Beyond mild surprise at my tale of time travel and witnessing the battle of Valdris, he immediately zeroed in on what mattered most. “Violet’s memories?” he said, leaning forward with excitement in his eyes. “Maybe you did get all the answers, Lexie.”
It was time to find out. Which was how I found myself cross-legged on my bed twenty minutes later. Griff sat beside me, close enough that his familiar warmth steadied my nerves. His hand came to rest on my thigh, grounding me on the chance that I lost myself in Violet’s mind. I opened all of my channels, feeling the familiar rush of power course through me. Deep in my mind, I found the segmented area where Violet’s memories were kept, organized but overwhelming in scale.
Here we go.
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
Such a glorious day for the crowning. Mira was beautiful as always, and even Thom cleaned up for it. And now Father is officially de-throned. Take that, old man.
—From the journal of Violet Andrever
“Show me what I need to know.” I wasn’t sure who I was telling that to, but a strange mist rolled in, several scenes flashing in quick succession before resolving and settling into a memory.
The colors were muted, as though someone had taken a brush and painted a glaze of gray over everything. Violet was in front of me, walking the halls I had walked earlier. She turned a corner and ducked under a tapestry. I followed her down a secret passage that I had no clue existed and we went down, down, and down some more. We ended up in a cave, the rough stone walls ancient and predating the temple ruin where I had traveled through time.
“Alright, I’m here,” she called out to the empty room.
A dark figure emerged from the shadows. I reached for my nonexistent blade, but she didn’t seem concerned. As he drew closer to the light, I saw that he was, in fact, a man. He had the same ageless features I had gotten used to. His dark hair had a few streaks of silver running through it, but his eyes… they were the most piercing green eyes I had ever seen, ringed with gold, startlingly vibrant given the muting of the rest of the colors. He stood with perfect stillness, so at odds with Violet’s chaotic energy.
“My lady.” His voice was measured—too measured. As though he was weighing every word before speaking.
I had the strangest sense that I had heard his voice before. But like a melody running through your head that you can’t quite place, where I had heard his voice was just out of reach.
“You said last time that the prophecy I knew was incomplete. How do you know that?”
He stood perfectly still, tracking Violet’s pacing with his eyes. “Because I wrote it.”
“I thought the gods wrote it,” she countered.
“They did. Through me. Solais charged me with protecting it. Seeing it through. Until another one appeared.”
“The One? As in the Orlaith?”
He shook his head. “Not the One. Another one.” His hand shot forward, startling in its quickness. He grasped her chin, and as he did so, his eyes unfocused, the gold overtaking the green. His voice became fluid, lyrical. “You are not the One. But you are the one before the One. You prepare the way. Buy the time. For her to grow.” He released her. The gold in his eyes retreated, clearing from the center outward, the green returning until there was only a small ring of gold around the iris.
“Her? The Orlaith?” She grinned. “I knew it wasn’t me. My father is going to be so pissed.”
The mist returned, covering the scene in front of me, surrounding me so completely I couldn’t see anything. It swirled around me until I ended up completely disoriented, but before I could truly start to panic, it cleared and a new scene unfolded.
“You’re talking about Starfire.” Violet shook her head. “My father tried for years to get me to access it. It never worked.”
The same man looked at her sadly. “Nor will you. It will only answer your call when presented with death.”
She snorted. “Figures.”
As his back turned, I heard her mutter under her breath, “Fuck you, Da.”
The mist appeared again, and this time, I managed to control my trepidation while a new scene appeared before me.
Violet’s hair was longer. A lot longer. Significant time had passed. But we were standing in the same cave, with the same strange man in front of us.
“Flashes of fire run through the sword, bringing sunrise to face the horde,” he said, his eyes gold once more.
“Why do you always speak in riddles?” she fumed.
“It is how the words appear. I cannot alter the words. To speak them brings truth.”
