“I can tell you the entire tale, but what’s important is the magic looked the same, and many of those on board looked like fae. I didn’t leap to the Shadow Fae conclusion because why would I? As far as everyone knew, they were gone.”
“Mages, or part mages, does make more sense,” I agreed. “We’ll ask Sayyida more when she arrives.”
“Now, I must ask, what brought you two here?” Thyra changed the subject.
“Ah! Right!” Saga’s lips formed a cunning smile. “I come with news of the Frør Crown.”
Thyra stiffened. “How?”
“I’m a seer. I see visions of the future.Possiblefutures. And sometimes I’ve seen the past. In one such vision, I saw your mother and father talking about the Crown.”
I blinked. “When did this happen?”
“Before I met you. It was one of my first visions. And to be fair, I didn’t know who the fae I was watching were. I thought they were a lord and lady looking at a crown their ancestors once wore before the Unification. I haven’t seen the Hallow in person, but today Clemencia showed me a painting of the Frør Crown, and I recognized it immediately. The people in my vision must have been your parents.” Her tone dropped at the end, unease taking over.
I blamed Saga fornothingand would not have her feeling guilt over her parents’ actions. She hadn’t even been born when her father overthrew my family.
“What did you see?” I asked.
“It was a long time ago, so my memory is fuzzy, but . . . The Frør Crown can show you things that happened, right?”
“Yes,” Thyra said. “Though it’s only done so once. To Isolde when she first put it on.”
Inside a vault in Avaldenn, the Crown had shown me the scene between King Érebo and Sassa Falk. However, despite trying the Hallow on multiple times since, I’d seen nothing else. Neither had Thyra, and she had tried to use it far more times than I had. The only other time the Crown showed signs of lifewas when it had heated—just as Sassa’s Blade had—as we drew close to where King Érebo had been trapped in the tree.
“Well, your father, King Harald, mentioned that the Crown can also see the future. Even manipulate it in small ways.”
I sucked in a breath.Manipulate the future—like by working with the Blade to draw us into a mountain where an ancient enemy waited. Vale had called the Crown scheming, for it seemed to have led us to the Shadow Fae King, the very faerie it had shown me in the vision. Maybe he had been right.
“Are you sure that’s what he said?” I asked.
“It always stuck with me because how can a crown be manipulative?” Saga shrugged. “Anyway, King Harald also said that within your family, it was called the Seer’s Crown. I got the sense that he was explaining it so that your mother would try to use it.”
“Does that mean only seers can use it for the future?” Thyra asked.
“Mother was a healer.”
“Some people have multiple talents. Perhaps she had visions and our father wanted to test the bounds of possibility.” My twin paused, and I got the sense she wanted to say more but did not.
Before the Shadow King freed shadow magic within me, I had only been able to use winter magic. However, there were indeed many fae with multiple talents. Like Saga, a seer with winter magic. Or Thantrel, who could speak with animals, use air magic, and had other small magics too.
“Besides, Isolde used it, so I think that makes it clear that you don’t need to be a seer. More likely the power is tied to your family name,” Saga said. “Maybe the first ruler to use it had been a seer and imbibed some of that magic into a Hallow of the realm? More importantly, if you learn how to use the Crown properly, small things might be able to change.”
A pebble tossed into a pond caused ripples. Small matters might well change the course of our lives. Of many lives.
“What else do you know?” Thyra demanded.
“Nothing. I was ripped from that vision of the past and never looked for it again. Not until I saw that painting.”
“Can you try to learn more?” I asked. “Maybe look for people speaking of the Crown in the past? Or see the future with clarity?”
“I doubt it,” Saga said. “Some of the best seers could, but I’m far from that. I won’t develop my magic all the way for turns to come.”
“But could you try?” Thyra pressed.
“Of course I cantry, but I make no promises.”
I shot my sister a sidelong glance. It was a step. In which direction, I wasn’t sure, but at least we had an idea of what the Crown could do in capable hands.
