WAIT FOR LOVE (Lovemark #4)

7. Unity

7

Unity

I inconspicuously followed my true love from the outskirts of Elaina and deeper into the city, where we slunk past businesses and down darkened alleys, around corners, and under the overhangs of permanently built markets. He seemed to know exactly where he was going, which made me wonder how often he had traveled these paths before and for what reasons.

In one alley, a hand reached out from the dark and grabbed the hem of my cloak. I gasped and shifted away, immediately jerking out of the grip. But when I glanced down, I found a beggar sitting against the wall in the dirt. He looked emaciated, half-starved, and too old to do anything much past just sitting there. My heart wrenched with pity.

Before I knew what I was going to do, I’d plunged my hand into the pockets of my cloak.

Surprisingly, I felt the cool metallic brush of coins against my fingertips. Nalini hadn’t sent me off empty-handed, I guessed. So I gripped the tokens and brought a few out, sprinkling them into the outstretched hand.

Except as soon as I did that, scuffling came from the other side of the alley and then further down the path. I glanced up to see an old woman rising from the wall and reaching out her gnarled fingers to receive a handout as well.

I stepped toward her, only to realize she wasn’t the only one whose attention I had gained. Another half a dozen silhouettes shifted in the night, coming alert to get their own coin. Jarring to a halt, I glanced in a panic at all the souls needing help. I didn’t have enough money to help them all. And if I stayed here, I was going to be mobbed.

When I eased a step back, they lurched forward with more enthusiasm, sensing my unease.

Oh dear. Spinning toward the entrance of the alley, I took off running for freedom. Now I understood why Ollie hadn’t paused to help anyone. He’d kept an almost-ominous, determined stride that warned anyone who spotted him to keep their distance.

Why hadn’t I done the same?

Someone caught up with me enough to grasp the cloth of my cloak, and I felt the material tear, but I kept going, reaching the end of the alley and twisting around a corner to escape. The good news was no one seemed healthy enough to follow me for long—if you could call having unhealthy homeless people in your city good, which I really couldn’t. But in managing to escape them, I’d lost my visual on Olivander, too.

He was long gone by now.

No matter. Once I felt like I’d found myself in a quiet, safe enough place to pause, I closed my eyes and searched him out through the mark.

He was still on the move, but I was able to lock in on which direction he was going, so I went that way as well, avoiding alleyways as I went, only to learn all too soon that armed guards patrolled the open roadways.

“Ho there,” an authoritative voice called, followed by the clanking of metal and armor as footsteps approached.

I paused, then slowly turned around. Two guards stormed close, one pulling a sword threateningly.

“What’re you doing out after curfew?”

Curfew?

I blinked. Since when had Elaina gotten a curfew? Wait. Had it always had a curfew? I’d never even thought of sneaking out of the castle after dark when I was younger, so I guess I wouldn’t really know. Great. This is what I got for being such a stupid, obedient child my whole life.

“We asked you a question, boy?” one of the guards demanded, roughly grabbing my arm and jostling me until the hood of my cloak fell, exposing my face. “What’re you—”

They both gasped.

“You’re a woman,” one uttered in shock.

I nearly rolled my eyes. Yes, I was a woman. Why were they looking at me as if they’d never actually seen a woman before?

“Look at all that golden hair,” the other murmured as if in a trance as he reached out to grip a handful of my locks.

Wait. Did he just say golden? My hair was golden? As I smacked his hand away, I glanced askance to get an eyeful of a pale, wheat-colored blond. Whoa! I was not expecting light hair when Nalini had said she was going to glamour me. This was so weird. I immediately grabbed a lock for myself and ran it between my fingers, entranced.

“How much?” the guard asked abruptly.

I blinked at him incredulously, freezing in the middle of holding out a strand of my own tresses. “For my hair? Uh, it’s not for sale.”

“For an hour?” the other clarified, looming closer, his eyes glittering with malicious intent. “For each of us.”

My brow furrowed. It took me a moment to realize what they meant. When I finally caught on, I dropped the piece of hair and drew out an over-long, “Oh… You mean…?” Yes, they definitely meant that. Flittering out a laugh and glad I could clear things up, I pressed my hands together and explained, “No, no. I’m not for sale either.”

They glanced at each other, confused, then turned back to me. “Then what’re you doing out after curfew?”

“Really?” I said dryly. “You think the only reason a woman would be out on the streets at this time would be because she wants to sell herself?” What kind of ignoble, heathen royal guards had I stumbled across? Ollie would be livid if he learned one of his father’s men was treating me this way.

Both guards blinked as if I’d just asked the most unreasonable question. Then one of them snorted and jabbed his elbow at the other. “Guess that means she’s free, eh, Cicero?”

