Mark of Love (Love Mark #3) - Linda Kage Page 0,75

“Proceed with the rest of your story, please.”

Melaina blinked at him, widening her eyes as if trying to keep herself from strangling him, then she cast me an accusative scowl. “Your mate is annoying as hell.”

No, really? “I’ve noticed,” I said.

Indigo merely smiled at me, as if charmed, probably because I hadn’t outright denied we were mates. But in my eyes, that was a given, so I was conceding nothing, and he was celebrating a false victory.

Rolling my eyes over his lame cheer, I decided to start a stew for supper, because I already knew this discussion would take forever. But as soon as I knelt by the fire pit from the night before to get it going again, Indigo leaped to his feet. “Oh, here. I’ll do that.”

He produced a fire striker and was coaxing a flame from the logs before I could even start. I blinked at him, then turned toward Melaina, sharing an exasperated glance with her.

But seriously, did the bastard have to butt in everywhere he didn’t belong? Now what was I supposed to do with my hands?

She shook her head. “I don’t even remember where the hell I was in this stupid story.”

“Some woman named Corandra Graykey was murdered from a tree that doesn’t exist,” Indigo provided helpfully, adding another log to the fire. “And instead of permanently dying—or possibly she did permanently die, if this is indeed her afterlife—she created the Outer Realms as an ideal refugee location for others who died from the same fake tree she did, which happened to be eighteen others. Right?”

“Right, thank you.” Melaina nodded and set her hands in her lap. “So Corandra shared her powers equally among the others.”

Indigo snorted. “Yeah, this is definitely sounding more and more like a Graykey-orchestrated story. The gracious, benevolent Graykey provided for her flock. I mean, give me a break.”

“Yes, well, it’s the only origin story I’ve ever heard about our happy little land here, so it’s this or nothing so far,” Melaina snapped. “Now, shut up and listen.”

“Fine.” He sighed and waved a hand and slumped back onto his tree stump. “All nineteen suddenly had equally magical powers. Not that this explains why everyone still doesn’t have them today, but whatever. Please continue with your enlightening tale.”

“I’m getting to that part, you impatient asshole. If you’d have just shut up and listened from the beginning, I probably would’ve told you why already, too.”

He cleared his throat, properly chastised. “You’re right. My apologies. Please continue.”

She didn’t seem to know how to respond to his sudden compliance.

“I’ll do nothing but listen from here on out,” he promised. “I love a good story, after all, whether it’s true or not.”

Melaina sniffed. “Fine,” she muttered. “So, anyway, the first nineteen had to complete a ritual in order to gain their powers and stay in the Outer Realms. They were each given an amulet, and after forming a circle around a fire, they chanted a few words together and then went around one by one, casting their stone into the flames, assigning themselves with a new name and identity in order to peel away from their old life and start anew. They could become any color, gender, or size they wanted, but all would have to forget their old lives and turn twenty-five again since I believe all of them were already older than that.”

“And that’s how the Outer Realms was born?” Indigo murmured, frowning thoughtfully.

Melaina nodded too. “And that’s how the Outer Realms was created,” she repeated in affirmation. “Once each person gave themself a new name, all their memories of the old world as well as who they were before faded. They started new here, from scratch. All of them, except Corandra. She gave herself a new identity too, but she didn’t lose her memories, because of course, all this was her doing. Later she learned one other also kept her knowledge of the old world as she didn’t give herself a new name when she cast her amulet into the fire. But she’s another story. After the ritual, Corandra gathered up all the stones—for they could not be destroyed in the flames—and they all became hers once more. It is believed that any of the original nineteen could have gone back to the old world with their amulet and taken the place of a person living there, switching dimensions with them, but all of them decided to try the unknown and start fresh in this new world since the old one had