Failed Future (Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles, #3)

by Elise Kova

“Like death, but slightly more animated.”

Her fingertip brushed the point of his ear, her hand lingering there almost of its own volition. He truly was different from her. She’d always known it. Yet when she had summoned him with narro hath, he’d existed in the framework of her world. Now, she was an occupant of his, and even the princess who belonged nowhere had never felt so out of place. She’d finally made it to him. Somehow, he felt farther away than ever. They were from different worlds, pulled together by fate. Two people who should have never met and seemed destined for nothing more than heartache.

Perhaps their physical proximity added layers of meaning that weren’t really there. Or perhaps it was the panic that still popped under her skin like electric shocks, driving her to seek out any feelings of safety and security she could. “Taavin…” Vi whispered. His breathing had slowed, and she had yet to look back toward him, instead keeping her focus on the dancing shadows her small, flickering flame cast on the wall opposite them. She almost hoped he had fallen asleep. “Yes, Vi?” “You told me once, terrible things happen to those you love.” “I did.” His voice had grown more lucid, and Vi felt guilty keeping him awake. What was she really trying to ask, anyway? “Why did you say that?” He sighed softly. “You don’t have to tell me.” “I’ve only ever loved one person, Vi—” She braced herself for the name of some lover she really didn’t want to know about, instantly regretting her decision. “—my mother.” “What?” Her eyes were pulled to him in surprise. But Taavin wasn’t looking at her. He stared off at the same wall she had been, seeing something entirely different in the shadows. “Why is it so surprising I loved my mother?” “I expected you to have a lover… I wasn’t thinking of familial love.”

“I did. They wouldn’t kill me… No… Ulvarth needed me alive. But he didn’t need me unbroken.”

“Call me when you’re ready. I’ll just be… you know… recovering from the most exercise I’ve had in months. Don’t mind me.”

if he dies I swear to god

“I know that too well,” she spat back. “Just as I also know that when negotiations break down, force may be necessary. Help him or you will not go back to the Twilight Kingdom alive. Help him or I will find the Lord of the Faithful myself and tell him that the Voice has died because of you.”

“If anything happens to you I—” His throat closed and he choked on the word. Taavin shook his head, continuing down a different path. “I finally have you in reach and I’ve barely had a chance to speak to you.”

She could braid it up and wait for it to grow out. Or… A pair of shears caught her eye.

like mother like daughter

“Hurt her and die.” Arwin’s eyes swung back to Taavin and the expression on her face almost had Vi wondering if she’d heard something Vi had not. A devious, deadly smile crept across her lips. “What does she matter to you?” “Everything.” There was no hesitation. No holding back. “She is everything.” Arwin’s grip faltered slightly; the spear sagged as surprise settled in on her.

“If I so much as think for a moment that you will go back on your word—if I even suspect it—I’ll kill her on the spot.” “That’s too high a bar. You will be suspicious of my breathing.” “Then you should make an effort to breathe less,” Arwin snapped at him. “It’d do wonders for my mood, at least.”

“Beginning to tell me everything.” “There’s so much I’ve yet to say,” he murmured, his other hand reaching up to lightly tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m just afraid to say it.” “Me too.” Yet, in saying that much, she knew what was unspoken for both of them. She didn’t need anything more for now. “Just as I’m afraid I have already cursed you by it.” Taavin brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. “I never wanted any of this to happen to you.” Remorse flooded his words. Vi gave a small, bitter laugh.

She was clumsy and inexperienced. But what she lacked in confidence she made up for in enthusiasm. She allowed every shift, kiss, and caress to fill her, fuel her. If they were destined for heartbreak, she would steal as many nights as she could along the way.

“He’s yours,” Vi interrupted. Arwin looked directly at her now with all the same murderous intensity. “Adela took something—someone—from me, too. A woman who was a sister to me until I learned of her true nature. She was taken in by Adela, just as Fallor was. I had the satisfaction of revenge in her death. You will have your satisfaction today.”

“How did you kill him?” Taavin asked warily. “Juth calt—I shattered his heart.” “You what?” he whispered. “I shattered his heart, maybe his lungs, too.” “I’ve never heard of calt used that way,” Taavin said warily. “Well, now you have.”

Vi locked eyes with her, as if in warning. As if to say, Yes, beyond the Twilight Forest we are as deadly as you feared.

“Some emotions are as sharp as knives that don’t dull or rust with time.”

“I think it’s you who will be slaughtered.” Vi felt as much as heard her father’s declaration. “Do you think you can scare us?” “No, and I think that will be your downfall. You should never underestimate a Solaris… least of all my daughter.”

“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.”

“You truly are mad.” “And you truly are the worst thing to have ever happened to me,”

“Gone?” Vi repeated in quiet horror. “The world you were born into, the people you knew, the way you knew them, are no more.”

pain? yea.