WAIT FOR LOVE (Lovemark #4)

1. Olivander-2

I winced at the smear she left behind but thought it best not to burden her with any more problems just now, so I refrained from mentioning the mess and merely cleared my throat. Ink remains looked rather charming on her, anyway.

“The good news,” I started with a strained smile, “is that we know others have come here from your planet before, and they’ve been able to adjust and make homes for themselves in the Outer Realms without many issues. So I’m confident you can too. We just need to get you properly assimilated and—”

“Except I don’t want to stay,” she ground out. “Haven’t you been listening to me? I already have a home. And a roommate. And a job. And a tomato plant. I have a tomato plant on Earth, dammit. Who’s going to water my tomatoes for me? Leeva never remembers that kind of thing. My tomatoes are going to freaking die if I’m not there.”

I blinked, not sure what to say about that. We didn’t hold our tomatoes quite so dear in the Outer Realms. But apparently, they must be a valuable commodity on Earth.

Or maybe Doria was grasping for any trifling reason she could find to justify a breakdown over the overwhelming sensation of loss and confusion that certainly had to be gripping her.

Trying to be kind and helpful because I couldn’t even conceive of the fear she must be experiencing, I softly said, “We have tomatoes in the Outer Realms. You can grow as many plants here as you like.”

“But I don’t want your f*****g tomatoes!” she cried and promptly burst into tears. “I just want to go home. I don’t like this. I didn’t ask for it. And I definitely don’t want it. Who the hell was this Indigo motherfucker, anyway, to think he could go to my world and force me to come here to take his place without my permission? That’s not right. It’s not fair. I should get a say in this, don’t you think? I should get a vote. Why didn’t I have a choice?”

“I don’t know,” I murmured gently, handing her a handkerchief as she sniffed at the tears that poured profusely down her cheeks.

She snagged the slip of cloth and waved it madly as she ranted, “It’s not like Earth is all that great of a vacation destination right now, anyway. The whole planet is currently being hit by a freaking pandemic. Did he think of that when he decided to trade places with me? I bet not.”

I almost asked why she was so determined to return if her homeworld was so undesirable, but I had a feeling she might hurt me if I inquired. So I kept my mouth shut and just watched sympathetically as she finally wiped her face and then blew her nose.

“I’m sorry you’re going through this,” I said. “All I can tell you is that it was with life-saving urgency that Indigo had to vacate the Outer Realms. His mate had just been tortured to within an inch of her life, and there was a death sentence still hanging over her head. He had to get her out of here before she was caught again and killed this time.”

“Oh.” Doria sounded calmer and more rational when she added, “Well, I guess that’s a good enough reason for him to want to leave. But still…” She let her shoulders droop in discouragement as she sighed. “Why did I have to be the one who took their place?”

“That is the big mystery,” I agreed. “I don’t know why you were chosen.”

“Chosen? Hmph.” She snorted over the word. “You mean, doomed, right?”

Gathering her dark mass of curling hair into a pile on her head with one hand, she somehow whipped it into a knot to keep it off her neck. Once it was safely secured, she began to fan her face with the other hand, letting me know she was growing warm.

For wearing such strange attire and acting as no female I’d ever met before, she still made a fetching sight. Many High Cliff men would clamor for her attention, I was sure. Which was another reason to keep her close. She’d need protection.

“Thanks so much for dooming me, Indigo,” she muttered, lifting her voice and projecting it around the room as if my absent friend could somehow hear it from Earth. “Appreciate it so much. Asshole.”

I smiled briefly. “Actually, Indigo isn’t technically the one who traded places with you. Sadly, it turns out, he and his mate didn’t—er—let’s just say they lost the proper equipment they needed to permanently transfer their citizenship to Earth, so they’ll have to come back to the Outer Realms eventually. It was his mate’s aunt who took an amulet with her, and thus she’ll remain on Earth, which is what forced you here as the chosen one to take her place.”

“Swell,” she muttered dryly before giving in to a thoughtful shrug. “Though, I guess thinking of myself as the chosen one doesn’t sound so bad. I’m like a regular old Harry Potter now, aren’t I?” Except her expression fell a moment later. “Wish I felt lucky. Especially in this humidity. I mean, holy s**t, you guys obviously don’t have any form of central heat and air in this castle, do you? What is up with that?” She fanned at her face more vigorously, trying to cool off. “How do you handle all this damn warmth?”

It didn’t feel that hot to me, but I motioned toward the window. “Would you like me to c***k open the clear rock for you to get a little air circulating?”

She frowned in confusion. “Clear rock?”

“Er, glass.” That was right, I knew the alternate word for clear rock. My younger brother, Urban, had written and explained it to me once, years ago.

Huh.

Urban had known an Earth term all this time, and I hadn’t? He was only supposed to be wiser than me when it came to wars and fighting, not anything else.

Damn, I was an awful scholar.

“Would you like me to open the glass in the window,” I offered, moving past my own downfalls.

Doria nodded and blew out a relieved breath. “That would be great, thanks.”

“Of course.” Glad to do something I knew how to do, I opened the clear rock for her, and a chilly breeze swirled into the room, allowing a handful of autumn leaves to flutter inside with the cool current.

They immediately reminded me of a little girl with hair as fiery red as the dead leaves. I swear, her favorite pastime had been running through the fallen foliage and kicking to make every leaf scatter and dance in the air. She could do it for hours at a time.

My chest creaked with an old ache. God, I missed her.

Across the room, Doria sighed in delight. “Oh wow, so much better. Bless you.” She sent me a smile before looking back down at the map of the Outer Realms that sat next to the galaxy she had drawn.

