“How…” He started a question but quickly abandoned it, as if trying to cover his own confusion. “This is different than before.” There was a heavy note to the statement, one Vi couldn’t read. “What magic is this?”
“Wouldn’t I love to know!” Vi wrapped her arms around herself. Every time he spoke it sent tiny ripples across her skin, prickling it into gooseflesh. “You told me to seek you out. Well, I did.”Apparently. She hadn’t exactly planned on this. “So, give me some answers.”
Vi hoped that, whatever connection this was, he couldn’t feel her emotions. Then he’d know that the demand was said with far more confidence than she felt. Outside, she could present all the confidence of the Crown Princess. Inside… Vi felt like a very tired and confused seventeen-year-old girl. But she really did not need anyone else to know that.
“You are not at an apex of fate?”
“I don’t think so. Not unless my bed has become one.”
“Unlikely…” There was a long stretch of silence and Vi seized the opportunity.
“What are the apexes of fate?”
“Places the world changed, or places where it still could be changed. They’re locations where fate was malleable and the future was—is—yet undecided.” His matter-of-factness surprised her. She’d been made aware of so many secrets in the past day, that to find someone willing to tell her the simple, unvarnished truth felt oddly foreign.
“Yes, my bed definitely isn’t one,” Vi muttered. She hadn’t intended him to hear, but a chuckle radiated through to her. So he could hear everything, no matter how softly she said it—a good mental note. Vi cleared her throat, trying to ignore the fact that she was still radiating light and talking to a man in her head. “Why can I only see you at the apexes of fate?”
“Since I am the voice, and you the champion, we are intrinsically linked with the fate of this world. In those places, the distance between us is greatly shortened.”
“Then why can I talk to you here?”
“That same link between us, I would assume,” he said simply.
Vi resisted calling him out on the fact that he sounded as unsure as she felt. She also ignored the voice and champion bit, for now. He hadn’t really answered when she asked in the ruins. So, instead, she asked, “What is your name?”
“My name?”
“Yes, your name. You know mine from the last time we spoke… and, well, seeing as I’m talking to you from my personal quarters in the middle of the night, I think it’s owed.”
He scoffed. “I owe you nothing.”
“Just tell me.” Vi sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Taavin.”
Taavin. It was certainly a name she’d never heard before. Vi swallowed hard, looking down at her hands and watching the light trailing off her skin and disappearing into the darkness like the streaks of fireflies.
This was impossible to comprehend. Less than a week ago, Vi didn’t think she had any magic at all—or at least very little. Now, she wanted a whole lot less magic in her life.
“Do I dare ask if you’re real?”
“I am quite obviously real.” The offense in his voice brought a small smile to her lips. “I should be the one asking you that,” he murmured.
“I’m real too.” Vi sank back into her pillows.Really tired, more like. She stared up at the threads of light that unfurled from her. They looked thinner than they had before. “What’s happening to me, Taavin?”
“That is a question that will take a lifetime to answer.”
“This magic…” Vi paused and he didn’t fill the space with words. Silence stretched as her magic continued to fade. Vi looked down at her hand, nestled in the folds of her blanket. There were only a few threads of light clinging to her.
First, she had made fire. Then light that became fire. Now… this.
“This magic,” Vi continued, stronger. “Is it truly that of Yargen?”
“Yes,” he said solemnly. “When I used the wordsamasha, you were gifted the ability to understand Yargen’s gifts.”
The word washed over her, and with it the last threads of light left Vi’s body. Taavin sounded as if he had been about to say something, but Vi could no longer sustain the connection; for now, at least, his words would have to remain a mystery. The sounds of night flooded her ears; she hadn’t even realized they’d been muffled. Sehra had been right. The traveler had known Vi would have this power…
There were easily a hundred questions buzzing through Vi’s mind in that moment. But she found herself too exhausted to keep her eyes open a moment longer, let alone consider their answers.
