WAIT FOR LOVE (Lovemark #4)

6. Unity

6

Unity

I gasped.

“What the…?” Stretching out my arms to brace myself in the sudden darkness that Nalini had just plummeted me into, I crouched low until my vertigo dissipated and I could ground myself.

At first, I thought I was falling, but then I realized my feet were planted firmly on solid rock. Blowing out a relieved breath over that, I straightened and glanced around me to realize she hadn’t taken my eyesight after all. It was merely dark here.

Wherever here was.

When I noticed stars and moonlight overhead plus dead leaves crackling underfoot, I decided I was outside. A crisp evening breeze wafted past, smelling of ale and baking bread, confirming my suspicions, while a chorus of crickets surrounded me and an owl hooted from tree branches above.

Yes, I was definitely outside.

But outside where?

As my vision began to adjust to the night, I blew out a calming breath and nodded. I was standing on some kind of rock path that led to a group of buildings ahead. Under the lantern hanging from the side of one structure, the raucous sounds of some kind of inn or pub drifted back to me through an opened doorway. If I inquired within, I’m sure I’d discover my exact location in no time.

The moment I took a step in that direction, however, a tingling in my mark jarred me to a surprised halt.

At first, I was confused. It’d been years since I’d felt the tattoo respond to the nearby presence of my true love. I didn’t immediately realize what was happening. But then I heard the scuffle of footsteps behind me with the crunch of more dead leaves, and I knew.

Olivander.

With a gasp, I whirled around.

Dizziness assailed me, so I pressed my hand against the tree next to me to steady myself, realizing distractedly that my feet were no longer bare but had been sheathed with sturdy boots.

Then I stumbled out of sight just before a figure passed by on the other side of the massive trunk.

Peeking out after him, I blinked at the retreating shadow, and my heart jumped with joy.

Olivander.

I could tell it was him as surely as I could tell I was in my own body.

My mark always flooded me with a rush of ecstatic endorphins whenever he was near. But there was no way he’d be happy about encountering me out here in the dark of night, all alone.

I was going to be in so much trouble.

Momentarily forgetting that he was no longer my guardian, that I was no longer a child, and that we were supposed to be equals now, I cringed with worry. As overprotective and cautious as he’d always been, a lecture about my untimely presence was surely imminent.

And it wasn’t even my fault. I certainly hadn’t asked that crazy, powerful mage to bring me here. In fact, I distinctly remember trying to tell her no, I didn’t want her assistance; I could take care of myself.

Yet here I was, anyway.

Dammit.

Silently cursing Nalini for dumping me in this situation, I winced, already bracing for Ollie to notice my presence and commence with the scolding.

But he didn’t slow his pace, call out my name, or even turn in my direction.

It was as if he had no idea I was there, watching him. As if he didn’t sense me even a little.

“What in the world?” I whispered, shaking my head.

My lips parted in awe. But by God, Nalini had done it. She’d really done it. She’d successfully blocked me from his mark. Which meant she must have glamoured me, too.

I patted my face, wondering what I looked like now, except everything felt the same as usual.

I guess that didn’t matter. What was important here was the fact that she’d gotten me to Olivander’s side, just as she’d promised—which was exactly where I wanted to be—and if I approached him now, he’d see a complete stranger. Sense a complete stranger.

A brief moment of euphoria gripped me. I wasn’t going to get a reprimand because I certainly didn’t deserve one, since I hadn’t brought me here—wherever this was—thank God.

Not that Olivander would chastise me if he knew. I was no longer twelve, and he was no longer responsible for my every move. I was just used to him always fretting about me climbing too high up a tree, or swinging too far on a rope, or crawling through too tight an enclosure.

Who knew how he’d treat me now.

Not quite ready to find out, I darted forward to the next tree along the path to follow him without him knowing I was there.

And as he went, his emotions wafted back to me.

He was cautious—likely because this appeared to be an unsafe area—but he was also intent. A goal was clear in his intentions.

I furrowed my brow, beginning to wonder what he was doing out so late in this kind of disreputable place. Maybe I should be the one reprimanding him.

