Mark of Love (Love Mark #3) - Linda Kage Page 0,41
something.”
“I—oh.” I palmed the side of the unicorn’s neck. “Color doesn’t matter. Just...” I wanted to tell her to simply please stop changing them because it was making her really stand out, but I didn’t want to upset her. From all the stories my mother had told me about unicorns when I was young, they didn’t like to be told what to do. They were proudly their own master and could be easily offended. And they were downright malicious to anyone they considered a foe. So the last thing I wanted to do was make her a foe.
“You should be whatever color you like most,” I suggested carefully.
“Ooh, pick the brown and white speckled one,” Melaina suggested. “You know, like a mix between Pinto and Appaloosa. Those are my favorite.”
Scowling at her for trying to steal my animal friend’s decision from her, I leaned closer to the unicorn and stroked her neck as I murmured, “You be whatever color you want to be.”
The unicorn’s hide immediately turned black and white striped, like a zebra’s, and its long mane shortened into a monochromatic spike.
“Uh...” This was not at all what I’d meant. I’d hoped for something inconspicuous so no one else would mess with her. But everyone would stare if I rode by on a freaking oversized zebra.
But I’d already told her to choose for herself, and I couldn’t take that back without being an ass and maybe upsetting her.
I cleared my throat. “Er, looks good.” And I patted her shoulder companionably.
Under me, the animal began to purr.
“I should really give you a name, though,” I added on an afterthought.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Melaina advised.
I looked up. “Why not?”
“Because she already has a name, you idiot. You’ll offend her if you start calling her something else.”
Slowing to a stop as I watched Melaina walk ahead, I blinked after her for a puzzled second before leaning forward. “Do you really already have your own name?” I whispered into the unicorn’s ear.
She nodded her head yes.
I flung my hands into the air. “Well, how the hell am I supposed to guess what to call you?”
The unicorn-horse-zebra began to drag her hoof through the dirt in the ground under us.
Frowning in confusion, I leaned over her shoulder and watched as she made strange marks that suddenly looked like letters until she spelled the word Holly.
“Holly?” I said.
The unicorn whinnied and tossed her head, affirming my guess.
My eyebrows lifted. “Your name is Holly?”
She nodded.
“Okay, then.” I bobbed my own head in satisfaction and patted her neck. “It’s nice to meet you, Holly. I’m Indigo.”
She began to purr.
A purring horse. So strange.
“Hey, guys,” I called while Holly hurried to catch us up with the other two riders. “I just learned the unicorn’s name.”
“Good for you,” Melaina muttered, uninterested.
Quilla ignored me completely.
For some reason, it didn’t feel as if I was making a very good first impression on my one true love. Not that I was too worried about that yet. I had the rest of my life to woo her into my good graces. Before too long, she wouldn’t be able to help but love me back.
But still…
It kind of caught in my craw that she didn’t seem even remotely curious about me.
“Well, it’s Holly,” I announced loudly for both her and her aunt to hear. “In case either of you ever needed to know.”
No one answered.
I leaned down to whisper in Holly’s ear, “Don’t mind them; I believe they're still learning their social skills.”
The unicorn-horse-zebra snuffled out a sound that remarkably resembled a laugh.
I began to pet her in gratitude, and she purred in response.
At least someone here got me.
Chapter 9
Indigo
We were heading south.
If my calculations were correct, we had crossed over the border of Far Shore an hour or so ago and we were now on High Cliff land. The territory in these parts had once been the kingdom of Teller, but a couple of generations back, it had been taken over, and now Teller was no more.
High Cliff country wasn’t a safe place for anyone with the name of Graykey to be. So wherever Quilla and her aunt were headed, it better be damn well worth the risk.
“Where are we going, anyway?” I decided to ask.
My true love ignored me, as she’d been doing for the past three hours. But Melaina cast me a teasing smirk. “Nowhere that concerns you, darling. Just sit back and enjoy the scenery like a good little trophy, won’t you, dear?”