Realm of Light - Deborah Chester [134]
She clutched at his surcoat. “What are we to do?”
“Meet our destiny,” he replied in a grim voice.
“To Imperia, then?” she asked quietly.
He nodded. “It is the quickest way. All of this is centered there.”
“I must be their prisoner, but you can evade the soldiers,” she said. “You must stay free. Quick! Let me show you the hidden passages—”
“No.” Caelan gazed down at her. His eyes were gentle upon her, loving her, already telling her farewell.
She clutched him, wanting to cry out. “You must not argue. You are the hope of—”
“I am to be arrested,” he said. “I lingered behind you long enough to overhear some of the terms. The Lord Commander is here on Tirhin’s direct orders. You are to be escorted back to the capital in your full sovereignty, and I—”
“You’re his scapegoat,” she finished, hating Tirhin to the depths of her soul. “That pathetic coward!”
“He has outmaneuvered us.”
“No!” she said fiercely. “I won’t submit to him. I won’t! I don’t care what the Lord Commander’s orders are, you will not go back to Imperia in chains. You must escape.”
“I will not run away.”
“Then fight—”
Caelan touched her hair, stroking it. Resignation lay in his face. “And give them an excuse to destroy your father? Why should I sacrifice a piece of myself to heal him, only to bring about his execution now?”
She let out a sigh then, struggling not to cry. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I keep saying the wrong things. I haven’t even thanked you properly for what you did before—”
“Hush,” he said softly into her hair, resting his chin on top of her head.
She slapped tears from her eyes, angry at herself for being so emotional. “I never used to cry like this. I used to have control.”
“If you had no fears now, I would not trust you,” he replied, kissing her forehead. “Do you still hate me?”
She shook her head and hugged him tightly, trying to become part of him, unwilling to let him go.
Finally he pulled away, loosening her fingers when she held onto him. “We must face this,” he said. “We must be brave for the others’ sake.”
“I don’t want to be brave!” she cried. “I don’t want to lose you!”
Voices carried through the palace. Hearing them, she stiffened and tightened her grip on Caelan. Everything was ending. She could not bear this.
“Oh, my love,” she whispered brokenly, sobbing freely now. “I cannot give you up. I love you so much—”
He kissed her, deeply, possessively, until her thoughts were spinning and she was drowning in the emotions he wrought in her.
“We are one,” he said, cupping her chin between his hands. His eyes held hers, although her tears caused her view of his face to blur. “We shall always be one. Believe that, my dearest, no matter what befalls us.”
“Empress!” called a voice from the room within.
Elandra turned that way, then glanced over the railing of the balcony. They were trapped. She still could not accept this defeat. Her heart raged at the injustice of it. She did not know how Caelan could be so calm.
“Compose yourself,” Caelan urged her softly. “Let them see an empress.”
“I am a woman,” she protested, sniffing and trying to dry her eyes, “and I am losing all I hold dear.”
“We are not defeated yet,” Caelan said.
“And when I am married at spear point to that traitor?” she retorted in fresh fury. “When I am forced to his bed? Will you be so calm and able to speak of strategy and—”
“Majesty.” A soldier appeared, one of her father’s men. “Compliments of Lord Albain, and will you please go to your apartments? I am to escort you there personally.”
Elandra opened her mouth, but Caelan took her hand.
“Come,” he said. “I will walk with you there. Your father wants you to wait for them with dignity.”
His voice and gaze were filled with warning. Elandra did not want to go, but he was right. All that she had left now was her pride, and if even it was failing her, then she must pretend to have it.
Alti and Sumal were waiting for her at her apartments, looking