Needing to know more, I slipped out from behind the tree to fall into step behind him, just far enough away that I could still barely make out the outline of his form in front of me but still close enough that I could sense all his emotions.

When he entered the tavern, I peeked inside after him and winced. Well, hell. I couldn’t follow him in there.

It was a bawdy house, where men paid for their pleasures. Only the worst sort of women frequented taverns like this. At least, that’s what they’d taught us at the academy. It would besmirch all my virtue if I passed through that doorway.

Oh, the woes of being a well-bred girl with a good reputation. You could never do anything fun or adventurous. Like secretly follow your mate into a house of ill repute when he couldn’t feel you in his mark.

But wait. If Nalini had really done what she’d said and altered my identity, then no one would know it was me, would they? Maybe I could wander about undetected after all. No one could even guess what my reputation was if I was incognito.

Except nope. If it wasn’t all that busy, I’d be noticed immediately. And I was pretty sure I didn’t want to be noticed even a little in such an establishment.

But maybe I wouldn’t have to go inside.

The stone-built establishment was covered in vine and didn’t have any clear rock in its windows so it could let the air flow out freely along with the voices inside. Staying out in the dark, chilly night, I neared the window, then huddled against a clinging vine as I felt Olivander pause inside the tavern just on the other side of it.

“Ah, so you’re back again, I see,” a husky female voice said, close enough to where I could sense Olivander standing that I had to guess she was talking to him.

Back again? I didn’t like thinking about why my mate would come here repeatedly.

“I am,” a man answered.

I sucked in a breath and shuddered.

It’d been over eight years since I’d last heard him speak, but I still recognized his voice. It had changed slightly, grown deeper, a little moodier, and strangely, a hint darker. But about a million times sexier.

Or maybe it was the tone of the night that made everything feel like that. Either way, it was most assuredly him. And everything inside me responded, a thick and warm heaviness growing in my breasts, then between my legs. I clamped my thighs together, gulping harshly at the extreme reaction.

Well, that was new.

I’d never been physically aroused by him before. Of course, I’d been twelve the last time I’d seen him, but still…

I think I quite liked the sensation.

But maybe I’d like it even more in a different situation. When I wasn’t hearing that he frequented bawdy houses on a regular basis.

Trying to ignore the insistent throb plaguing me, I leaned closer to the window and c****d my ear to hear better.

“I was curious if you’d learned anything new?” Olivander asked the woman, his voice making me pulse again with awareness.

I had to squeeze my hands tight, making my fingernails dig into my palms, to keep from pressing them against some truly private places in the hopes of appeasing the pulsating sparks that had started there.

“You want any more answers from me, handsome,” the woman answered, “then you gotta buy me this time. But don’t worry; I’ll make it worth your while.” When she laughed a little too lustily for my taste, I frowned.

Unable to help myself, I peeked in through the window, and thank goodness, Olivander’s back was to me. That meant he couldn’t see me, and I could see the face of the p********e talking to him. Her bosoms were nearly spilling out the top of her tight black bustier, and there was no skirt to her dress at all, just a black set of legless pantaloons. A vining tattoo ran up the length of her bare legs from her ankle to the swell of her hip.

I’d never seen a woman dressed like that before. I kind of wanted to try her outfit on too. It was as enticing as the bedlah Nalini had been wearing.

But then Olivander sniffed at her, obviously not as entranced by her scanty clothing as I was. “As I said before, I’m only interested in information.”

“Oh, come now, prince,” the woman taunted with a knowing leer as she stepped close enough to run a red-painted fingernail over his shoulder. “You don’t seriously want to reject a lonely widow with kids to feed, now do you? I promise you’d mightily enjoy me.”

Oh, no she didn’t. Flashing my teeth as I snarled at her, I silently warned her to drop her hand away from my man. Before I broke it clean off her wrist.

Gripping her fingers gently, Olivander manually removed her from his person and promptly dropped the appendage as he magnanimously answered, “I’ve no doubt, mistress. You’re a fetching creature, though, so I hardly think you’ll have any trouble finding that kind of company elsewhere.”

