? From the trees surrounding us, the echo of a man’s snore rose to a crescendo and then fell away again, tearing me from my troubling thoughts. Nearly a dozen armed men were traveling with us to Tipton, but only Indigo, the assigned leader of the caravan, was allowed to come within the camp with me and sleep so near to my tent. When he and I glanced at each other, both of us having heard the snore, he snickered, and the contagious sound made me snort out a small laugh too. But it was short-lived because laughing without Ollie present felt rather empty. “And that, I believe…” Indigo announced, slapping his hands onto his knees before pushing to his feet and holding a palm down to me. “Is my signal to escort you back to your tent so you can get some sleep.” I looked at his waiting fingers and then noticed the object he’d set down earlier, lying on the log unattended. Nodding slowly, I said, “Sure. Just as soon as you tell me what this is.” And I dove toward it, snagging it before he could stop me. “No! Wait. That’s—careful! It’s not a toy.” “Then what is it?” I asked, jumping to my feet and easily evading him when he lunged forward in the hopes of taking it back. Failing, he scowled and dropped his hands, while I grinned in triumph. “Unity, I’m serious,” he tried reasoning, his expression turning grave. “Give me the book back.” “Book?” I stopped in my tracks and looked down at the object. “What’s a book?” “Nothing.” And it was promptly ripped from my grip. “Now off to bed with you, Little Bug. No more shenanigans.” I huffed and sent him a mean look, even as I obediently turned away. “Fine. But you’re not being very nice. I just wanted to look at it.” He only chuckled. “It’s not my job to be nice. It’s my job to keep you alive. And I don’t want you looking at it.” “Hmph.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I stalked the rest of the way to my tent, calling, “Well then, I’d wish you a good night, but honestly, I hope you don’t have one.” As I tore open the flap and crawled into my protected sleep space, my aggravating escort taunted back. “You know, you’re right. Little Bug doesn’t suit you anymore. I think I’m going to have to start calling you the bloodthirsty viper princess. Not wishing me a good night, indeed. So utterly savage you are, Miss Unity.” As he roared with laughter, I rolled my eyes and jerked back the covers on my bedroll. But Indigo was wrong. I wasn’t bloodthirsty or savage or uppity. I wished Olivander were here. He’d make everything okay again.