WAIT FOR LOVE (Lovemark #4)

Prologue-3

No way was I going to be able to sleep now.

So I kept reading...

Only to learn that Marvello was eventually killed by his firstborn son, Novak, who also hanged his two brothers, Nestor and Norton, in the 8th reaping so he could take control of the crown of Lowden.

“Wow,” I whispered into the night.

I’d always been told that the Graykeys were to be avoided, but I’d never been told these reasons why. I was in shock.

It was no wonder that I’d overheard Olivander and his brother, Erick, mention the likely possibility of our kingdom invading Lowden to take control of it. Orick Graykey—Novak’s son—was still ruling there now. Who knew what kind of horrors he would unleash if his family’s curse sent him into a bloodlust-filled fit of rage.

Something needed to be done about them.

I flipped through more stories of Graykey family members until I came to stories of a totally different nature.

Now, what was this?

Indigo quite suddenly stopped writing about death and darkness and began to share tall tales about his great-grandmother Amelia that he’d heard about from her son: his grandfather.

Apparently, Indigo’s great-grandmother had not been born in the Outer Realms at all but came from a land called Atchison, and she’d flown here in something he referred to as an airplane.

“An airplane?” I murmured, frowning toward the sleeping Indigo and shaking my head.

What the devil was an airplane?

As if hearing my question, Indy’s writings next described an airplane as a large metal bird that people rode in for transportation. With a snort, I rolled my eyes. Just what kind of fanciful ideas did my escort knight-in-training believe in? This was completely ridiculous.

And yet utterly fascinating.

So fascinating, in fact, that I finished his “book” before I was ready to. Once I reached the end, I sighed, wishing I could hear more about this alternate world his great-grandmother had come from, where people had things like electricity to light their lamps, and telephones—not ravens or pigeons—to instantly message people from a great distance away.

After I returned the book to Indy’s pack and crept back into my tent to lie down, I fell into an exhausted sleep, only to dream about airplanes and telephones and Graykeys—with blood dripping from sharp fangs—who came along and destroyed all the marvelous, otherworldly inventions.

One of them was charging toward me—arms outstretched to capture me and sink their teeth into my flesh—when a hand gripped my arm and shook.

“Unity,” Indigo urged. “You need to wake up now.”

I screamed and bolted upright on my bedroll.

Eyes wide and chest heaving, I gasped, “What’s wrong? Is it the Graykeys? Are they here?”

They were attacking the camp, weren’t they? We were all going to die.

“The Graykeys?” Indigo sputtered incredulously and shook his head before letting out his signature laugh. “What in the world made you ask that?”

“Because your book—” I started without thinking, only to stop and gape at him as I realized I’d just incriminated myself.

“My book?” he said in alarm. Then he huffed out a gruff groan and shook his head. “Oh, Little Bug, you didn’t... Please tell me you did not sneak into my pack and open my book while I was sleeping.”

Gulping, I cringed, wondering how severely he would punish me. But I couldn’t lie, either. Bowing my head shamefully, I regretfully admitted, “I—I might have done so.”

“Ah, hell.” Blowing out a breath, he plopped down on the ground beside me and cupped his head in his hands, muttering, “Olivander’s going to kill me. You’re going to have nightmares for the rest of your life, and he’s going to blame me entirely. He’s going to dismiss me from training—if not have me outright hanged—and I’ll never be able to go anywhere to look for her again. Why didn’t I just put a damn lock on—”

“We don’t have to tell him,” I cut in quickly.

Indigo dropped his hands and arched his brows significantly. “You don’t want him to know?”

That I failed and was already stealing things and reading journals I wasn’t supposed to, not even three days after I’d left home to learn how to be a worthy mate? Yeah, that was one confession I could skip.

I mean, if he found out or asked me pointedly, I wouldn’t lie. But I didn’t see why we had to tell him preemptively.

“I broke into your pack,” I admitted on a cringe.

Indigo nodded slowly and watched me carefully. “You did,” he agreed.

“And I—I disobeyed your direct order to leave the scroll book thingy alone.”

“Yes.”

“Well, I… I very much regret my indiscretions and apologize for them earnestly. So if you could find it in your heart to forgive me, I-I don’t see why we need to bother Olivander with the issue at all.”

Indigo’s lips tightened as if he were trying to smother a laugh. But then he cleared his throat and nodded solemnly. “That—that sounds like a very mature decision, my lady. I suppose I could find it in my heart to agree.”

“Me too,” I said readily. “Besides, it—it was probably only fanciful writings anyway. Right? Nothing to give me lasting worries in the least. None of that was actually true…” I tipped my head down and lifted my eyes, watching him steadily as I added, “Was it?”

“Er, right,” he drew out slowly, tipping his head with me. “No, all of it was—was, yes, completely made up.”

“Really?” Well, damn.

I knew I should be relieved because who wanted the Graykeys to be so awful?

But the other things he’d written about, the world he had described with such colorful detail had sounded so interesting. It kind of broke my heart to hear it wasn’t real.

Indigo sighed. “Ah, Little Bug. Sorry to disappoint, but my imagination just gets the best of me sometimes, and I—well, I like to write my thoughts down before I forget the ideas. Might make fun stories to scare and entertain my grandkids with someday, don’t you think?”

“So there are no such things as airplanes or telephones?” I pressed, hoping at least those existed somewhere out there. “Earth really doesn’t exist?”

Indigo laughed and ruffled my hair. “Are you serious, my lady? You think carriages could fly? Come now! Get your head out of the clouds and prepare yourself for breakfast. It’s morning, and you’ve a big day ahead of you. Time to stop thinking about such nonsense and start the rest of your life.”

My stomach instantly plummeted.

The rest of my life.

It was time for me to grow up now.

All fabrications of evil Graykey bloodlust killings and amazing Earth tales were immediately forgotten as I realized he was right. Today was the big day.

As soon as he left the tent to give me some privacy, my fingers fumbled as I rushed to prepare myself. And everything I’d read the night before was wiped clean from my thoughts.

It was time for me to become Unity, a learned lady and the worthy mate of Olivander.