by Linda Kage
“Well, it looks like you’re personally pampering your gluttonous self,” Farrow was telling Indigo, “sitting on your lazy ass and getting a free ride in the most comfortable carriage in the kingdom, while you eat all the queen’s favorite fruit.”
“Hmm.” Indy lifted his brows, unconcerned by my husband’s assessment. “Funny how deceiving looks can be, isn’t it?”
I laughed, which caused Farrow to grumble under his breath, roll his eyes, then ride off again.
“Oh, no. I think you chased him away,” I accused on a pout.
Waving a dismissive hand, Indy answered, “He’ll be back. He always comes back for you, Nic.” Then he took another bite, munched a moment, and said, “He was right, though. I’m totally lazing about in here because it’s just too damn comfortable. Seriously, this is the life.” He gave a pleased sigh and wiggled about for a moment on his cushions before getting comfortable and asking, “Did you ever imagine we’d end up here when your brother assigned me to start guarding you?”
“Never in a million years,” I said honestly.
“Yeah,” he murmured, growing pensive. “Isn’t it strange how life works out?”
I nodded, watching him. He’d been oddly restless since we’d left Brill. Sure, he’d been hiding it well, but I could tell. He’d turned as clingy with me as he’d been the day Farrow had come to take me from Donnelly.
Worried about him, I opened my mouth to see if he was okay. I started to wonder if maybe he wanted to go home to Donnelly, or possibly even High Cliff where he was born. I’d given him the option to reject my offer with no hard feelings when I’d invited him to lead my armies, but he’d readily accepted.
Maybe he’d only done it out of obligation or friendship, though. I desperately wanted to keep him at my side; I adored the brother of my heart that he’d become. But I certainly didn’t want to make him feel tied to me or Far Shore in any way if he wished to leave.
But I didn’t get a chance to probe. Outside my carriage, the horses slowed to a stop. I peered out the window to find a crowd of villagers waiting to receive me.
“We’re here,” I announced, my stomach tightening with nerves.
“The last hurrah,” Indigo murmured, straightening in his seat and looking as uneasy as I felt.
I knew I should be used to this by now. This was my final stop on my royal tour; I’d been through this very song and dance many times now in the last moon cycle. But I still held my breath in anxiety as my door opened, and Farrow stood there, holding up a hand to help me descend.
What if they didn’t like me?
What if I failed them?
What if I messed everything up?
When my true love gazed up at me and winked in comfort, my nerves settled almost immediately. He’d never gotten the mark, but for some reason, he could still feel all my emotions as if he did have one.
So he was always there to calm me whenever I started to feel overwhelmed.
“Ready?” he asked.
Sucking in a bracing breath, I took his hand and stepped out into the light, waving and graciously smiling at the crowd that had gathered to look upon their new leader.
Pinsky’s baron strode forward to introduce himself and greet me. I shook with him, posing a few curious questions about the village he supervised and its people, but raised voices and activity down the street captured my attention.
“What’s going on down there?” I couldn’t help but wonder.
“That’s the square, Your Majesty,” I was told. “They’ve just started market for today. But if you’d like, we could halt it until you’re done with your tour.”
“Oh no, don’t be silly. The people need their daily market.” I brightened and started forward. “I’ve found myself in need of more grumpackers, in fact, so a visit to the market sounds quite lovely. I’d be honored to experience a little of Pinsky’s commerce, if that’s alright.”
“Absolutely not,” Farrow said with a shake of his head as he stepped into my path to bar my way.
“It’d be a security nightmare,” Indigo agreed, stepping next to him. “We’d never be able to keep you safe enough.”
Arching my eyebrows at them both, I lovingly touched the golden wrist guards that I’d managed to take back from Indy—but only after I’d commissioned Mydera to enchant a new set for him, his made of leather—and I said with a raised voice so the village’s baron could hear, “I think I can trust my own people not to try to assassinate me for merely walking along their streets and trying to learn more about their lives in order to better serve them. Don’t you, baron?”