“So, let’s explore this question...” she started again, apparently not exhausted by our conversations at all. “How did Indigo, his mate, and her aunt get to Earth? You said something about an amulet, right? Is that all I would need to get my hands on in order to go back myself?”

“No. I’m sorry, but the amulets are merely needed to ground people to Earth and keep them there. That’s when a Replacement will come back in their stead, like you did. But the actual procedure of visiting Earth can apparently only be done by people from one specific house—er, from one family line, that is. In other words, one family can travel between the two worlds, and no one else. From what I’ve witnessed and read in Indigo’s journal, it’s just Graykeys—along with chosen mates of Graykeys—who can chant a verse and open this crackling portal full of electricity. Then they step into it, and it takes them straight to Earth.”

“You mean, like, the very portal I came through to get here?”

I nodded. “Exactly.”

“Great! Then all I have to do to get back home is get someone from this lucky, portal-jumping Graykey family—or whatever—to mate with me, and then I can hitch a ride back with them?”

I winced. “Um…” Shaking my head violently, I said, “No. I wouldn’t recommend that. At all. The Graykeys are marked with a dark curse. You don’t want anything to do with that family. Trust me. Indigo’s mate was about the only exception. The others tend to e*****e their spouses and force them to do their bidding for the rest of their lives. And besides, even if you did find an adult Graykey left—which I honestly doubt you would at this point as they’re nearly extinct—and you were able to mate with one who was benevolent enough not to trap you to his will and was also willing to take you home, you’d need to know the words they use to open the portal in the first place. And I have no idea what those words are.”

Doria didn’t seem to care about any of that, though. Her eyes glowed with hope and excitement as she asked, “But someone from that family must know, right?”

I sighed. There would be no convincing her what a bad idea hooking up with a Graykey would be.

“I guess it’s possible,” I allowed on a weary shrug. “Except you can’t permanently stay on Earth when you travel there from here merely from chanting the words alone. You need a transference amulet with you. If you don’t have the amulet, you’ll get sucked back to the Outer Realms within a few moon cycles—er, within a few months.”

Months was the correct Earth term for moon cycles; I knew that.

When Doria squinted as if not understanding, I repeated, “You’d just come back again within a few months if you go there without an amulet.”

Her squint shifted in mood, from confusion to disagreement. “Are you sure?” she pressed. “Maybe that wouldn’t be the case for me because I’m from Earth. I would just be going home. Why would it bring me back here again?”

“There seems to be a need for balance in the two dimensions,” I tried to explain, even though I didn’t totally understand it myself. “If one goes and stays, then one must come back to stay. So if you went back permanently, then someone else would have to return in your place.”

“As if I care about that,” she cried passionately. “Christ almighty, I just want to go home.”

I cared though. Because I didn’t want to have to go through this all over again if she left and sent a new earthling back for me to assimilate in her stead. It’d been hard enough to convince her she was no longer on her home planet.

One time through this misery was enough, thank you very much.

But I sighed and said, “I understand your frustrations,”—because I really did—“and I’ll do everything I can to help you find a way back.”

I would too, even if it meant having to repeat this infuriating process all over again. It didn’t seem right that someone should be sucked from the life they knew without their permission and forced to stay here if they didn’t want to.

“But in the meantime...” I added on a wince because I already knew she wouldn’t like what I had to say. “It might be in your best interest to try to adapt to life here and get accustomed to our ways. Your own safety and security could rely on it. If you stick out too much and act too differently, people will notice, and it could land you in danger.”

And besides, if we couldn’t figure out how to get her home, this world would be all she had left.

“Lovely.” With a groan, she pressed a hand to her brow and squeezed her eyes shut before reopening them and looking up at me. “But okay, that’s probably smart. Thank you, Olivander. Thanks for everything. I know you didn’t have to help me at all, and I’m being a massive pain in the ass about this, so I should let you know I really do appreciate you taking me in like you have and explaining as much as you did. I’d be so lost without you right now.”

I inclined my head regally. “It’s been my pleasure, my lady. And feel free to call me Vander if you wish. It’s the name my friends use.”

“Okay.” She smiled, color infusing her cheeks as she did. “Then I’m just Dori. You really don’t have to call me my lady or Doria or anything like that. Honestly, I’m no one on Earth. Certainly not the child of a king like you are here, anyway.”

“Oh, I’m not all that important, trust me,” I countered. “As the second son with no immediate claim to the throne, I barely rank nobility to most people.”

“Yeah,” Dori snorted. “I have a hard time believing that one.”

“’Tis true,” I argued, smiling just enough to feel the dimple in my cheek dent. “But I do have enough clout to hire an assistant without any questions asked, so I’m going to look into recruiting a female to help us with our endeavors.”

Dori nodded. “Okay. Yeah, that sounds smart. The more brains we have attacking this problem, the better chance we have of solving it and getting me home.”

“That,” I agreed, “and she could also help explain how, you know, womanly things work in this world more than I ever could.”

Cringing out an immediate groan, Dori muttered, “Aww, hell. Is this one of those men-rule-and-women-shut-up-and-obey worlds? Please say no.”

“Well…” I started hesitantly. “It’s…”

She hissed out a sigh. “Say no more. I get it. Hiring some lady to help me get my meek, feminine side on so I don’t get hanged or something in the first week is probably smart. Yeah. But, uh, one last question.” She lifted the sheet of parchment she’d drawn her picture on and showed me the back side. “Or maybe one last round of questions.”

I sighed miserably, focusing on the note she’d discovered.

“Who’s Unity,” she asked, “and why is it too dangerous for her to come here?”