“They didnotwant me to break down the shift,” she groaned, nursing her arm. Vi noticed her weapon was nowhere to be seen. “Yet, somehow, you look worse than me.”
“Thanks.” Vi fought to sit.
Taavin looked between her and Arwin. His eyes fell to the watch and that seemed to make up his mind. He quickly walked over to Arwin and hovered near the woman, looking down at her. “Want me to heal you?”
“Don’t touch me, Voice,” Arwin droned. The bite was gone from her words. Their hatred for each other had lost its venom, becoming more residual habit than impassioned feeling.
“Let him heal you,” Vi called. “We need the hands to set sail.”
There was a long stretch of silence and, finally, “Fine. Though if you tell anyone I let Lightspinning touch me, I will kill you.”
“I thought you were going to kill me anyway,” Taavin mumbled.
“I thought I was killing Ulvarth, and you were still to be decided.”
Vi slumped, resting her forehead in her palm. The whole world spun, and it had nothing to do with the rocking of the boat. She had to get herself in order. They needed to get away from the Isle of Frost. Yet she stayed frozen, her hand clutching the now broken watch.
“Daughter.” Her father’s hand rested heavily on her shoulder, jolting Vi from her thoughts. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
She stared up in momentary awe.He was really here.It had been years since they’d last seen each other. Now, they were together for the foreseeable future—no meetings, no Imperial business, nothing to tear them apart. Nothing save the end of the world, that is.
“Actually, yes.” Vi forced her mind to move again and not just gawk at him. “In the cabin there’s a satchel. Bring it to me?”
Aldrik stood slowly, and walked even more slowly to the cabin’s entrance. Vi watched him carefully. Even though she had been far more beaten up during the escape, he looked worse for wear. The gray streaks by his ears had never seemed wider.
Still, he moved with the grace of an Emperor. Every motion was fluid and purposeful. Even at his worst, he was still better than most at their best.
“Is this it?” he asked, returning with the bag.
“Yes.” Vi placed it on the deck, rummaging through it for the vials Sarphos had given her. She quickly read through their various labels and found the two she was looking for, downing them in a large swig. “Thank you.”
Vi wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Sarphos’s abilities never failed to impress her. It felt as though the potion never even reached her stomach, seeping into her blood and restoring strength to her muscles near instantly.
“Here—” Vi held up two more vials to her father. That only left them with one more—for disease, specifically, which didn’t seem applicable at the moment—but if there was ever a time to use them, it was now. She also took out one of Sarphos’s ration crackers. It looked like a biscuit but really did fill the stomach as though you’d eaten a meal. “Take these.”
Her father didn’t question, uncorking and drinking from the vials as Vi stood. Taavin and Arwin were on their feet as well.
“We should get moving.” Time was strange for her at present. She couldn’t tell how long she’d been on the deck, waiting for the world to settle back into place. Yet it felt like far too long. “I think Adela has enough on her hands but—”
“We don’t want to be around when chaos turns to rage,” Arwin finished.
“Taavin, you take the helm, Arwin and I will get the sails ready.” Vi looked to her father, a small smile spreading on her lips at the mere sight of him. He was alive, and with her. It was every dream come true. She’d actually done it. “Father, you just sit tight and rest.”
“I can help.”
“We have this,” Vi insisted. “The three of us sailed here, we know the ropes.”
Her father relented, still slowly nibbling Sarphos’s biscuit as he sat on the steps that led up to the quarterdeck. Taavin walked around him, and Vi didn’t miss them sharing a small look that spoke volumes she couldn’t hear. For now, she ignored it. They had a few days trapped on a ship together; there’d be enough time to deal with everything.
Arwin began readying the sails. They got the ship moving without so much as a word among them. Vi looked out over the Isle of Frost as they turned away; smoke plumed into the early dawn from the still-burning pirate town. Not one ship had limped out from the lagoon.
“I saw it,” Arwin said softly, startling Vi from her thoughts.
“Saw what?”
“When I broke the shift around the Isle of Frost… I saw the spider-web red fractures in the veil between this world and the next.”
Vi turned her gaze over the horizon, leaving the isle behind her. So what she’d seen in the sky hadn’t been a hallucination of magic and pain. Taavin’s words—some of the first he said to her when she arrived on Meru—echoed back to her:We’re running short on time. The end of the world is near, and we must be ready to meet it.
