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“My own?” His grin, so uncharacteristic of Caelum, told me all I needed to know. “He was the bravest, most loyal man to have ever walked Elydor.”

“And you? Have you partnered with a woman?”

It was a personal question, but Nerys made no mention of it and Caelum did not seem to take offense. “Once. Many decades ago.”

He said no more, and I did not press him.

When the door opened beside us, all thoughts of Caelum’s family history were momentarily forgotten.

Nerys glanced briefly at us both, and then to the guards who had been inside the chamber with her. As they closed the doors, one looked pointedly at me. When we’d first arrived, he’d initially forbade my presence until Caelum had claimed personal responsibility for me.

Both Caelum and I followed Nerys through the corridor, and when a vision suddenly appeared, I was not only able to process and understand it; I could also make it fade. It was, as my grandfather would say, “A vision of naught and of everything all at once.” Some visions had implications for our entire kingdom. Others, like this one, were seemingly innocuous. It was of Nerys leading Caelum and I through the palace, though we wore different clothing than we did at this moment.

“We leave you here,” she said, turning to Caelum. “Tomorrow at midday?”

Which meant she did not wish to share what the queen had said until then.

Caelum nodded, but it was not the kind of nod that said, “Very well.” It was deeper, and more reverent. The kind one might give… a queen.

My vision. It was of a future time when Nerys, Queen of Thalassaria, led us through the palace corridors. Except, that was impossible. I would be gone when she became queen.

There were few roaming the corridors at this time, but those we passed always had a smile for Nerys… and a wary glance toward me.

When we arrived at my chamber door, Nerys remained with me on its threshold.

“How did you know Caelum was looking for me?”

“I would break a sacred vow, to my family and my people in telling you.”

I’d disappointed her. It was the first time in my life I wished to be a regular human, a blacksmith’s son. Someone, anyone, other than a Harrow.

“I would not ask for you to break a vow,” she said, surprising me. “But will admit I am very curious.”

“There is a way that I can tell you,” I blurted, and then immediately stopped talking. Had I gone mad? The only way to tell her was to make Nerys a Harrow by marriage. And that would never be. The Keeper could not live in Thalassaria, and the queen of Thalassaria certainly could not reside in Estmere. Even if the problem of my mortality did not bother her, which it did.

I said no more, and thankfully, Nerys did not press the matter.

“What did you feel from me?” she asked. “Back in the garden?”

“A much easier question to answer.” I glanced at my bedchamber door. “And even easier to show you.”

Our eyes met, and held.

You could never dishonor me, Rowan.

Her meaning, and emotions had been clear. We would be temporary. A fleeting affair. And as much as the heaviness in my chest told me that wouldn’t be enough, my mind argued the point. It was that, or nothing. Given those choices, and what Nerys offered, I would take it.

Nerys’s delicate fingers swirled, and with the movement, my chamber door opened. Before I could move toward it, she stepped inside.

I followed.

22

NERYS

You’re going to break your own heart.

I ignored the warning.