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

by Elise Kova

“Come on.” Vi started for the building she saw the man slip into. “I don’t think we should be going toward the people trying to maim or murder us in order to bring about the end of the world.” “This whole island is trying to maim or murder us,” Vi whispered hastily back. “Yes, but the whole island can’t bring about an evil god with our blood,” Taavin muttered.

You should never underestimate a Solaris… least of all my daughter.”

“You did well,” her father repeated softly. Even though she knew all that lay before them, three words had never sounded so beautiful.

Aldrik stood slowly, and walked even more slowly to the cabin’s entrance. Vi watched him carefully. Even though she had been far more beaten up during the escape, he looked worse for wear. The gray streaks by his ears had never seemed wider. Still, he moved with the grace of an Emperor. Every motion was fluid and purposeful. Even at his worst, he was still better than most at their best.

Aldrik Solaris had always been an imposing figure. Dark hair, taller than most. He wasn’t particularly broad, but he could command a room with little more than his presence and a look. Vi loved her father dearly, but he could be frightening to a young girl, especially when she’d done wrong. She had always seen him as an insurmountable force of nature. But right now he looked like a tired old man.

“How long will you make the world wait in the name of your personal problems?” “As long as it has to, because a world without my family is not a world I want to live in.”

Vi had no interest in his pity party over not being chosen as Yargen’s Champion. She suspected if he really knew the trimmings the job came with, he’d be happier without it. He was just another man who wanted power and none of the responsibility attached. Vi had dealt with men like him her whole life—she called them Senators.

“Fate is a road that is made, laid by the generations before us.”

In the darkness, the crown princess felt herself burning alive, from her heart outward. But she didn’t cry. She didn’t call for help. She let the fires within burn. Until there was nothing left but ash.

Vi clutched the watch around her neck and for the first time wondered if, perhaps, the future of their world couldn’t be saved. If there was only one path forward—into the eternal darkness of death.

Taavin crossed over, grabbing the scythe around her hands. Vi kept him at arm’s length, but he still felt too close. She wasn’t strong enough around him yet—her mental defenses hadn’t been sufficiently fortified. Because her heart still wanted to love him—her mouth still ached to kiss him.

“You must do this!” His expression was a cross between pained and impatient. “This is the only way. This is the only path forward.” “I’m not a murderer!” “Then hate me more for making you one.” Taavin knelt before her. Even as she shouted at him, his voice didn’t waver and his gaze was set. He really was going to let her kill him. “Hate me because I will never let myself love you again. Hate me because you truly are the cause of all my torment. You are my nightmares. It was always you.”

“You truly are mad.” “And you truly are the worst thing to have ever happened to me,” he seethed, so close their noses almost touched. Part of her wanted to kiss him, kiss the pain away. The other part of her was more tempted by the minute to give in and kill him. He was begging for it, after all.