Ellery dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “I get it. You take your job seriously. But what does any of that have to do with me?”
“Well, it was only a few months into my tenure that I found you. We’d just lost the North, and after such an assault by Winter, the Council knew it wouldn’t be long before Valmordion thawed. We kept a close eye on the students who seemed like potential candidates for the wand. There is no way to be utterly certain someone is Chosen before they bond with Valmordion, but there are signs. Past Chosen Ones have claimed to know they were magicians before manifesting any magic. They have an immense innate talent for all categories of magic; they barely need to be taught. And they seem ill-suited to other Living Wands despite being strong enough to wield any of them, often failing to bond with many before Valmordion thaws. There are also personality and social signs. Most were loners who struggled to connect with others, even their own families. They had a strong sense of duty and occasional grandiosity. Alice Rhodes, for example, was considered both off-putting and extraordinary by her classmates before she was revealed as Chosen.”
“I wasn’t a loner at the academy,” Ellery protested, although even as she spoke she recalled herself at party after party, always invited yet plagued by the feeling that she didn’t—couldn’t—belong.
“Alone, these anecdotal parallels may not have struck me as significant. But you arrived here as a hero from the fall of Nordmere, the very event that heralded a Chosen One’s arrival. So from the moment we met, I was certain you were fated towield Valmordion. And I was determined to ensure you’d be ready when the time came.”
“So all those lessons. All those lectures.” Ellery shuddered as the last five years of her life shifted into a new, brutal focus. “You really did expect me to be flawless. You say you love me, but did you ever actually care aboutmeat all? Or was it only ever about my potential? My destiny?”
“Of course I care about you,” Glynn said fervently. “I cared about you from the very start. And when I visited you in that hospital, I didn’t just see a Chosen One. I saw a girl who’d endured horrors well beyond the fall of Nordmere. Yet you seemed utterly unaware of the strength you possessed—not just your magic, butyou. And over your time at the Order, I’ve been astounded by your ability to adapt to any circumstance. But although I wished that I could protect you in a way no one else ever had, I knew I couldn’t. Because one day, you would have to protect us all… no matter the cost.
“I’m so sorry, Ellery. I know it wasn’t fair to keep you at a distance. I knew it even then. But seeing how deeply it has hurt you now…”
He buried his head in his hands. His shoulders shook. Not once had Glynn cried in front of her before.
Ellery stood and stared at herself in the newspaper atop the desk. She watched that girl’s life flash through her mind as though it were someone else’s, each trial and tragedy all leading to one duty, one goal, one impossible purpose: Winter’s Chosen.
To always hold herself apart. To always hold herself together.
To be a hero.
She was responsible for Alderland’s safety, whether she cared about it or not. And as much as she wanted to rip the paper to shreds, to decry everyone who’d ever doubted her, shedidcare. As someone who’d spent so much of her life controlled by fear, she hated that people might fear her, fear that wasn’t even justified.
Ellery could still show them that peaceful future she saw. And she knew exactly where to start.
“Don’t tell me you’re sorry,” Ellery snapped at Glynn. “It’s too late. And don’t you dare tell me you love me. I’m the Chosen One you wanted so badly, so treat me like one.” Then she snatched up Maltherius’s and Eledrium’s hearts and tucked them in her pocket. She regarded Glynn coolly, silently inviting him to protest.
Instead, he nodded in acquiescence. “If anyone discovers the seeds are missing, Mayes and Syarthis may question me again. They’ll know you took them. But by then, I hope you have whatever answers you need.”
“So do I,” Ellery said quietly.
More Winter wandswouldchange the tide of this war, and they’d change the way Alderland understood Winter magic, too. So she’d find a way to make them, even though it meant lying to the Council.
Even though it meant lying to Domenic, too.
XXXDOMENICWINTER
Side by side, Domenic and Ellery braved the battalions of journalists atForetold’s red carpet premiere.
“How does it feel to be back in Mercester Square?”
“Do you have any comment on Danmere’s mayor closing the city to more fallen territory refugees?”
“What brought you here tonight? Shouldn’t you be at the border?”
Domenic plastered on his most golden of smiles. “Caldwell and I both felt tonight was an important occasion to honor Rhodes’s legacy and our nation’s history. But we have two more weeks of Winter; we wouldn’t have spared the time if we weren’t confident time was on our side.”
For added effect, Domenic drew Valmordion. Speckles of golden light jetted into the air and scattered throughout the crowd. Gasps of wonder swept around them. Many cupped the lights, as if catching fireflies. More cameras flashed. Several guests behind them even applauded.
Ellery kept her wand sheathed.
“You don’t think you’re overselling it?” she muttered to him through her own prim smile.
“The people deserve a little hope.”
So Iseul had told Domenic when she’d helped him knot his tuxedo bow tie earlier that evening. And Domenic agreed. Even if the border invasion still haunted him, he remembered how it felt watching hope kindle in people’s eyes. He clung to it.Certainly delaying their departure to Nordmere by two nights would be worth it if it dulled the public panic.
Ellery must’ve felt the same, because she waved while looping her other arm around his. Even with no contact between their skin, Domenic had to resist the whole of his concentration pooling to their touch.
