She paused, sweeping her eyes across the port, remaining alert, before tucking her head back down and starting off toward the oldest section of the docks. The salt covered stones beneath her feet had seen more history than libraries. And, if she was lucky, they would show her history yet to be made.
At the far end was the old dock, rotted and sagging. A mix of nostalgia and respect still kept its pylons in use, but only dinghies were tied up here now.
Vi stared out at the sea, envisioning what the scythe had shown her. She saw the slow curve of the land to her left, the cliff rising up to support the rich section of Norin.
“It was here,” Vi affirmed to herself. She glanced around. A man slumbered against a doorstep. The houses were dark. No eyes seemed to be on her. Still, her heart raced.
She crossed over to the sea wall and sat on its edge, her feet dangling just above the dark water. With one last glance around, Vi cupped her palms in her lap and summoned a mote of flame.
It didn’t take long before the world was overcome with white.
Color came into focus first. Then, blobs formed hazy shapes that quickly gained clarity and form. A mass of people moved together. They swayed and swirled in time to music Vi couldn’t hear.
Their faces were painted with expressions of joy. Hands clapped soundlessly. Golden strips of paper rained from the sky. Vi held out her hand, trying to catch a piece of confetti. But it fluttered straight through her.
Pennons bearing the seal of Solaris reached out for the breeze, their golden stitching picking up the sunlight. It was a celebration unlike any Vi had ever seen, in a place she had only ever imagined.
Surrounding her was a semi-circle of triangular bleachers that rose up like points on a sun. Men and women were packed within them, drinking, talking, cheering. She didn’t need to hear their joy; she could feel it. It was a palpable, pulsating thing.
The song stopped, and with it the dancing. The crowd turned their focus to the high stage lined by wide columns. This was the Sun Stage. She recognized it from the drawings Romulin had sent her.
Then, as if by thought, he appeared.
Every emotion welled in her all at once at the sight of her family. Her father led, mother at his right hand. His hair was salted as she remembered it. Her mother’s was perfectly coiffed. It was a trick of the mind, but Vi could almost smell the faint scent of eucalyptus that was always in their perfumes. Romulin was at their side, just as she remembered him.
Which meant…
Vi searched for her future self.
She wasn’t there.
Her heart started to race. When was this? What was this celebration for? Was she in the Northor… Had she changed the future so dramatically that Vi Solaris was no longer a part of it?
Vi’s thoughts came to a screeching halt as Romulin collapsed.
The young man seized on the ground. Vi tried to take a step forward, but she was rooted to the spot. People were running around her, guards were being called. Her mother held her brother, hoisting him upward. Her father barked orders. Romulin’s head rolled back, his mouth hanging open like the gaping mouth of Raspian himself.
Red lines ran down his cheeks—tracks of bloody tears. They had the same glow as the red lightning cracking through the sky. Romulin’s sky blue eyes had gone milky, and a pale white foam oozed from his mouth.
Vi screamed. She screamed and screamed but no sound came. She flung every curse she knew at the world, at the heavens, at the injustice of it all. She screamed until there was nothing left to say, and the vision came collapsing back in on her.
She panted, back on the sea wall, her fire extinguished, her body doubled over on itself. Her throat was raw, so raw she could vividly imagine Raspian ripping into it. She slowly raised her head, staring out across the sea.
If the White Death still came for this land, she had changed nothing.
“No,” Vi rasped, forcing her spine to find strength enough to straighten. If her brother was the one who was diseased—not her mother—somethinghad changed.
Vi pushed herself away from the wall, pulled her hood tight and started off, her bones shaking with every step.
She had begun to shift fate. But she hadn’t altered it enough. Saving Zira, working to thwart the Knights’ attention at the wedding, and getting the Sword of Jadar sooner than she ever had before… none of it was enough to stop Raspian from being set free.
Clenching her jaw, Vi glared at Twintle’s warehouse as she passed. Changing fate would take something bolder, and more daring, than anything she’d tried until now.
Chapter Twenty
“You aren’t experimentingas much with the sword lately,” Taavin observed.
“I know.” Vi yawned so wide her jaw popped. “I’m too tired these days.” Vi was nearly going cross-eyed from exhaustion.
