Page 55

‘Then you’d better tell me a secret to make up for it.’

‘I don’t think any of my secrets make good pillow talk.’

‘Oh yes, mister perpetually dark and mysterious,’ she teased.‘You’ve not got a single thing you could tell me that won’t make me shudder with horror.’I couldhearher rolling her eyes.

The corner of my mouth twitched despite myself.‘Keep that up and I’ll give you back to the pixies.’

‘Just when I was starting to think I could like you,’ she said, smacking me lightly on the chest.‘You had to go and remind me that you’re a fiend.’

‘Only when you don’t do as you’re told.’

‘If you keep locking me up in towers, then I’m going to keep breaking your rules.’

That reminder popped the moment like a bubble.Reality began to solidify around us.

‘Tarian,’ she said after a pause, ‘is there really some prophecy that says I’m going to do something terrible to you?’

I stared at the ceiling.Remembered who she was.WhoIwas.‘Yes.’

‘I think it seems pretty ridiculous when I didn’t even know you existed until you came to find me.’

I shifted, sitting up, and she slipped from my arms.‘It doesn’t matter.You’ll be home soon and this will all have been just a nightmare.’

Gathering the sheets to her and looking suddenly self-conscious, she sat up too.We stared at one another, a weighted silence settling over us, full of words I couldn’t speak.

‘This mate bond,’ she said slowly, ‘is it some sort of...fae attraction thing?Will you meet a bunch of people you form bonds with?’

‘No.’I looked at my hands.I couldn’t look at her face anymore.‘It’s a once in existence thing.It’s just you, Imogen.Just your bad luck.’I took a deep breath and rose from the bed before I looked back at her.She had her arms wrapped around her knees, and she was staring intently down at the sheets.

‘You should sleep,’ I said.‘It’s been a long time since you slept.Do you need anything?’

She shook her head.On impulse, I leaned in and brushed her hair back.‘Then goodnight, little librarian.’

I picked up my shirt and left her like that, sitting on the bed, her hair mussed, her lips bruised, watching me with an expression that I couldn’t stay and read.One perfect memory immortalised.I’d take it selfishly, keep it hidden away somewhere to take out and turn over when I was alone.Maybe I’d imagine a world where I could have stayed, could have kept that sadness from her eyes, could have kept her the way fate had intended.But that wasn’t the world I lived in.In this world, I returned to my own room and spent the rest of the night alone.

Chapter 25

Imogen

Thesunwasalreadyhigh in the sky when I woke the next day, the gentle warmth of daylight a caress on my skin as it drifted through my window.It was a warmth that seemed to mirror the one I felt in my chest.A smile lit my lips at the memory of the night before.I stretched and rolled over but the bed beside me was empty, as I should have remembered it would be.A hint of disappointment burrowed into my heart, even as I told myself it was stupid.Last night I’d offered him a no strings attached, physical connection.So why did my room feel emptier than before?

It had been more than a physical connection for me.

The realisation hit me hard as I stared at the empty space beside me.Had he felt it too?God, I was fooling myself to think I could do this, that the physical connection would do anything other than strengthen the things I had already begun to feel.

There was a quick rap at my door before it flew open and Sarah slipped in, looking panicked.‘Sarah?What’s wrong?’I asked.

‘The queen is here unexpectedly.Quickly, we have to get you dressed,’ she said, racing to my wardrobe to pull out my uniform.

‘Why?’I asked cautiously.If the queen really was visiting unexpectedly, I was probably the last person who should be in the room after what happened at the ball last night.In fact, I should have been as far from the queen as humanly possible.

‘She’s specifically requested you be among the staff.’

I felt the colour drain from my face.‘Well...shit.’If she specifically requested my presence, then the ball was definitely going to come up.Iwas definitely going to come up.As if this thing between Tarian and me wasn’t complicated enough already.

‘What happened last night?You were gone all night and the master told Madam Hetia to let you rest today,’ she said, before holding the dress out to me.

I let out a sigh as I began to dress.‘Have you heard of The Hunt?’