Page 5 of Mark of Love (Love Mark 3)

Aunt Melaina bubbled out an incredulous laugh. “Oh, I know you did not just suggest I leave my two teenage children alone in an alternate universe without any kind of adult supervision. Nice, Taiki. Real nice.”

“Fine, then,” Aunt Taiki bit out. “You stay there with Questa and Quailen. Quilla and I will come back at the end of the transference.”

Aunt Melaina didn’t answer for a minute. We reached the stables, and she shoved her children inside before spinning to grab hold of the front of Aunt Taiki’s cloak. Teeth gritted, she snarled, “You and I have been planning this escape for sixteen fucking years, and now you’re trying to tell me we’re not going to end up together? No. Fuck, no. I don’t accept that.”

Tears glistened on Aunt Taiki’s cheeks as she tenderly cupped Aunt Melaina’s face in her hands. “I don’t know what else to do.”

More blood appeared at the corner of Aunt Melaina’s eyes. “Easy. You give us a happily ever after where we end up fucking together.”

Aunt Taiki sputtered out a tortured laugh and pressed her brow to Aunt Melaina’s. “God, I’m going to miss your awful sense of humor.”

“I wasn’t joking.” Aunt Melaina squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “I can’t do this without you. I just can’t. There has to be another way.”

“I’ll still be with you,” Aunt Taiki assured, her voice quieting to a whisper. “Right up to the very end when Quilla and I are pulled back to the Outer Realms, I’ll be right by your side.”

Aunt Melaina sniffed and wiped blood from her cheeks. “Promise?”

“Always and always. Now, go. We need to hurry.” She urged Aunt Melaina to enter the stable ahead of her, then she turned back to check on me.

Remembering my presence, Aunt Melaina hissed and narrowed her eyes my way as we hurried past stalls full of horses. “I don’t see why she has to come, though.”

“Because she’s an innocent child, and it’s the right thing to do,” Aunt Taiki reasoned. Then she ruffled my hair affectionately, as if to soothe the sting of the other woman’s bitter words. “Besides, I like her.”

“You like her? How?” Aunt Melaina’s expression soured. “She’s annoying as hell. And we’re not even really saving her, you know. Without an amulet, she’ll just return here again, anyway.”

“Well, at least she’ll have a better chance this way. It may be weeks or moon cycles before we’re pulled back. The reaping will probably be over by then. If she stays here now, someone else will get their hands on her and kill her. You know they will. And if someone who’s not immune to the bloodlust takes her powers, then how will this realm fare?”

“Hopefully it’ll be destroyed,” Aunt Melaina muttered under her breath. “Like it deserves.”

“Lain,” Aunt Taiki said, her voice full of warning. “Behave.”

“Why?” Aunt Melaina shot back. “Tell me, what has anyone here done to help either of us, except stand aside and gawk while we were captured by the fucking Graykeys, and then turn a blind eye while we were held prisoner, forced to marry, and tortured for the past sixteen years?”

“Well, we were each blessed with three children of our own,” Aunt Taiki tried, always one to look at the bright side of things. “And we found each other. So it wasn’t all awful.”

“Right.” Aunt Melaina sliced a dry glance her way. “Three children each, to which all three of yours ended up being evil and were consumed by the reaping just now.”

Aunt Taiki didn’t have a reply for that. Her inner brightness seemed to dim and wither as stark grief filled her expression.

I didn’t think Aunt Melaina should’ve said that to her. Wanting to comfort her, I squeezed her hand. Aunt Taiki smiled sadly at me and squeezed back.

“Where are we going?” I asked to distract her and because none of what she and Aunt Melaina had been saying made any sense to me.

“We’re going to take a little trip,” Aunt Taiki explained as we followed Aunt Melaina into an empty stall where Questa and Quailen were waiting nervously. “And then you and I will come back while Melaina, Questa, and Quailen stay behind. Okay?”

“But—”

“Shh.” She smoothed down my hair. “Trust me, baby. We’ll be safe there; I promise.” Then she winked and let go of my hand.

I watched as she stepped toward Aunt Melaina.

Together, the two women stood side by side and lifted their arms toward the back wall of the stable stall. In unison, they began to chant in the magical tongue, and as they spoke foreign words that sounded dark and ominous, the outline of a round tunnel began to appear before us with crackling, electric white light rimming the entrance. They didn’t stop repeating the incantation until the entire portal was lit up.

Then, the five of us just stood there before it, staring in awe, until Quailen murmured an awestruck, “Whoa.”

“You first,” Aunt Melaina murmured, nudging Aunt Taiki forward. “I’ll go last and make sure to close the breach behind us.”

Aunt Taiki nodded in compliance before handing her own amulet over to Aunt Melaina. Then she glanced down at me as if to say goodbye, and she stepped toward the glowing portal.

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