“Come in, Vi.” Sehra was standing several paces in front of her throne, right at the edge of where the tree-trunk vanished and the balcony extended, uncovered, underneath the open sky.
Vi swallowed, accepted her fate, and stepped inside. The doors closed behind her, leaving Vi little option but to cross over to the Chieftain of the North—the woman whose protection Vi had been destined to rely on before she was even born.
“Are you wondering why I summoned you?”
“I honestly find it quite clear.” Vi stepped beside the woman, looking out into the expansive archways and paths of the fortress before them. “You showed me kindness, allowing me to leave. And when you did, I abused it, going farther than I should have. In the process, I endangered your daughter.”
“You went farther than you were supposed to?” Sehra interrupted her list of transgressions with a look of genuine surprise.
“I figured Ellene would’ve told you.” Vi cursed her luck. The girl used to tell her mother everything. But it seemed, with age, she was learning how to keep a secret.
“I expected it, as did Jax.”
“Yes, well…” Vi tried to find her previous thought. “Even still, I endangered Ellene and Jayme with my outburst. I should have stayed here, and trained more after being so recently Awoken.”
Sehra looked straight ahead, out over the treetops of the fortress. She was rigid, regal, everything Vi hoped she could be someday; she had a long way to go.
“I am not going to punish you.”
“I may be the Crown Princess, but I should not be above punishment.” She didn’t particularly enjoy reprimands. But getting off, free and clear, felt wrong.
“There’s no time now for punishments,” Sehra said ominously. “We have too much work to do, you and I.”
“Work?” Vi repeated, glancing from the corners of her eyes at the woman. She had yet to move. She was hardly even breathing.
“Yes, I was waiting for today to begin. I was waiting to be certain, beyond all doubt, for the knowledge I will impart to you has never been heard by ears outside my lineage.” Vi had no idea what Sehra was talking about. “Why do you think it is that you have struggled so much with your flames?”
“I… I don’t know. Everyone always said I was a late bloomer, like my mother. But I have Awoken. And managed to find control in the jungle. My magic…”
The man in the cavern flashed through her mind, his glowing emerald eyes, the singular word he’d uttered. Something had changed with that man, that word. What had he done to her? What was that word that had echoed in her the next time her magic was unleashed?
“And?” Sehra pressed, reminding Vi she had stopped talking.
“And I think I have a better understanding of my magic. I think Uncle Jax will be able to teach me now and—”
“Jax can teach you nothing.”
“What?” Vi turned to face the Chieftain, anger bringing her spark to the surface faster than talking about it had.
“He will teach you as a Firebearer.”
“That’s—”
“That is not what you are. You are not a Firebearer, Vi. Not at your core. Certainly, you are able to create and manipulate flames, but this is a manifestation of your expectations for your own magic and the expectations of those around you.
“Like nature versus nurture. You have been nurtured by Firebearers, so you and everyone else believes that is what you are. But that is not your nature. That is not your magic.”
“I’m certainly not a sorcerer of any of the other affinities.” Something about this conversation felt like being backed against a cliff ledge, knowing she was about to be pushed over. Everything was about to change.
“No, you’re not. You are like me, like Ellene. You can control an element, but it is merely a fraction of your true power.”
“What?” Vi whispered. She knew what Sehra was alluding to before she said it, but it didn’t make sense. It was so jarring that her brain only interpreted the logical conclusion as confusion. Even when Sehra said the words, they sounded like a lie.
“You, Vi Solaris, are a Child of Yargen.”
Chapter Eleven
A Child of Yargen,like Ellene and Sehra. One who could harness a strange and mysterious power. A power very few possessed—a gift rarer even than Windwalkers like Vi’s mother. But there was just one problem with Sehra’s claim…
