MARK OF LOVE (Lovemark #3)

20. Indigo-1

Chapter 20

Indigo

I was still grumbling to Quilla about my reservations to cross the canyon pass as we boarded the ferry. But just as Melaina had, she ignored my objections too. Neither of them seemed to care what kind of risk they were putting her through. So when the ferry master pushed his oar against the shore propelling us out into the water, my heart gave a jerky shudder of anxiety.

Here we went, whether I liked it or not.

Too busy squinting ahead to the other side of the river and the vague outline of mountains to either side of the canyon, I didn’t notice anyone else on the bank behind us approaching and hastily purchasing fare to cross the river as well until someone yelled, “Wait!”

I turned to see who was making the call, and everything else just kind of faded away as I blinked dumbfounded at the sight before me. The small, dark woman was decked out in nothing but gold beads and red scarves. Rubies clung to the thin golden chains that dripped from her headdress while great golden hoops swung in her ears. More gold wrapped around her biceps and wrists while rubies and turquoise stones plunged into her cleavage where her fitted bra top was layered with more golden baubles.

The sun glinted off the piercing in her belly button, calling even more attention to her bare midriff and the four black stars tattooed on her side, running from her tiny waist and down over the healthy curve of her hip where a turquoise and red hip scarf—interspersed with gold coins—held up her transparent harem pants that had slits in both sides and showed off her toned legs. Gold cuffs held the pants closed at the ankles, and even her slippers were ostentatiously beaded with gold, rubies, and turquoise.

Since we were the only customers on the ferry and we were still close enough to shore, the ferry master was able to shove his staff into the water and pause the progress of the pontoon, so the woman and her two companions could easily jump across the gap of water from the dock to the boat.

They carried no traveling packs, no mode of transportation, no nothing that usual people on the road would possess.

“Well, that’s not something you see every day,” I murmured, unable to stop staring, as I wondered if she was some kind of performer, and we were going to get a dancing show on our trip.

Quilla and Melaina, who’d been standing on either side of me, turned as well.

“What the f**k?” Melaina murmured, drifting forward in a daze.

Quilla elbowed me in what looked like the side of my glamour girl’s head, but what was actually my rib cage. “Stop staring,” she growled.

“I’m not—” I started automatically, thinking she was referring to herself. She only ever told me to stop staring at her. But when I realized she wanted me to look away from the half-dressed woman oozing steamy lust, I blinked at her, stunned. She was jealous of my attention to another woman.

Irritated envy blasted from her feelings like shards of splintery ice.

I smiled a very pleased smirk.

“I was just thinking her outfit was awfully flashy and superfluous to be wearing for a grimy boat trip across fish-scented waters,” I explained before winking and nudging her. “Though I have to admit, I wouldn’t mind seeing you in that bedlah.”

Snorting in answer, she shook her head and turned back to watch her aunt approach the other woman as if moving in a trance.

“Who the hell are you?” Melaina murmured, her voice full of awe and adoration as she lifted her hand to touch all the irresistible shininess.

“I am Nalini,” the flamboyant woman answered, only to raise amused brows at her companion, who smacked away Melaina’s hand before Melaina could touch the star tattoos dotting her hip. “It’s okay, amans,” she told him, stroking his arm lightly. “I don’t mind if she touches me.” She turned back to Melaina, her smile bright and eyes glittering with interest. “Please excuse my lover. He gets unreasonably jealous sometimes.”

Quilla’s aunt spared Nalini’s paramour a glance, only to hum deep in her throat and reach for him with her other hand. “No need for jealousy, handsome,” she assured. “As you’re welcome to join in too.”

“Oh, Jesus.” I shook my head and sighed. “She really just can’t help herself, can she?”

“No, she can’t,” Quilla murmured as I finally turned my focus to the other two travelers with Nalini. I had noticed she wasn’t alone from the beginning, but it’d been impossible to look past all her opulence and really see them until now.

The man she called her lover was slim—small in comparison to me but still considerably larger than her—with freakily pale blue eyes, dark skin, and shorn black hair. I squinted at him, convinced he looked familiar, even though I couldn’t pinpoint from where.

Nalini’s second companion on her left was considerably more recognizable, however. He gained my attention when he sat down on the boards of the ferry and let his tongue hang out so he could pant like a contented puppy. I blinked at the small bedraggled boy who didn’t look as if he’d ever taken a bath in his life. He wore nothing but a loincloth and seemed more like a feral animal than a tame child.

Which was exactly the same state he’d been in the last time I’d seen him.

“What in the world?” I murmured, returning my gaze to the man and realizing where I knew him from as well.

“What?” Quilla demanded in a low voice.

I turned my body in toward hers so only she could hear me, even as I kept my suddenly suspicious gaze on Nalini. “I know the two companions. The man’s a soothsayer. And the kid’s a magical bloodhound. I guarantee you he’ll be able to smell the glamour on us and tell them we’re under a disguise, so be prepared.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Quilla nod imperceptibly. “And the woman?”