The i***t woman only stepped closer to him, though, and licked her lips. “But I’ve always wondered what a royal c**k felt like inside me.”

“Then I’m afraid you’ll have to keep wondering,” Olivander told her, his voice turning hard and annoyed. “I’m a mated man.”

Yes, you are, I silently cheered from my hiding spot. You tell her, Ollie.

I nodded proudly and hitched up my chin in victory. I had the best true love ever, I swear.

“A mated man who hasn’t seen his child partner in nigh on a decade now, the way I hear it,” the woman argued, making me frown. “And any man who goes that long without a pouch to bury his coin in has got to be suffering something fierce. In fact, I bet—”

“Do you have any news for me or not?” he snapped. “Because I can take my actual coin somewhere else to get my information.”

I swallowed, wondering why Ollie would be suffering. There’d been nothing in the scrolls I’d snuck away from the headmistress about men experiencing pain if they didn’t have s*x. Why had I never heard this before?

“Ack, be that way, then,” the p********e muttered sourly, waving him away. “The man you’re looking for headed out to one of the cottages in the back. He’s renting a w***e there for the night, from what I heard.”

Olivander produced a small pouch from his pocket. “Thank you,” he said on a small bow before flicking the money at her.

She caught it with one hand, smiling when she heard the coins rattle inside. “My pleasure, prince. And if you change your mind about the rutting—”

“I won’t,” he said, already turning away and striding off.

As he headed deeper into the tavern, I realized he was going to exit out some back way, so I scurried away from the window and along the outer wall until I came to the edge of the building. There, I peered around the corner just as a door opened and Olivander’s silhouette stepped outside.

Though I could make out nothing other than a tall, broad-shouldered, slim-hipped masculine figure, I knew it was him. He glanced my way, then the other, not seeing me in the dark.

Damn, but he made a striking figure. This heavy longing filled me again, racing through my bloodstream and sensitizing the most awkward places. I suddenly felt every brush of fabric against my bare flesh from the clothes I wore, and my n*****s hardened against the abrasive contact as if demanding more friction.

In front of me, Olivander started toward a row of cottages, but two more forms stepped from a different patch of shadows and directly into his path. I saw the silhouette of something long and slender in one of their hulking grips. It looked like a weapon.

With a gasp, I started forward, only to stop myself. No fear or alarm came from Ollie, so he must’ve been expecting this. Maybe he could handle it alone.

Waiting until I was sure if he needed help, I remained hidden. I could use the element of surprise if it came down to it.

“Hold it,” one of the men waylaying him said. “Who goes there?”

“Eh now, can’t you tell, Mavie?” his companion chortled as he lifted his nose and loudly sniffed the air. “This one reeks of castle cunt, he does. We’ve got ourselves a bleeding royal in our midst.”

“Good evening, gentlemen,” Olivander said mildly, caution filtering through his emotion but no real fear filling him yet. “If you’d be so kind as to step aside, I’d like to get by now.”

“Aww, listen to him,” the second man cackled. “So proper. Think he’ll wish us a fare thee well as we run him through and take his purse?”

“Only one way to find out,” Mavie answered as he drew a second sword and advanced.

“I really wouldn’t advise attacking me, if I were you,” Olivander answered, shifting his stance slightly, and preparing to scuffle. “It won’t end well for you.”

“Oh really? Well, two-against-one says the odds are in our favor.”

“Yeah,” his friend agreed. “Where are your royal guards now, prince?”

“They’re right behind you,” Olivander answered dryly.

“What?” The two gullible men instantly whirled around. But of course, no one was behind them.

Olivander struck while they were still facing away, bashing something against their heads before they could turn back to him.

They were still slumping unconsciously to the ground when a third figure popped from the shadows and started toward him from behind. This one was smaller and slighter, but he still didn’t know they were there.

I gasped, and he spun around as if he’d heard me. His attacker lifted an arm, but he caught their wrist and spun them, slamming their spine into the side of the building and making such a hard impact that small chunks of rubble siding rained down on me where I was hiding.

