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I’d called after him, trying to gain his attention, so unless he was hard of hearing—which wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility, considering his age—he had flat-out ignored me. On purpose.
Not very polite.
For all he knew, I’d just wanted to buy a damn loaf of bread off his trolley. Why’d he have to do me that way?
The fucker had moved fast too. There was something off about that as well. For as much as he’d limped when I’d first seen him, all off-balance as if he were hindered by a bum leg, one would think he wouldn’t have escaped so easily. But as soon as I’d made it through the horde he had disappeared into, I’d found his cart of bread abandoned by the side of a road, and he was nowhere to be found.
Tilting my head, I frowned at his wagon, then closed my eyes and let the mark take over, guiding me in the right direction. Oh yeah, I was definitely locked on to his essence now. From this point on, no matter where he went, I’d be able to follow.
Curiosity took over as I tracked his trail, catching sight of him up ahead of me every so often. Seriously, why was he running? This made no sense.
His attire seemed to change every glimpse I caught of him, too. He’d lifted a green scarf to cover his head once, then had acquired a straw hat from somewhere the next time. When I saw him dart into an alley not long after that, my grin spread.
“Gotcha,” I whispered.
I was so sure I’d be able to catch up to him there with fewer crowds and obstacles obstructing my path. But when I reached the mouth of the backstreet, I found him leaping into the saddle of a waiting horse with way too much agility and grace for a man of his advanced years.
“Hey!” I yelled, growing frustrated by the injustice of the moment.
But he wasn’t supposed to get away.
Besides, what had I done to scare him off in the first place?
I started after him on foot, as he wheeled his horse around and took off toward the opposite end of the alley. I’d just reached the halfway point and noticed that odd bell hanging from the wall when someone had rung my bell.
I swear, I had literally heard my brain gong inside my head when I was struck.
I don’t remember hitting the ground, but I did open my eyes once, not long after that, I think, because I heard footsteps race off as whoever had hit me fled the scene. It couldn’t have been my one true love who’d struck me, either. He’d clearly been ahead of me, escaping, and the culprit had come up on me from behind.
Then something had licked my face, probably the damn cat who was even now approaching to wind its body between my feet and rub its tail up against my calf.
“Indy!” Hands suddenly clapped in front of my face, and I blinked the Queen of Far Shore into focus. “Say something,” Nicolette demanded impatiently, as if this wasn’t the first time she’d tried to get my attention. “You’re scaring me.”
“I’m fine,” I murmured, shoving her hand out of my face so I could pat myself down to see if I’d been mugged. “Someone else hit me,” I finally answered. “Not my true love.”
“Oh. So you do remember? Thank God.”
Finding all my weapons and money still on me, I frowned. Huh. I guess whoever had attacked hadn’t been interested in robbing me.
Had they been in league with the old man, trying to help him get me off his trail?
That didn’t make sense.
But nothing made sense right now, so I wouldn’t scratch the idea off the list, either. This must mean it was likely my mate had an accomplice.
But an accomplice to what?
And why hadn’t he acted so old when he’d been avoiding me?
Why hadn’t he even wanted to talk to me?
I knew none of these answers, but I was going to figure all of them out.
If it was the last thing I did, I’d find out the truth about him.
“Indigo.” Nicolette took my arm firmly. “Why don’t we take you back to the royal caravan waiting at the edge of the village and have a healer look you over? Alright?”
I didn’t have time for a fucking healer. My true love was getting away.