“Free’s even better,” the one holding the sword slid his blade back into its scabbard so he could rub his hands together and step toward me.

I backed away, yelping, “Are you kidding me right now? You spot a lone woman after dark and immediately think she’s ripe for the plucking? And you swore an oath of chivalry and valor? To protect the innocent and weak? How disappointing. What if I was trying to seek help because someone had just robbed my home or burnt it down, or maybe I was coming from a sick relative’s house. Or—”

One grabbed me harshly and slapped a hand over my mouth. “Looks like we got ourselves a talker.”

“No worries. I know just how to keep that busy mouth occupied,” the other chortled as he reached for the laces holding his britches up.

I knew exactly what he intended to do; the headmistress’s naughty scroll had actually contained illustrations for this very act. But no way was he putting that in my mouth.

I bit down on the meaty part of the hand covering my face, and the guard yelped a curse, instinctively shoving me away from him.

“How dare you?” I growled as soon as I was free of him. “I am a mated woman.”

“Don’t worry, precious. Your man will be honored that he got to share you with a pair of royal guards.”

With a haughty sniff, I shot back, “I highly doubt that. As the only royal thing you two are is disgusting. Now get your royally disgusting asses away from me.”

“Heh. This hoity-toity b***h needs to learn her place,” the one not babying his bitten hand against his chest announced.

Then he struck, lurching toward me, both arms extended to grab me, but I was ready this time. Ducking, I swept out my leg and tripped him. As his feet went airborne, he landed heavily on his back, where his armor acted like a turtle’s shell and rendered it impossible for him to speedily pop back to his feet again.

The other guard roared indignantly as he charged toward me. I whirled out of his path, but he was able to reach out and snatch a handful of my long, golden mane.

Gasping from the pain as I felt some of it tear free at the roots, I kept spinning in a complete circle and rotated back into him, plowing forward with all my energy.

We both plummeted toward the ground, but I landed on top.

As he lost his grip on my hair, I immediately rolled off him, landing on my hands and knees, where I pushed off the ground, already charging down the street away from them by the time I fully had myself upright again.

They shouted from behind me, but I had a better head start. I darted around two more corners before I jarred to a halt and pressed my back into the shadow of a looming building.

Clanking footsteps pounded past, but I still waited another minute before I blew out a relieved breath and let my entire weight sag against the wall behind me.

Well, there was one life experience I guess I could checkmark off my list. Narrowly avoided a r**e. Yes, let’s not repeat that one again, shall we?

Wow, but that had been unpleasant. I was learning quite a lot tonight.

I’d always known I was pampered and privileged and protected. Olivander had ensured that I’d never want for anything, and the academy that he’d sent me to had kept me just as safe and snug at the school as he had at the castle. But I was truly ignorant about the ways of the real world, wasn’t I?

When I was nothing but a stranger and no one knew I was a prince’s mate, I finally saw the truth of how people actually treated each other.

What an uncomfortable, eye-opening revelation.

I think I was ready to return to my pampered, privileged, protected life now. Which made me realize I needed to actually catch up with my mate to accomplish that. I’d really lost him in my scuffle with the guards. But strangely, after feeling him again through the mark, I was surprised to find he wasn’t that far away at all.

Frowning, I flipped the hood of my cloak back over my head and hurried down the dark street I was hiding in, not pausing but hurrying my pace when I heard others stirring in the shadows. Finally, I came around the corner to see his silhouette up ahead, entering a doorway.

What was this? I’d never seen this building before.

It certainly wasn’t the castle. The pale stone exterior held no bastions, no turrets, no moats or palisades or buttresses that a castle might have. And it wasn’t guarded by a single person. Besides, I knew the castle, and this was not it. This place was new.

I could tell it still held much significance in the city, though. It rose higher than any other structure around it and it spanned twice as large as its neighbors. The windows had rounded, arched tops, and clear rock had been installed in them while columns decorated the front with the two center posts bracketing the double wooden doors that marked a grand entrance.

My lips parted as I realized this must be the library.

My God, but it was beautiful.

They hadn’t started constructing it until a year after my departure for the academy, while the kingdom had been in the middle of their great war with Lowden to overthrow the Graykey crown. But Olivander had written about it to me in detail.

The library was his pride and joy. Every wall, shelf, table, and chair had been constructed to his specifications. I wanted to follow him inside and see what the interior looked like, but I paused, not ready to be caught by him quite yet. It’d only worry him if he knew I was out after curfew and had experienced a not-so-pleasant confrontation with a pair of disgusting guards.

I had no wish to worry him—I was here to help, not make matters worse—so I’d just wait until later to make my presence known.

