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Around us, Far Shore soldiers filled the entrances at either end of the alley, where they stopped side by side, standing guard over their queen. I nodded toward them, pleased they were executing the very protocols I’d set up. Nicolette gave them no mind, however, too concerned about fretting over me.
“Let me see.” She reached for my wound, but I ducked my head to the side, out of her reach, certain she’d only make it worse if she got anywhere near me. Huffing at my reaction, she sent me a disgusted scowl and plopped her hands on her hips.
“Stubborn,” she muttered before demanding, “What happened? Your true love didn’t do this to you, did she?”
I blinked, her question sounding all wrong in my brain. “What?”
My true love?
What the hell was she talking about?
Her eyes flared as if she’d misspoke. Casting a worried glance toward her own true love, who was now standing above us and watching us converse, she turned back to me, quickly rephrasing, “I meant, he. He didn’t do this to you, did he?”
That question made even less sense to me than the first, so I frowned, wondering if my hearing was okay.
“I swear,” she went on, “if your mate hurt you in any way—”
“Nicolette.” I lifted my hand to get her to stop talking for a single minute so I could just get my mind back in order. I swear, my brain felt scrambled; I couldn’t process a full thought among her questions, and nothing she was saying sounded logical or coherent.
“My God,” she rambled on, not stopping at all but talking more, blinking at me as if she understood me less than I understood her. “How hard did he hit you?”
I had no idea who’d hit me at all, but I could at least answer that one. “Hard,” I said and put my hands on the ground so I could push my way to my feet. “Where are we?”
“Whoa, hey. Easy there.” Nicolette caught my arm when I wavered as I stood, and suddenly her husband was at my side too, slipping a hand under my armpit and helping me the rest of the way up.
“We’re still in Pinsky,” Farrow answered for Nicolette, frowning at me slightly as if he too were concerned about my welfare. “You parted ways with us only about an hour ago.”
“Parted ways?” I frowned at him briefly before turning to his wife. “I left you?”
That didn’t seem likely. I never left Nicolette. Since I’d been assigned to be her personal bodyguard nearly five years before, she’d been my sole responsibility. Not even her running off, getting married, and taking rule over a neighboring kingdom had scared me away from my duties of watching over her.
I didn’t leave her; I followed her. Wherever she went. She was my ward; I figured I would die at her side, protecting her.
So, why would I—?
“Indigo?” Catching the sleeve of my tunic, Nicolette gave me a jarring nudge, the frown between her eyebrows growing like it did whenever something worried her. “Do you not remember? You sensed your true love and took off after him.”
Him?
Why did she keep saying him when referring to my true love?
Because that really didn’t sound right. Something was most definitely wrong with my ears. Seriously, why would anyone refer to my true love as a male? I preferred women.
And why was she talking about my true love, anyway? I had no idea who that even was.
“Dear Lord.” Nicolette’s eyes suddenly widened with horror. “Do you remember anything?” Glancing up at Farrow, she bit her lip. “What if he has amnesia? Quick.” She turned back to me. “What’s my name?”
“He just called you by your name, love,” Farrow reminded her dryly.
“Oh. Right.” Frowning out her embarrassment, she cleared her throat before smacking me in the arm. “Don’t scare me like that. I thought you had amnesia.”
“Ouch.” I rubbed the spot she’d hit, and she immediately apologized.
“Sorry. I just want you to be okay.” Then she waved three digits in my face. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
I sighed. This was telling me nothing. Turning away, I studied our surroundings and squinted, trying to remember how I’d gotten here in the first place, why I would ever leave Nicolette, and what in God’s name she was talking about with true loves—er, more specifically, my true love?
I’d sensed my one true love once, about eleven years ago, in Warren—a village on the northern edge of Lowden—but I’d never gotten to see her face and thus lock on to her true essence. So after she’d passed out of my range, I’d lost sense of her and never felt her in my mark again.
