Page 105 of Vortex Visions

“You’re going to die,” she blurted.

To his credit, he didn’t even flinch.

“Death comes for us all,” he said softly. “Your vision… Tell me what you saw.”

“Taavin, you don’t understand.” Vi straightened away from the pillows. Her other hand reached over, sandwiching his. She clung to him, relishing in finallyfeelinghim. “Someone is coming to kill you and I don’t know why, and you’re far, and I can’t help you, and—”

“You can help me by telling me what you saw.” Vi shook her head and he freed his arm. She looked away, realizing how forward she’d been, only to feel his hand land on her cheek, gently guiding her face back to his. “Take a breath and tell me, Vi.” His voice was firm, stabilizing, as though cementing her mind back into place from whirling doubt.

Vi recounted the broad strokes of the vision for him. “… but what you were holding, it looked like this.” Vi pointed to her watch.

“You said I was kneeling before a fire?” Taavin asked and Vi nodded. His eyes dropped to the watch around her neck. “It must be…”

“Didn’t you hear me?” Vi shook his hand lightly. “Someone is out to kill you.”

“Do not worry so much for me,” Taavin mumbled, still clearly lost in thought.

Vi balled her hands into fists. The spark roared to a blaze in her. The marrow of her bones was replaced by molten rock. She rose from the bed and stomped over to him.

“Firstly, don’t you presume to tell me what I can and cannot do.” Vi held a finger in front of his handsome face. “Secondly… You are the only person who knows what in the Mother’s name is going on with me. So you can bet that I worry ‘so much’ for you.”

Her two fingers hovered in the air between them. He looked down past them, to her. A small smile snaked across his lips.

“Good to know your compassion is purely a result of pragmatism.”

“You didn’t let me finish.” A third finger lifted. “And… third… I-I care about you, Taavin,” she said softly. His eyes widened a fraction. “You are the only person I’ve ever spoken to that I feel both listens and somehow fully understands what I say. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” Vi hung her head. “I may have lost my father,” she finally said aloud. “I don’t want to lose you, too.”

“Your father?”

“They’ve declared him dead. Killed by pirates between here and Meru.” Vi shook her head. “I saw the vision of him with the queen, but what if the world has changed? What ifIdid something that led to my father’s death?”

She looked up at him, searching, though she didn’t know what for. Their hands shifted once more, curling around each other in a new way. It was as though, regardless of how they moved, neither wanted to relinquish their hold on the other. They had finally found this connection… what if they never had it again?

“I will look for information on your father. And we will seek out more apexes of fate—perhaps you will see him again. Do not despair yet.”

She swallowed, giving a nod. As long as there was hope her father was alive, she would be strong. She would not believe he was dead until she laid eyes on his body, or the person who claimed to have killed him.

“I can find more apexes here. I’ll be headed south in a few months… Surely there will be some along the way. Maybe I can make sense of the two I don’t yet know.”

He paused, eyes darting over her face. Vi knew the look of a person who was hesitating. She leaned forward slightly, hanging on his next words.

“We need more than that. Your latest vision… I believe the key to saving this world lies in the watch around your neck.”

“What?” Vi freed a hand, grabbing it protectively. Taavin’s glyph shimmered over and through her fingers.

“I need you to bring it to me.”

“I can’t just leave… It doesn’t work that way,” Vi whispered, knowing he was all but trapped in the Archives of Yargen on Meru. “I have a duty to my people. And my family, they’re here, on this continent.”

“If Raspian goes unchecked, your people and your family are forfeit. If you remain there, the elfin’ra will hunt you until they have you. Vi, come to Meru.” Taavin stared down at her with his impossibly brilliant eyes. “We will find the truth of your father along the way. You will learn full mastery of your Lightspinning. And, together, we may find a way to seal away Raspian once more, and put an end to the plague that heralds the coming end of days.”

Vi swallowed, trying to clear her throat. She wanted to sound braver than she felt, ignore the odd nerves firing within her and setting her to quivering. Champion of Yargen, Lightspinner, heir to the Solaris Empire… Vi did not speak on behalf of any of her titles.

She spoke for herself and herself alone when she whispered a simple, “Yes.”

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