'I could come with you.' Her eyes were cloudy with emotion. 'Wherever you're going. I don't care.'
Pulling away from her was the hardest thing he'd ever done. Only the knowledge of what he was sparing her kept him from toppling back into her arms.
'You have a lot of work to do here, Josey. Othir needs her empress. Our paths lead in different directions. For now.'
Her hands started to rise, but then dropped back to her sides. Moisture glistened in her eyes. He smiled with care, afraid even the smallest gesture would crack the armor he had erected around his heart. He wanted her badly, wanted to stay and protect her, serve her, whatever she desired just for the chance to be with her. But they were as different as the sun and moon. Forever bound together, forever apart.
'Where will you go?' she asked.
He turned his gaze northward. Somewhere beyond the trees of the grove and the city walls lay the land of his birth. He didn't know what he would find once he got there, but the need to know about his past throbbed in him like a second heartbeat.
'I have questions that need answering and a long road to travel before I reach my destination.'
'What if the answers you want aren't there?'
'Then I'll keep searching.'
Josey reached into a fur muff dangling from her sleeve and pulled out a bundle of papers wrapped in black cord. 'Take this. There's a writ of safe passage inside, although I don't know how far that will extend. There's been no news out of the northern provinces for weeks. I intend to send a military detachment up there as soon as I can find the resources.'
'You're starting to sound like an empress already.' He accepted the package. Nestled among the documents was a thin book, like a diary. He started to pull it out. 'And this?'
She put her hands over his. 'Read it later, after you've left the city environs. There might be information in there you can use. And, Caim, if you don't find what you're looking for, promise me you'll come back.'
Caim pressed his lips to her fingers. 'I promise, my lady.'
Then he turned and left before the trembling in his legs could betray him. A breeze swirled through the trees and ruffled his hair as he trod across the carpet of fallen leaves. The sky was deepening to purple twilight. Kit danced before him in the failing light, her hair flowing free like a silver banner. He touched the golden talisman hung by a simple leather cord around his neck. He wanted to look back and catch one last glimpse of the woman he loved, of Othir's gleaming towers, of the life he was leaving behind.
But he kept walking, through the gates and into the gathering shadows beyond.