Keeping out of sight, I watched and waited for nearly a quarter of an hour before he exited the library again. He carried something in his hand, but I couldn’t ascertain what it was. A scroll possibly? It was hard to tell. I fell back into step behind him, keeping my distance as he started off, managing to elude both guard and beggar along the way.

When he paused in the city center, a flat square of cobbled ground where it would be teeming with vendors and buyers in only a few hours to house the morning market, I frowned, wondering what the heck he was doing. But Olivander only approached a wall where numerous postings had been tacked—wanted signs, ground for sale, missing animals that needed to be found, jobs available for interested workers, or interested workers available for jobs. Then he lifted the rolled-up piece of parchment he’d been carrying since he’d left the library and he hung the notice from a jagged nail jutting from the wall. After reading it over once, he nodded to himself and turned away.

Curiosity had already gotten me this far, so I went ahead and darted forward to see what kind of sign he’d hung on the wall.

Wanted: Female assistant needed to fill governing duties. Reading and writing skills required. A basic understanding of proper decorum preferred. Loyalty and discretion a must. Apply with the attorney, Blockton, above the butcher’s shop.

I blinked, wondering why in the world he was seeking a freaking governess. Certainly, he didn’t think I needed one.

Did he?

Or did this have more to do with the three R-generation Graykeys he was searching for. If so, that would mean he didn’t plan to kill the children as his father would wish. And it would also explain why he was being so secretive.

Even filtering the applicants through Blockton, his personal man of affairs, told me he wanted to keep his name out of the loop. Not a lot of people knew Blockton worked for him, so they probably wouldn’t be aware they were applying for a position with a prince whenever they sought employment.

Thinking that he wanted to help Graykeys, however, was even more boggling to me than my initial thought that he was out to harm them.

What in the world was going on?

Snagging the thin slip of parchment from its nail, I stuffed it into my pocket and hurried after my very secretive mate. Maybe I’d wait a bit to reveal my true self after all. I’d just been illuminated quite clearly how people treated you differently when they had no idea who you were; I wanted to see what I could learn from Olivander when he had no idea who I was. Because I was almost certain he wouldn’t tell me the truth of the matter if I exposed myself now. He’d want to protect me and keep me out of it; I’m sure.

Well, there was no way he was keeping me out of this.

I started after him again, wondering where we were going this time, but it seemed as if we were finally returning to the castle. When I spotted the first spiked tower thrust proudly into the night sky, my chest filled with radiance.

Home.

I was home again.

I was so giddy with the thought of sleeping in my own bed after nearly nine years of absence that it took me a moment to realize Olivander wasn’t entering the palace through the main guarded entrance; he was slipping around to the side to where I had no idea a secret passageway was located.

I scowled, indignant that he’d never shown me this before! I mean, he’d shown me some secret tunnels, but never any that led out of the castle.

Huh. Methinks my mate had taken his guardianship of me to the extreme. He’d kept me more coddled and naive and safe in the palace than I ever would’ve guessed.

That was the first thing that was going to change between us.

But I was glad he was unknowingly showing me the private way in now, since I hadn’t yet thought through how I would’ve gotten past the main guards at the gate otherwise. This was so much handier and more convenient. I had a feeling I was going to learn a lot about Olivander while he couldn’t sense me.

Thank you, Nalini, I silently projected my gratitude. This might be exactly what I needed after all.

Following Olivander down interior hallways was much more difficult than it had been outside in the open, however. Every single step on the stone floor echoed through the corridor horribly. I slipped my boots off with a wince and set them down, figuring I’d come back for them later, before silently tiptoeing along.

Oh, yeah. That was tons better. But I had to wait for Olivander to turn two corners before I followed him around one. Outside, I’d been able to dive into a nearby shadow if he happened to glance behind him. But here, there was nowhere to hide.

As the passages grew more familiar, I drew out a sigh of relief. His bedchamber was just around this turn, and mine was one more beyond that. After waiting until I no longer heard his footsteps, I hurried around the corner, only to pull up short with a squeak of alarm when the tip of a sword suddenly flashed out, aiming directly at my throat.

Gasping when the blade stopped a hair length from nicking my pulse that was currently fluttering anxiously on the side of my neck, I lifted my chin slowly to give myself a little more breathing room. Then, with an uneasy swallow, I shifted a step back, only to mutter a curse when my back met the wall.

Once I was securely trapped between the weapon and unrelenting stone, the bearer of the sword finally emerged from the shadows.

“If you keep following me like this,” Olivander said as he stepped into the limelight of the sconces flickering overhead. His blade nudged my flesh with a gentle but a very real and ominous threat as pale blue eyes narrowed shrewdly. “I’m going to start thinking you either want to kill me or seduce me.”