Page 160 of Taken By Shadows

“Imogen. Good, you came.” I couldn’t see him, but there was a wire of tension wound into his tone.

My head and the world spun like I was drunk. “What do you mean?” I looked around to see wisps of white air, like steam, vanish under the threshold of the door.

“Imogen, I’m sorry,” he rasped. I felt his hand land on the other side of the door. The door I knew Kaed had glamoured.

“How did you even know to look for me here?”

“Kaedian might be good at glamours, but I’m better at whispering through them.” And I could practically see his charming grin as he said it.

“You can’t be here,” I said, pressing up to the door. I didn’t open it.

“I’m sorry, Imogen. I’m so very sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I just—”

I bit my lip as he spoke. He sounded wracked with remorse, but I didn’t know if I could forgive him.

“I didn’t want to see you with him. With Kaedian. You deserve better. You deserve more. Maybe not me, but you deserve a chance to be happy. On your terms.” Eryk paused. “I can get you out of the city.”

Eryk didn’t know Kaed had already offered me as much. And I’d forgotten that was something I wanted.

Not long ago, I had wanted to leave here. I’d been consumed with the chaos of Eryk’s kiss and then Kaed’s … everything. Not to mention, the discovery of the missing archives. It had all just blanketed over my own worries.

Did I want to leave now? It all felt so different. Like I was mourning a desire that belonged to someone else. Kaed had already said I was free to leave if that was my choice.

And I was still here.

For a moment, silence was my only answer.

“You can’t really believe that anything can come of this, do you?” Eryk’s words were like whispered shards of glass as they burrowed into my skin. Their sharp edges cut deep into me until my pulse throbbed in my head. “He’s a prince. The prince. He has duties beyond games. Whatever you think he has given you, he cannot make it real. He has never cared about anyone but himself. He will toy with you, use you, and when he’s done …”

I shook my head to clear the heaviness of his words.

My breath became white on the air that should have been warm. But a chill and a haziness had disturbed the brilliant sun that had been in the garden.

I wanted to refute what Eryk said, but something about the words he’d forced into the space between us settled deep into me. Maybe he was right ...

“I’m offering you something real.” Eryk’s cadence shifted until it was low and steady in the air. “You’re just a game to him, Imogen. And he will cost you.”

The echo of Eryk’s warning to me before now drifted into me. He’d been right before. Eryk had said everything had a price. And maybe caring for Kaed, getting too close to him would too.

It took a moment to find my voice, and when I did, it was shallow and unsteady. “You need to go, Eryk. Please.”

There was a pause, and then I heard his hand slide away.

“If you change your mind,” he said through the door, “I will be at the celebration tonight.”

Great, I thought to myself as I slumped against the door.

I rubbed at my temples. Maybe Eryk was right … I just couldn’t think about that now.

Tonight, I had to woo and spy on councillors and keep Kaed from killing people on the guest list. Well, just one person.

Chapter fifty

Istood in my undergarments, hair pinned back and shoes on.

Audrie had been gone the entire day, and I wondered if I would be attending tonight’s party in a chemise.

Finally, she burst through my bedroom door, a smile wider than her face on display.