“You said that you could not be separated?”
“No.” His eyes darkened. “I said that he would not survive it, not that we could not. But that did not seem to matter to him when he saw you in danger.”
I could not read the look on his face. It almost looked like…
“You did nothing as I was dragged away.”
“I could do nothing.” I hadn’t been deceived; it was on his face now, plain as day. Regret. “You rejected my power, Katharina. You told me not to touch you. I honored that choice, even as it cost you everything.”
“You honored my choice,” I repeated, my voice flat. “Whilethey dragged me through the streets. While they threw me in this cell and told me what they would do to me in the morning.”
“Yes.”
“And you would do it again.”
“If you asked it of me? Yes.” No hesitation. No shame.
I wanted to hit him. I wanted to claw at that calm, beautiful face until something real bled through. “Then what good are you?”
He flinched.
“I know what you think of me. That I am the thing that stole him from you. But I did not take him, Katharina. He invited me in. He prayed every night for the strength to protect you, and the strength to claim what he wanted…what he loved more than anything else. I answered.”
He let out a sound of aggravation, and it was surprisingly…human.
“The both of you! I answered your silent prayers! I want more than anything in this world to give them to you. Don’t you see? I would do anything you ask. Anything!”
“Then give me what I want most. Give me my Heinrich back.”
He faltered, those soft corners of his eyes I loved so much growing sharper. Then, with a great exhale, all that sharpness faded, the devil behind his eyes gone.
“Do you think I was not here the entire time, Katharina?”
My hands snapped to his face. I held him tight as I peered deep into his eyes, as if I could see into his very soul through those dark windows. “My Heinrich?”
“Always yours, Katharina.”
A hand traced up my spine and gripped my neck, pulling me in even closer until our lips met. It was a gentle kiss, just like our first in the woods. How far away that seemed now. Everything melted away but him—all the fear and anger. There was only him and me, and that’s how it should have been.
I pulled back just enough to see his face. His eyes were clear, fully his, and the sight of them broke something open in my chest.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured against his lips. “For all of it. For what he?—”
“Don’t.” His thumb traced my cheekbone, catching a tear I hadn’t felt fall. “Don’t apologize to me. You need to stop apologizing for faults that are not yours.”
Heinrich let out a slow breath. “He has never lied to you. I have wanted you—I have loved you for so long, but I was trapped within my own guilt. You are my light, Katharina. You are my everything, and I will do whatever it takes to remain with you.”
I started at him, searching. “How can I know—how can I know that this is really you, and not some manipulation?—”
He kissed me again, his tongue rolling against mine, hot and unrestrained. His fingers laced through my hair and he shifted us so I straddled his lap. His hand rested on my hip, tugging me closer, and I felt the intensity of his want.
He pulled back from my lips as he settled against the wall. “‘Et cognoscetis veritatem, et veritas liberabit vos.’?1Look at me, Katharina. You knew. You have always known the truth. We both did, but we fought it, and for what? For a church that allows men like Förner to go unchecked in their selfish quest for glory or power or control—whatever it is they seek. That allows them to hold power over those who have less.”
He shook his head. “That is the true evil of this world, not whatever resides inside me now. I see in it what I see in you. God’s divine light.”
I swallowed hard, holding his face between my hands like I would never let go. “But in the cathedral, you used shadows to?—”
“A trick. A misguided attempt at getting you to embrace your power. Ironically, it was a game I could only play because you allowed it. You have always held all the power, Katharina. Have you not felt it your entire life? The dreams, the fire—even your garden. It was all aconnection to the true power of this world. A power that existed long before man placed their god in the sky, and it will exist long after.”
