Page 175

Chapter 19

Imogene had only been back in her new quarters in the Lumia barracks for an hour when a knock on the door interrupted her packing. She hauled herself up from the floor near the chest of drawers she had been filling, wondering if her mother had sent another parcel from Imogene's room at home.

It was expected that those who had newly bonded with a sanctii would live at the barracks for some time. A way of providing breathing space whilst they adjusted to the bond and learning to work with a sanctii. Her parents, who she had visited as soon as she had returned from Cylienne, had reacted much as she had expected they would to her announcement that she had bonded with Ikarus. Her father had looked surprised, then proud. Her mother surprised, then alarmed. Then annoyed. A daughter with a sanctii was a very different kettle of fish when it came to the marriage mart.

Imogene had almost been able to see the wheels turning behind her mother's narrowed eyes—no doubt reforming her plans for Imogene's social life for the next few months. Her mother had been no more pleased by the news that Imogene would be living in the barracks for the foreseeable future. Imogene hoped devoutly that she would be sent on another assignment before she had to return home to live. That might give her mother time enough to calm down. Or Imogene time enough to find a home of her own if her mother couldn't reconcile herself to this new reality.

Her mother had insisted on helping Imogene pack, and then there had already been an additional package of embroidered wall hangings waiting when Imogene had arrived with her trunks far later in the day than she had expected to return. Why her mother thought she might want to hang a delicate floral embroidery in an army barracks was beyond her. But she recognized the gift as the beginning of a peace offering perhaps, even if it was one she had little use for.

The room she was allotted as a lieutenant didn't fit much more than a bed, an armoire, a tiny worn armchair, and a small table with two chairs. Officers were allowed to make the accommodations more comfortable, but she wanted to do it her way. Her taste was not her mother's. If this was another parcel from her mother, she hoped it would contain food rather than furnishings.

But when she opened the door, it was no courier waiting with package in hand. Instead, the hallway was very full of Jean-Paul.

So much so she made a stupid noise of surprise, prompting Ikarus to say [Come?] in her head.

[No,] she replied silently. She'd grown used to the form of wordless communication the sanctii could use over distances all too quickly. It was comforting to know that Ikarus was there if she needed him, could hear her, wherever he may be. [I'm fine.]

But she should talk to the man standing before her rather than the sanctii. "Major du Laq," she said cautiously. "What can I do for you?"

"You didn't tell me you were back." He smiled, and her heart kicked.

She had to fight the urge to smile back. What was he doing here? She had made herself clear. She'd told him they had no future. Then she'd left him while he was sleeping. Not to mention left the city altogether.

She shouldn't want to smile at him. Perhaps she needed to be clearer with herself, too.

"I only just arrived," she said. Then realized he might take that to mean she’d had every intention of contacting him. "And I wasn't aware that you expected to be informed of my whereabouts, Major." She glanced past him into the hallway. So far they were alone, but there were six other lieutenants living on this floor. One of them could arrive at any moment. She needed Jean-Paul to leave.

His smile didn't falter. "Ah, yes, about that. I've decided that your idea was a bad one." He stepped fractionally closer. She held her ground, though his scent made her head spin, the memory of his touch flooding her senses.

"My idea?"

"That we should end things. That was a terrible idea, Imogene. I have missed you these last two weeks. More than I care to admit, frankly. Your commanding officer wouldn't tell me where you had gone. I did, however, hear that the latest cohort from Cylienne would be returning today. I took a chance that perhaps that was where you were and, therefore, that you might have returned."

There was no point lying about it. And certainly the news that she was now bonded might work to change his mind about their future. "It was."

"And am I to offer congratulations on a successful venture?" He looked as though he actually meant the words.

"If you are asking if I bonded a sanctii, then yes, I did. His name is Ikarus. Would you like to meet him?" She lifted her chin. Jean-Paul merely shook his head, expression unchanged.

"Not just yet, perhaps," he said. "But congratulations, Lieutenant. You are a woman of more talents than I knew, it seems." He smiled, head tilting. "You didn't tell me you had won the chance to do this."

"It didn't seem relevant," she said. "I didn't think I would see you again, other than in a professional capacity should our paths cross, perhaps." There. Blunt enough.

"It seems, Lieutenant, that you have found it easy to put me from your mind."

No I haven't.She bit back the words. Swallowed. "There seems little point in yearning for something beyond my reach."

"Such a logical answer. Are you sure you are not, at heart, an ingenier like your father after all, Lieutenant? Does logic rule all?"

His eyes were locked on hers, the gray depths of them a color she could get swept away in. If she was so foolish as to let herself fall.

"Did you not think of me while you were away? Were your thoughts only for the sanctii and what came after him? Tell me that is true, Lieutenant, and I shall walk away."

I didn't miss you. Four short words. She could speak them and it would be over. A simple lie. Best for both of them. But somehow, she couldn't lie to him. She wanted to give him the truth. She could offer that much. But not here in the hallway where anyone could come across them, having what could only look like a lovers' quarrel.