“Oh, yes, Your Majesty,” he was quick to assure. “You’re quite safe here. The funds you sent along last moon cycle have already boosted our economy two-fold. It’s more than King Torrance ever sent us, in all his years of rule.”
I nodded and smirked saucily at my boys. “In that case, let us continue.”
Both Farrow and Indigo grumbled as we started up the road on foot, our processional causing everyone in front of us to pause and gape, rushing to make a path for us to walk freely among them, and yet remain entirely apart from them as well.
“I have such a bad feeling about this,” Indigo muttered, scratching irritably at his temple.
Farrow took my hand, however, and squeezed before he leaned in close. “As risky as it is for your safety, they’re going to love you after this, my queen. A ruler walking among the people. It’s never been done in Far Shore before.”
I grinned up at him only to become distracted by a hissed curse from my other side, as something was obviously bothering my bodyguard to no end.
Farrow and I looked at him together. But it didn’t appear to be an external threat that troubled Indigo. He pressed the palm of his hand to the side of his head and winced as if experiencing a severe migraine. I reached for him to ask if he was okay, only to realize what was happening.
“Oh my God,” I gasped, my fingers returning to Farrow and squeezing reflexively around him as excitement bloomed inside me. “She’s here, isn’t she?”
Indigo met my gaze, dazed and scared as hell.
“Yes,” he uttered, turning a little green as if he might vomit.
“Omigod, omigod, omigod!” I squealed in eagerness, throwing my arms around him and hugging him hard, only to find that he’d gone stiff with terror. “Indy, relax,” I said with a laugh, pulling back to hold the sides of his arms and study his pale face. “This is a good thing.”
“Care to clue me in on what’s happening here?” Farrow inquired conversationally when he appeared at my side. “Because you appear to be on the verge of jumping up and down and doing a victory dance while Moast looks like he’s going to cast up his accounts any moment. Meanwhile, all the people of Pinsky are staring at you two as if you’ve lost your damn minds.”
Ignoring everyone else, I focused on Indy as his breathing went ragged and he struggled to control his lungs. “Indigo is sensing his true love,” I finally informed Farrow.
“What!?” Farrow snapped shocked eyes to Indy. Then he broke into a broad grin. “Well, congratulations, buddy. Where is she?”
“She—she—” His eyes flared with panic. “Jesus Christ, I can’t do this. I already know she doesn’t have the mark, since she’s not here seeking me out as well. I’m going to have to get her to fall in love with me all on my own. Nic...” he rasped, squeezing my hands and pleading to me with his eyes for assistance.
“You can do this,” I told him in a calming, steady voice. “I mean, you’re one of my favorite people on the planet. Of course, you’ll sweep her off her feet, too. Now, let’s go find her and get started,” I encouraged.
He nodded but clutched my hand, not about to let go of me. “Okay,” he panted, only to wince and dodge his gaze around the market. “She, uh, she’s this way.”
“Then let’s go this way,” I encouraged, hooking my arm through his and tugging his resisting self along.
“Buck up, will you?” Farrow told him from the si
de of his mouth. “My God, you look like you’re being dragged to an execution. Women like a little more confidence in a man than this.”
Indigo sent him a dirty glare but stiffened his spine anyway and straightened his shoulders before giving a toss of his hair with his fingers, flicking it out of his eyes.
Uneasily turning to me, he quietly asked, “How do I look?”
Charmed by his nervousness, I squeezed his arm. “As handsome as ever.”
He bobbed his head, confirmed, and steered us around a turn, his gaze darting over the mob of people with an eager kind of hope before—he jarred to a frozen stop and stared fixedly at someone. I squinted in that direction but didn’t immediately spot a woman anywhere. Like any woman. There were a couple off to the side where he wasn’t really staring, but I only noticed a gob of men where he—
“Oh, shit,” Indigo croaked, spinning away and hurrying off, yanking me with him, because I still had my arm hooked with his.
“Indy!” I cried in surprise. “Wha—?”