“No idea,” I confessed. “I met the other two in the Dimway Forest about a moon cycle ago when Nicolette started her royal tour of Far Shore. They traveled with a group of other wayfaring mages that followed a blond sss woman.” I glanced toward Quilla, adding, “A blond sss woman who told Nicolette she was a direct descendant to the mage who placed the first love mark on Elaina L’Amante.”

Quilla whirled to gape at me. “That would make her a Graykey, then.”

“Yes, it would,” I agreed, returning my gaze to Nalini. “Unless she was lying. Or your family legend is false.”

Snorting at that option, Quilla asked, “What was this blond sss woman’s name?”

“Mydera,” I said, which gained Nalini’s immediate attention as if someone had just called her name.

She’d been stroking her hand up the outside of Melaina’s arm while Melaina leaned back against the soothsayer—Wicket, I remember him being called—when he stepped in behind her to shift her hair to the side and kiss the side of her throat. But now her sole focus was on me.

Stepping away from the orgy she’d been on the precipice of beginning right there in the open ferry, Nalini approached us, her hips swaying lustily with each step.

“And you two,” she greeted with a big smile as if she knew us, her arms opening wide in welcome. “You must be the happy new couple. I’ve been looking for you.”

Instantly on guard, I shifted closer to Quilla.

But Nalini waved her fingers as if to calm me. “Be at ease, warrior. I mean your mate no harm. Far from it, in fact.”

“But you’ve been looking for us?” I countered, remaining on high alert as I kept myself positioned between her and Quilla. “Why? How do you even know who we are?”

Nalini opened her mouth to answer, but Holly appeared in front of me in her cat form, hissing and growling. Nalini paused in her tracks, blinking as Holly transformed into an enormous panther with a sleek black pelt, and the high-pitched kitty snarl she was emitting became a low guttural roar.

Claws emerging, she leaped at Nalini's face.

Nalini frowned at her. “How rude,” she accused before lifting her hand and waving the backs of her fingers at the unicorn as if to sweep it aside.

The leaping panther popped out of existence a mere inch from reaching its target.

“What the—” I rushed forward, then spun in a circle, looking for my unicorn. Not even a puff of smoke or sparkles or anything signaled her disappearance. Circling back to face the calm woman who’d wished Holly away with a simple flick of her fingers, I cried, “What the f**k did you just do to her?”

I drew my dagger threateningly, ready to defend Quilla. But since my glamour showcased a young girl and my hands were still stuck together due to my shackles, I didn’t appear too intimidating. It looked like I had to hold the blade with two hands because it was too heavy for me to lift with one.

Quilla’s old-man glamour appeared at my side, swords in both her hands. Melaina rushed to our side, brandishing a weapon as well and thankfully remaining loyal to us.

“Hey! What’s going on here?” The ferry master called from his edge of the ferry where he was busy directing the flow of the boat. “No squabbles on my boat or you’re going overboard.”

“No squabbles here, dear,” Nalini assured him with a flirty smile, blowing him a kiss that caused him to blink as if she’d just blown dust in his eyes. “Forget you ever saw me or my two companions and go about your business now. All is well.”

He nodded and obediently turned away, murmuring a monotone, “All is well.”

“What the hell?” I whispered, realizing she’d just taken control of his mind and thoughts, even his memories. No ordinary, everyday magic could do that.

I gaped at Nalini just as she turned back to us, smiling pleasantly. My expression caused her an amused chuckle. “Relax, darling.” She fluttered out a non-concerned hand. “I assure you, your unicorn friend is fine. I just put her in time-out for a bit. I’m sure she’ll be waiting at the shore for you as soon as you dock.”

“That was insane,” Quilla murmured, her voice sounding as shocked as I felt.

“Wasn’t it, though?” Nalini agreed with a serious nod. “I mean, who throws a tantrum like that without any kind of provocation at all? I didn’t even threaten that hussy unicorn. Did you see me threaten her?”

“I saw you poof her out of existence and then mind control the ferry master into forgetting what he just saw,” Quilla countered.

But Nalini didn’t even seem to hear her rebuttal. She was still too busy being insulted by Holly’s behavior. “Honestly, just because I turned her great-whatever-grandmother into the most badass magical creature in existence doesn’t mean she can treat me like that? That was, like, nine generations ago. They should all just get the f**k over it by now, don’t you think?”

She glanced at both Quilla and me as if expecting an answer, but before we could say anything in return, she went on.

“Besides, I did that lying little cow, Margaret, a favor. I could’ve eliminated her entirely for deceiving me the way she did, but no. I was benevolent and spared her life. She could’ve died right then, a forgotten no one. And I was kind enough to alter her only a little for her deceptions. Which she more than deserved. Now you tell me, what would you rather be: a mystical being with unlimited powers that can heal and protect mankind and shift into any other animal you want, or would you rather be dead for betraying your entire world?”

Instead of waiting for a response, she once again kept talking before we could give one. “So her little half-breed horse descendant, Holly, should learn her place. b***h, just suck my ovaries, is what she can do...”

I glanced questionably at Quilla just as her old-man glamour sent me a similar glance. Nalini’s story sounded eerily like the one Melaina had told me about how the first Graykey ancestor had turned that one woman—Margaret Scott—into the first unicorn.