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Melaina shook her head cluelessly, only to ask, “What does that mean?”
I shook my head too. “I’m not sure.” I returned my gaze to Quilla. “But I had a similar sensation like that happen to me once. To my love mark. I was in Far Shore, following Nicolette before she took over the reign. They didn’t take well to High Clifters being in their realm then, and this one band of locals set up a magical booby trap of sorts to catch my kind. The moment someone with a love mark stepped into the area they had sectioned off with a magical ward, an alarm would alert them to the trespass, and they could thereafter track the intruder. It’s how I ended up on a damn pyre about to be burned at the stake.”
Taking Quilla's arm, I lifted it to look at her mark. “I think someone here has a similar trap set up for Graykey marks. And you’ve just sprung it.”
Melaina shifted suddenly closer. “What’re you saying?”
“I’m saying we need to prepare because we’re about to get company. Violent company.” I glanced around, thinking quickly. When I spotted the unicorn, an idea formed. “Holly! Can you fly?”
Wings immediately grew from either side of her shoulders. They were great, white, feathered beauties that probably spanned fifteen feet when she spread them open, showing them off. She began to flap them so she could levitate a foot off the ground, and the wind current they created blew my hair back and pressed my tunic against my chest, making me take a step in reverse to catch myself.
I blinked, struck dumb for a second. “Um…” Well, that answered the flying question for sure, but, hmm…
“I, uh, I was thinking something a bit more inconspicuous. Like taking the form of a bird, possibly.”
Holly immediately turned into a pink flamingo.
Closing my eyes briefly, I bit back a sigh before wincing and saying, “Maybe something that’s indigenous to the area perhaps.” I really hated stifling her more flamboyant tastes, but I had an important mission here, and time was of the essence. “Something that blends in well.”
Please don’t get pissed off, I silently begged. But Holly didn’t seem offended by my agitated suggestions, and the flamingo promptly melted into an icy black raven.
“Yes!” I snapped my fingers and pointed. “Perfect. Thank you. Do you think you could fly above and scout the area? Let us know if it appears that anyone might be searching for us?”
Holly cawed in consent and took to the air.
“Now, you two,” I ordered, nodding toward Quilla and Melaina as I tugged my all-key from the necklace that rested inside my shirt. “Gather all the weapons you have and prepare yourselves for battle.”
“Battle?” Melaina repeated incredulously as I tucked the key pendant between my teeth then brought the shackles at my wrists up to my mouth. “Are you exaggerating about some non-existent threat again, boy? Just like you did at the canyon—hey!”
Her mouth dropped open as I unlocked my shackles.
“What the hell?”
I glanced down as the chains fell away from my wrists and landed on the ground between my feet. “Oh. Sorry, you probably want these back.” I bent and picked them up, then tossed them her way. “Here you go.”
She caught the chains against her chest and kept staring at me as if I’d lost my mind. “So you could get out of those any time you wanted?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” I answered in a distracted voice, as I rushed to my pack and began to yank out weapons.
“Then why the hell did you keep wearing them this whole time?”
I glanced at my true love’s aunt as I clicked my magical leather wrist guards into place where the shackles had been. “You’re the one who said I’d be more appealing to her with them on.”
“And you actually believed me?”
I shrugged and pocketed a handful of daggers. “I mean, it didn’t hurt anything to test the theory.”
“So you’ve been lying to us this whole time?” Quilla broke in.
Pausing, I took in her expression. She looked so aghast and betrayed I immediately shook my head. “I wasn’t lying. I was being accommodating.” I could be accommodating when I wished. “I was trying to be considerate and mindful of your wishes. And you seemed to be more at ease with me bound, so I remained bound. For you.”
“For me?” she sputtered as if that idea were preposterous.
“Well, it certainly wasn’t for me,” I countered, circling her and Melaina as I scanned the area for invaders. “If I wanted to do anything for my own benefit, I would’ve taken the damn things off days ago! Do you realize how inconvenient it is for your hands to be bound together all day long?”
She slapped stern fists to her hips as she turned to follow my progress with a scowl. “So what the hell else can you do that you haven’t told us about?”
I gave her a quick grin. “All kinds of things.”
