Vi cracked her eyes open, tilting her head to look at him. She couldn’t manage words. She couldn’t hurt him with the truth, but she didn’t want to lie to him either. She settled on a small nod.
“If there’s even a chance I can save this world, I have to take it.” The memory of Raspian was seared in her mind, the dark god tearing into her flesh. “No matter what happens.”
Her father was deathly still. When he finally spoke, it was a repeat of words he’d said before. “This recklessness—you get from your mother.”
“So you’ve said.”
“Have I told you that you also inherited her profound compassion?”
Vi gave a small smile.
“There are so many things I would’ve done differently, were it not for her. Before your mother, I was a man who would have watched the world burn. She was the one to show me how my actions impacted others, and how to care.” He let out a heavy sigh. “But that compassion has a cost, Vi. Trying to save just our Empire nearly took everything from her… Are you certain you understand what you would have to pay to save the whole world?”
“I do.” The words felt like a lie. But she couldn’t back down now and she couldn’t hesitate. She’d made up her mind.
Her father pressed his eyes closed, not hiding a wince. He slowly shook his head. When he opened his eyes again, he couldn’t seem to bring his gaze to rest on her.
“Why do you think it has to be you?”
“Because every step of my life feels like it was planned—everything led me here. You said it yourself: Solaris has a history with the weapons. You and mother have a history with the Crystal Caverns.”
“Then you are paying for the crimes of your forebears.”
“No, not just that.” Vi squeezed his hand and leaned forward. “I was born with magic I wasn’t supposed to have, in a land that knows nothing of it. I was given a watch that, somehow, connected me with the one man in this world who could help me understand myself—who had visions of my destiny before we ever met.”
“Taavin.” Aldrik turned to her. The way he said Taavin’s name gave her pause. “The young woman… the bird woman…”
“Arwin, yes,” her voice had fallen to a whisper.
“She said he betrayed you.”
“I…” Every fear raced to be the first to overwhelm her. The memory of Jayme. Learning the truth about Taavin. Seeing nothing but betrayal in Fallor and Arwin’s worlds. “He would never hurt me,” Vi insisted. Taavin had said so; she had to trust him.
“Do you love him?”
“I… I do,” she whispered. She hadn’t even managed to tell Taavin yet. But it felt surprisingly good to say it aloud. “But it’s also very complicated.”
The makings of a tired smile spread on her father’s lips. “Now you sound much like your mother, or how I imagine she sounded, when she talked about me.”
“I didn’t expect to. And I certainly wasn’t looking for it to happen. The only love I’ve ever been certain of—ever looked for—has been yours, mother’s, and Romulin’s. I’ve never thought about anything else. I’ve never considered it because—”
“You never thought you had a choice.” He stole her thoughts and gave them form. Vi must have given him a shocked look, but she couldn’t be sure—her face had gone numb. Her father chuckled and continued anyway. “You forget, Vi, I was a crown prince before I was an Emperor. I, too, fell in love with someone I wasn’t supposed to.”
“How did you navigate it?”
“It was nearly impossible… and I messed up, greatly.” Aldrik’s gaze swung to the door. “As I fear he may have,” he added very softly. Then, continuing louder, “But that love was the best thing I ever surrendered to. It gave me your mother, and it gave me you and your brother.” His palm rested on the crown of her head, stroking her hair twice like he would when she was a child.
“I don’t know if I can manage it all,” Vi confessed. “I’m scared of being hurt and of hurting him.”
“You may not have that choice. Love often decides for us. Do you trust him?”
“I do.”
“Then you have to have faith in him, his decisions for himself, and in what you just said—that he will not hurt you.”
Vi let out a heavy sigh, tipping her head back against the wall. Her chest ached and all she wanted to do was see Taavin. She wanted to curl in his arms again and merely exist quietly, hidden from the world, hidden from the pain of trying to sort through every complex and uninvited emotion she felt.
“How did you two meet?” her father asked lightly. Vi could tell the tone was forced, but the question was sincere.
