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“I’ve told you more than I should have, against my best judgment, so that you will be safe. For there is nothing, not even the Tidal Pearl, I care more about than that.”

I searched for the truth of his words in Rowan’s gaze and found it easily.

Gaining the Tidal Pearl meant he could help the king and princess open the Aetherian Gate. It meant reuniting his people with their families. Nothing could be more important to a human spy, his network unknown but Rowan’s purpose one he’d already admitted to.

Except he said that I was more important than all of that, and I believed him.

I wish you had my ability to sense emotion and could feel mine too.

He’d felt my love for him, and in saying as much, wanted me to feel his too. If I wasn’t experiencing as much myself, I’d not believe anything he said to me. How could we have gone so quickly from being strangers to considering risking all for love?

But it was possible. I knew as much, because at this moment, if he asked me, I’d give up everything to be with him. And yet his admission still lay between us. We could not be together, and I did have a destiny to fill.

“I will stay with Aneri.”

“Good,” he said, standing back. “It’s best you go now before I’m tempted to kiss you again. And this time, I won’t stop with just a kiss.”

“You look like this”—I waved my arm up and down, gesturing to his bare arms and chest, Rowan’s tousled, wet hair begging to be touched—“and say as much?”

Rowan’s eyes darkened. In a heartbeat, I would not be leaving. Or going to Aneri’s with Marek. Which would be fine, except… my chest ached already with the memory of one night.

“I’m going,” I said with a step backwards.

He didn’t stop me. But he wanted to.

Another step.

Rowan’s jaw clenched, as if forcing himself not to speak.

I would make it easier for him, and for myself too. Without another word, I turned and hastened from his chamber as if a sea demon were chasing me.

Nay, not a sea demon.

The knowledge that I was walking away from the man I loved.

27

ROWAN

It had been three days since Nerys walked out of my chamber. Three days of not hearing her voice. Seeing her smile. Finding ways to touch her or kiss her.

Three days of torture.

Making matters worse, my new escort, undoubtedly a spy for the queen, refused to bring me to the Deep Archives as Nerithia’s note suggested I do. I’d asked the stern-faced guard who had informed me that first day he “had other duties to attend to.” I’d also tried to get a message to Caelum, but thus far, I hadn’t seen or heard from him. On the rare occasion my guard deemed me worthy to take a meal outside my chamber, I listened and watched, though my restricted movements uncovered little.

I’d considered requesting an audience with the queen, but since she’d made her presence scarce, and as far as I knew was leaving Nerys alone, I thought it best to leave it alone. I had had only one vision: yesterday as I returned to my chamber after the evening meal, but it was not of Thalassaria. At first, I thought the vision was of Kael, but when the man raised his head, speaking to someone, I realized it was his twin, Terran. The someone was his father, and the two argued. When Terran turned and walked away, the King of Gyoria called his son back, but Terran did not reply. Instead, he slammed the door on what appeared to be a throne room.

My grandfather had told his protégés, including me, that over time, it was possible to sense when the visions might take place. He said it was a feeling, one he could not teach but that The Keeper would need to learn to recognize. Thus far, I could not determine if my visions were of that very day or years into the future, making one such as an argument between the King of Gyoria and his successor less useful.

I stretched my legs out on the bed, prepared for sleep but unable to let it take me. Instead, I considered the note from Nerithia, one that was short but clear.

Go to the Deep Archives. Find Seren.

Having promised Nerys to remain in the palace to learn what I could of the queen’s intentions, I had no choice but to rely on a guard who clearly disliked me at best, and who was actively working against Nerys at worst. Getting to the Deep Archives any time soon was seemingly less possible each day.

A knock on the door, at this hour, surprised me. I was even more surprised to see it open with Marek slipping inside.

“Has something happened?” I asked, every part of me suddenly prepared for battle.