“This can’t be right,” he mumbled, shaking his head frantically.
“What can’t—Indy! My God, stop!”
He gave another abrupt halt at my command but refused to acknowledge me, seemingly lost in his swirling, unsettled thoughts.
Farrow reappeared at my side. “What the hell just happened?”
“I—I have no idea.” I glanced at him, biting my lip, and shook my head.
With an impatient sigh, Farrow slapped Indy’s arm, gaining his attention. “Hey.”
Indigo sent him a sharp frown.
Farrow lifted his hands, silently demanding an explanation.
Indigo turned away with a sniff and ran a hand over his face. “Un-fucking-believable,” was all he muttered to himself, ignoring us once more.
“What is?” I cried, growing just as impatient as my husband. “What's wrong with her? Was she with another man or something?”
“No.” Cupping his head in his hands, he peered up at the sky as if to say, Why? Why did you do this to me?
“Too young?” I tried. “Too old? Too hideous?” Vexed by that idea, I slapped a hand to my hip and scowled. “Indigo Moast, if you’re trying to deny your tie to your true love just because of the way she looks, I swear—”
“What?! No! I would never deny my true love anything,” he snarled savagely, glaring at me for even suggesting such a thing. “This has nothing to do with the way he—” Breaking off when he realized he’d just said too much, he winced and hissed out a curse.
My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. When I turned to Farrow to see if he’d just heard what I’d heard, I saw that his jaw had dropped in sheer shock.
We spun back to a gray-faced Indigo.
Fearing he just might pass out, I cleared my throat delicately, but I also had to know, so I whispered, “I’m sorry, but did you just say he?”
Sweat dripped down the side of his face. Sending me a warning glance, he lifted his finger as if daring me to comment further.
So Farrow elected himself to be our collective spokesperson and blurted, “Not that it matters, but I thought you preferred women.”
“I do!” Indigo snapped, appearing as if he were about to burst a vein. “I’ve never had any interest otherwise.”
Farrow and I exchanged a hesitant glance before Farrow spoke again, saying, “Are you sure?”
Indy narrowed his eyes heatedly. “Did you really just ask me that? I think I know which gender makes my cock hard.”
My eyebrows arched at his blunt, unrefined words. He’d never been so crude in front of me before. This male-for-a-true-love thing really had him rattled.
And Farrow utterly enjoyed rattling his cage even more. With an amused quirk of his lips, he said, “Well, maybe you’ll learn to change your mind.”
“Change my—?” Indigo started incredulously, only to decide arguing with Farrow must not be worth it. Lofting his chin haughtily, he announced, “People are what they are and prefer what they prefer, and no amount of force or cajoling is going to get me to change my predisposition. And dammit, I like women! Understood?”
“Okay, fine,” I told him, patting his arm in reassurance. “Maybe, uh...” I glanced toward Farrow for assistance. He shrugged, no help at all.
With a groan, I turned back to my friend, and inspiration struck. “Maybe your truest love won’t be one of passion.”
He eyed me warily but said nothing, so I went on, encouraged. “Yeah, maybe you two are merely to become best friends. Like close brothers with an unbreakable bond.”
With a scoff, he shook his head. “I have never heard of a matched pair that wasn’t sexually compatible, too. Besides, it’d be more like a grandfather, grandson match between us, anyway, not brothers. He’s much too old to be—”
“He’s old?” I blinked in surprise, growing more and more curious by the moment. Fate sure had picked an interesting surprise for my bodyguard. “Just which fellow is it?”
Indigo blew out a breath and motioned vaguely with his finger. “The vendor with the hand cart, selling loaves of bread over there.”
Farrow and I turned together, making it incredibly obvious who we were checking out.
“Stop staring at him like that!” Indy hissed protectively. “You’ll unnerve him.”
But I was too busy blinking in surprise to conceal anything. “Oh!” I breathed.
Beside me, Farrow whirled to blink at Indigo, pointing openly as he cried, “Him?”
