“My train got in an hour ago. The Council decided I’d earned myself a chance to sleep.”
“So the Council doesn’t know you’re here.”
“No, they don’t.” He fiddled with something in his pocket. “After the scurge, I was up all night, thinking. The Council told me what happened yesterday in Glynn’s office, with your wand. But they’re wrong about you. I know for a fact that your prophecy piece is real.”
Ellery gaped. “What?How could you possibly know that?”
“Because I…” Barrow’s throat bobbed, and without warning, he sprang into a frantic flurry of action. He yanked a throw blanket off her bed and draped it atop her desk chair, then spun it around. Next, to her utter bewilderment, he dragged over her waste bin. “Here. Why don’t you sit? You want some water? I can conjure some—”
“Stop,” Ellery said fiercely. She stayed standing. “Just tell me. Why are you so convinced my prophecy piece is real?”
He exhaled shakily. “Because I fulfilled it. And now I have another.”
That couldn’t be right. Ellery reached for an alban pit thatwas no longer there. She clenched her empty hand into a fist, quaking.
From that point onward, Barrow didn’t look at her. He paced, recounting his last eighteen hours in grim, occasionally humiliating detail—right down to the need for a wastebin.
“I-I’m sorry, Caldwell. I know this is a lot. And I know you didn’t want this. I sure as hell didn’t want this either. A day ago, I thought I was the last person who should ever be wielding Valmordion. And now I… I don’t know. Maybe that isn’t true. But I still feel like I’m losing my fucking mind.” He raked a hand through his already disheveled hair. “The point is, your prophecy piece—‘power that will rise from your own ruin.’ During the scurge, there was a moment when I-I really thought I was going to burn. Just like Rhodes. But I didn’t. I pushed through. I defeated it. And I heard a prophecy piece for the first time. And it didn’t take that long to hear one because I’m a mistake, it took that long because I was supposed to fulfillyours.So don’t you see?Thisis what the original prophecy means, that ‘an ancient peace must be restored.’ It’s Summer and Winter. It’s you and me. We’re both Chosen Ones, and we’re in this together.”
For however compelling his argument, however fervent his tone, Ellery struggled to absorb the full weight of his words.
“You’re wrong,” she murmured. “The cataclysm is always Winter. I wield Winter magic. I lost control and Ihurtpeople. How could I possibly be a Chosen One?”
“When I ran from the vigil, I thought I was about to lose control, too.” Barrow regarded her gently. “Think about it. How many people have you already saved from Winter? In Mercester Square? In Nordmere? It seems to me like if anyone would be Chosen to save Alderland and reclaim the fallen territory, it’d be you.”
Ellery cringed at the mention of Nordmere. “It’s not that simple.”
“Then explain it to me. Because I don’t see it. I don’t see how someone as heroic as you could ever—”
“Because I knew I had Winter magic!” Ellery shouted, making Barrow stiffen. “I knew the whole time, okay? I convinced myself it was all in my head, and I made myself believe it, because I wanted so desperately to believe it. Because Winter is Alderland’s greatest enemy.Yourgreatest enemy. I’ve worried about this my whole childhood, my wholelife…”
Ellery stepped away from Barrow, trembling. She stared at her bandaged hand, remembering how it had felt to hold Iskarius. So inevitable. So right.
“I think some part of me has always understood I was destined for Winter. Destined for Iskarius. I just can’t hide from it anymore. I know I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, but the Council is still right to be afraid of me. So I’m sorry, but…” She blinked back tears. “I can’t be whoever you want me to be.”
Barrow blanched. “Do you mean that?”
“Of course I do. I’m not—”
“No, about destiny. You always knew you were a Chosen One?”
Ellery paused. “You didn’t?”
Barrow’s hand hovered above Valmordion. He swallowed. “I’m still not sure I’m the destiny sort.”
It was unusual for anyone in Alderland not to believe in destiny, let alone a Chosen One.
“If you’re not sure about fate, how can you be so sure about me?” When he didn’t answer, she pressed, “Seriously. You lie to the whole Council. You sneak in here. You spill confidential information.Why?”
“Because…” Barrow dragged a hand down his face. “I guess I thought, maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have to do this alone.”
Ellery hesitated, feeling a strange mixture of agitation and guilt.
He choked out a laugh. “Let me guess. You think I’m a coward.”
“No, I don’t. If anything, what you’ve done is brave. Maybea little deranged, but brave. I just need a moment to think. Like you said, this is a lot.”
Barrow nodded vigorously. He was slightly pink.
