“What?” Vi sat straighter. “What did you just say it was called?”
“You’ve heard it before.” Ellene tilted her head, clearly not understanding what had Vi so worked up.
“I know, I must’ve… But on all my maps… It’s just ‘the reservoir’…”
“Perhaps because your maps have been made by the South.” There was a cool edge to Renna’s tone. One Vi chose to ignore. “Lake Io is how most of the old folk will refer to it.”
“How is it spelled?”
“I-O.”
Vi had seen it before on her maps.
But she had always thought it was intended to be some kind of acronym, one she’d never understood—one she’d always assumed meantreservoirin the old language of the North. If she had tried to pronounce it as a word, it was always I-oohin her mind, nothing like how Renna or Ellene said it.
Io.
Pronouncedeye-owe.
Just as Taavin had said—Lake Io was an apex of fate.
Vi shot upright. She had to tell him she’d pieced together his clues. “I have to go.”
“What’s wrong?” Jayme asked.
“Have I done something to offend?” Renna was visibly nervous as Vi passed.
“No, no,” Vi said hastily. She gave the woman a small nod—a huge sign of Imperial deference, as far as etiquette was concerned. “You’ve done me a great service. I need to consult my maps. They’re not marked properly and I must go fix that.”
“Don’t try to think through it,” Ellene said through a mouth of food to Renna. She’d cleaned her plate, so Vi could only assume she was starting in on her half-finished roll. At least someone would eat it. “She gets like this about her maps sometimes. I’m sure she needs to correctly label every one.”
Vi let them think what they wanted; all she needed was to get back to her room.
Her uncle appeared in the doorway, stopping her in her tracks. He had a serious look about him, the look that usually heralded a scolding. But he said nothing, simply stared.
“Excuse me, uncle, I need to go do something.” Vi stepped around him, and he just watched her go, shoulders sagging. There was a glint to his eyes, a shining wetness that was strange to see. He wasn’t one for emotion, but after helping Sehra with the outbreak, Vi couldn’t blame him for reaching a deeper-than-usual level of physical and mental exhaustion. Her heart had contorted as well for those suffering.
“I need to speak with you, Vi.” He cleared his throat, forcing out the words.
“Not now, uncle.” Vi was starting up the stairs, taking them with her long legs two at a time.
“Vi…”
“This is important,” she called over her shoulder. He still hadn’t moved from that partly hunched, limp-armed position. “Tell me tomorrow morning!”
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out, and Vi rushed off. She wondered briefly just what he needed to say, and what had him in such a state. But whatever it was could keep.
Right now, she had to get back to her room, chart the best course to get to Lake Io, and tell Taavin of her discovery.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Vi wasbreathless by the time she ran into her chambers.
“Okay, Lake Io…” Vi mumbled as her fingers traced her shelves. She knew she had an atlas exclusively for maps of the North. One book that would be perfect for… “There you are.”
Lifting it from the shelf, Vi placed the over-sized tome on her drafting table and began flipping through it. She looked over to one of the unlit candles on the wall and lit it with a thought.
By candlelight, Vi selected a map detailing Soricium and the surrounding area. The edge of the map bled over onto the next page, where the topmost corner of Lake Io could be seen at the edge of the vast and mostly uninhabited jungle. Reaching into her drawer, Vi resisted the urge to grab for her pen and add “Lake Io” under “Reservoir.” Instead, she grabbed her trusty caliper—a metal tool composed of two straight edges screwed together at the top to precisely tune the width between their points.