The stooped-over man did indeed look old enough to be our grandfather, possibly great-grandfather. He paused in selling his wares, watching us from across the market, completely aware we were discussing him.
His weathered skin wrinkled and sagged over his body like sheets on an unmade bed. With more weight pooling around his middle than most people kept, he stopped hobbling along with a lopsided limp where he’d slowly been pushing the cart and seemed to grow flustered and upset under our stare.
I honestly had no idea what to say about him. He didn’t even seem to be kind. His jowls hung loose from his pinched lips, and his bushy eyebrows were puckered in permanent displeasure as he moodily scowled at us for merely gazing upon him.
I turned to Farrow who was similarly struck as he stared, until he squinted and tipped his head to the side, saying, “You know, maybe he’s not—”
When he broke off suddenly, Indigo pressed hopefully, “Not what?”
Farrow waved a hand, dismissing whatever he’d been about to say. “Nothing.”
Indigo wilted in defeat. “Something’s just not right here,” he announced insistently. “My mark clearly recognizes him as mine. But…” He shook his head. “I’ve no idea what we would ever have in common.”
“Well, you’re not going to solve the mystery cowering over here with us,” I said, grasping for logic before giving him an encouraging push. “Just go over and start a conversation with the man. See what happens.”
That idea seemed to intimidate Indigo more than anything. He shifted a step in reverse. “But what do I say? He’ll think I’m insane if I announce that we’re—God. I can’t even say it. And yet…” Yearning ripped through his eyes as he returned his gaze to the bread vendor. “Just looking at him makes my heart—hey! Where’s he going?”
The object of our interest seemed to grow paranoid under Indigo’s, Farrow’s, and my attention. He had packed his bread back into the cart with a rush and was shuffling his merchandise away toward another street.
Forgetting about me and Farrow and the fact he’d been so against me wandering out in public, Indigo completely abandoned his post as my personal bodyguard and darted after the old man.
“Sir?” he called respectfully, dodging and rushing around people to catch up. “Sir, wait!”
“Uh, did we just lose the leader of our army?” Farrow asked conversationally.
I shrugged. “Possibly. I have a feeling he won’t return to us until he gets his mate secured, anyway.” Turning to him, I lifted a single eyebrow
. “So what were you going to tell him but stopped yourself from saying at the last moment?”
His eyes glittered with mischief. “What makes you think it was anything of consequence?”
“Because I know you better than anyone.” I nudged him playfully in the gut to get him to talk. “Now, spill it.”
Chuckling, he caught my hand and brought it to his mouth for a kiss. “My clever, perceptive wife,” he murmured lovingly. “I was merely going to ease his mind, but then I decided I was having too much fun watching his distress that I had to fall silent again.”
I crinkled my brow. “Fall silent about what exactly?”
“In the brothel where I grew up,” he explained, “some of the women who could obtain magic potions would glamour themselves to look better than they actually did, because it’d get them more clients and more money. The only problem with glamour magic is that it’s very susceptible to the elements. Soil, water, fire, wind. Too much of any of those, and it wipes the glamour right off. And that man of Indigo’s had hands that kept changing as the wind hit them. I’d say it’s a good chance he was wearing a glamour and disguising his true appearance.”
My lips parted. “So he very well could’ve been a woman after all?”
And he’d neglected to tell Indy this?
Oh, the wicked, wicked man. I shook my head, fighting off my own smile, as he snickered gleefully in return. “I have no idea what’s under that glamour, but it’s not what we saw with our eyes.”
I cocked my head, confused. “But why would any woman make herself look like...” My nose wrinkled. “Well, like he looked?”
“That is the question of the day,” Farrow agreed. “And I have a feeling our friend is about to do everything within his power to discover the answer for himself.”
Grinning, I rose up on my toes and kissed his jaw. “Well, whoever he or she is, let’s hope those two go through a lot less of a headache than we had to, to find their way to each other.”
“Indeed,” Farrow agreed.
2nd Epilogue
Mydera