Then Micah and Imogen announced their betrothal and he’d felt betrayed.
It was Imogen who sought him out on the battlements later that night. To thank him, she said, for making her feel as if she was important. She took his arm and a spark passed through her touch even as the wind blew cold. Because of the chill, no one else braved the night atop the castle. There was no one to see him tilt his head down intending to meet her cheek only to have her turn. His lips touched hers and nothing else mattered. The shyness he had come to expect was gone. Suddenly she was like the wind—pulling at him. They fumbled into one of the windmills where nothing else mattered but the warmth of her skin.
A week later Imogen found him again—this time to ask Andreus to keep his distance out of deference to his brother. Andreus wanted to ask her why she’d agreed to marry Micah, but she walked away before he had the chance. He’d told himself he didn’t care. One night—one girl was nothing to him. To prove it he’d found other women to enjoy and used them to try and wedge a shield between Imogen and his heart.
Standing here with her hand in his, he admitted that those shields had never really existed. He wanted to hold and protect her now just as much as he had in the windmill that night.
“Please, Imogen,” he said, taking her hand. “Tell me what I can do to help you.”
Her eyes brimmed with tears. “I cannot believe after all I have done you are willing to help me. And I am grateful but there is little that you can do. I know you don’t believe in the visions, my prince. Micah said you have always doubted, so there is no way for you to understand what it is like to live your life being ruled by faith. Until I came to the Palace of Winds, my voice to the wind was strong and my sight to the stars was clear. Never when I asked the stars for guidance did they betray me. But ever since coming inside these walls I have had only one vision. The Council believes the Guild lied about my abilities. That I am part of a plot against your family and the Kingdom of Eden. But I’m not. Micah told them I wasn’t and he had me . . .”
“What?”
She shook her head. “He had me pretend to have a vision about a snake hiding in the forest. A few days later Captain Monteros brought back the head of a man he said attacked him while he was riding through the trees.”
“Captain Monteros was rewarded for killing an Adderton spy.”
She nodded. “And Micah convinced the King my vision had been true. The King took my side, but Elder Cestrum told Micah he wasn’t convinced. He is still looking to replace me, and now that your father and Micah are gone, it won’t be long until he finds a way to remove my head.”
Her lip trembled and he pulled Imogen into his arms and tight against his chest.
“The Council will not harm you now. Not after what has happened already.”
“You are not that na?ve, my prince.”
No. He wasn’t. If the Council had their sights set on Imogen, Micah’s death would stall their plans, but not change their minds. And after his conversation with his mother today, he doubted the Queen would intercede. More likely than not she would do whatever was necessary to see Imogen’s head in a basket and a new seer installed in the Tower of Visions.
He wouldn’t allow that to happen. Holding her tight, he vowed, “I will do what I must to keep you safe. Just as Micah did.”
“Micah.” The word was a whisper before Imogen pushed away from his chest and out of his arms.
The jealousy he’d been denying for months clawed at him. Taking a deep breath, he shoved it back. “I am truly sorry for your heartbreak, Lady Imogen.”
She turned away from him and bowed her head so her hair draped over her face. “Your brother would have been a strong king. He asked me to marry him because he felt our union would make him stronger still, and I agreed because I thought it was the right thing to do for Eden. But I failed the kingdom and I can’t help but think I didn’t see what was coming in the stars because part of me didn’t want to.”
“What?”
“I should go.” Imogen grabbed her skirts and turned toward the door, but Andreus caught her before she could take a second step.
“What do you mean, Imogen?” His heart pulsed. Everything inside him went still. “Why wouldn’t you want to see what was going to happen?”
She shook her head and tried to pull her arm away. “I need to leave the castle. A true seer would never have let her own feelings get in the way of her visions. I wanted to care for you, brother, but he made it so hard. He knew nothing about me. Never asked where I came from or noticed what flowers I preferred. He wanted my power, not my heart, so he never cared that I had given it to another.” Imogen slowly turned and lifted her glistening eyes to meet his. “Soon your mother will take the throne and she and the Council will hold me accountable for my mistakes. I deserve to pay.”
“You did nothing wrong,” he insisted.
“Yes, I did,” Imogen said quietly. “I agreed to marry your brother, but I fell in love with you.”
Andreus stood there unmoving—staring at the seeress who had visited him in his dreams for months. None of the women he’d been with since could compare. So vulnerable. Beautiful. Sad. If she truly had powers, she was as dangerous and untouchable as ever. And she loved him.
When he said nothing, Imogen dropped her hand and sighed. “I shall leave you now.”
“Don’t.” Loss. Desire. Memories of the past. Uncertainty about the future. Duty to his family. But when she looked at him with her eyes filled with tears and regret, desire won out. He didn’t want to think about Micah tonight or his father or the fact that it was safer to let Imogen walk out the door. He was cursed. He should want to protect himself. Instead, he only wanted to hold her.
His mouth found Imogen’s in a gentle kiss that deepened and grew and made his body strain toward her. Her hands reached up and wove into his hair and once again there was nothing but the two of them. He pulled at the fastenings of his own clothes, then when she nodded at his unspoken question, began unfastening the ties of her dress.
Tomorrow would come and with it the grief of loss and regret. For now, he thought as she let him slip the dress off her shoulders so it pooled at his feet, they would comfort each other in the shadows.
If it damned them both, he didn’t care.