I covered my arms over my head as Olivander said, “Mistress. How kind of you to follow me out here and see to my safety. But as you can see, however, I can take care of myself.”

Gritting my teeth in outrage when I realized the p********e from inside had tried to harm him, I snorted from my nostrils and eased closer to listen in on them as she muttered, “Let me go.”

“When I’m ready,” Olivander told her. “Tell me, I’m curious; did you plan to tup me before or after you had your lovely companions here rob and murder me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not with those—”

She cried out abruptly, cutting herself off. I winced, figuring Olivander had probably applied pressure to her wrist he still had trapped against the tavern above her head.

“No more lies,” he instructed calmly. “Tell me what information you know.”

“I told you,” she ground out, her voice strained. “The man you need to talk to—”

“No,” he snapped, finally losing his patience. “We both know there is no one else for me to talk to. You’re the one with the information I seek, aren’t you? Now talk.”

“I…” She whimpered, then bit out, “I don’t know—”

“There are three children, not far outside New Gill, all of them bearing Graykey marks,” he coaxed, nodding to her as if encouraging her to continue for him. “An R-generation of them.”

My lips parted in horror. But an R-generation of Graykeys?

Lord, I hoped not.

“You’ve heard something, haven’t you?” he asked, his voice gentling to a smooth lull that made my hormones hum with appreciation.

“Maybe,” the p********e finally bit out, her voice strained with pain.

“And what do you know?” Ollie murmured.

“Th-their benefactor stopped making payments.”

“Yes. I was already aware of that. Now, tell me something I don’t know.”

“There’s to be an auction for them.”

“An auction?” The surprise I felt from Olivander told me he most certainly wasn’t aware of that bit of information. “When?” he snapped abruptly. “Where?”

“A moon cycle from tonight. At the opening of the smallest Gill cave.”

Olivander released her immediately and stepped back. “Thank you,” he said. “And in p*****t…” He paused long enough for the woman to greedily rub her hands together, obviously expecting another bag full of money. But then he finished with, “I’ll spare your life. Now go back inside before I change my mind.”

She sniffed but followed his order, hurrying to get away and calling him a foul name as she went.

As soon as he and I were left alone out there—discounting the two unconscious men sprawled on the ground—Olivander slowly swiveled his head my way, as if looking directly at me in the dark.

I held my breath and sank closer to the wall, becoming one with it so he couldn’t see me. He said nothing; I could picture him squinting as if trying to see better but still making out only darkness. Then he turned away, deciding no one was there, after all, I guess, and he hurried off.

I released a breath and blinked, stunned by what I’d just heard.

But Olivander was hunting Graykeys?

How had this come about? I knew his father had actively been searching for Graykeys since the end of the Great Lowden War six years ago so he could eliminate their entire race, but Olivander so rarely agreed with the king’s decisions.

I wouldn’t have thought he’d be actively supporting the crown’s efforts.

Then again, why was he being covert and secretive about it, making his trip in the middle of the night to such a disreputable place if he was working inside the capacity of the king? It was like he didn’t want his father to know about his search at all.

Hmm. Something wasn’t adding up here.

Then again, maybe it was adding up. If Olivander was doing something without his father’s permission and the king caught on to his secrecy, it would make sense for him to send some of his men to fetch me. Everyone knew the quickest way to get a High Clifter to talk was to kidnap their true love and hold them for ransom.

I shivered and wondered, not for the first time, what Olivander had gotten himself into.

He was an educated scholar, for God’s sake. Not some super-sleuthing spy.

Frowning, I hurried after him.

Because one: I was curious to see where he was headed next and what all this subterfuge was about.

And two: because where else was I supposed to go?

My home was one door down the hall from his in the castle. I was going to have to figure out a way to sneak in there past the royal guards and return to my old bedchamber without anyone knowing. So following Ollie now seemed like the most likely way for me to gain entrance.

Nostalgia rippled through me. I was truly going home tonight, wasn’t I? It’d been so long; I couldn’t wait to return to my bedchamber and be among my own things again.

Except home was not where Olivander went.