“Of course. The cards are proof enough of its existence.”
“Then he knew it didn’t matter what cards I picked from the deck…because he knew what I was destined to be. Every road was leading me toward the crown that was my birthright. Ruling was fated for me, and that was what he feared even after using the World, due to its unpredictable nature. So my father wanted extra insurance.”
“But you met me anyway. The Chalice might take the core of something happening, but not everything from the vision. And since you still met me—albeit not in the way the Chalice showed—that was not the core of the future you lost.” At least, this is how I’ve always understood the Chalice to work.
“Yes…it was not the fact that we met. It was happening to come upon you when we were both still so young.” It has me imagining what my life might have looked like had Kaelis entered sooner. “Because of what I sacrificed, I had to search for any sign of you, and when it came time to orchestrate the meeting, I could not be the one to summon you. Every time I tried to do it alone, and I did try, I was thwarted. Letters lost. Commands misunderstood. Currents that prevented my boat from getting to Halazar in the secret of the night.”
“But you did ultimately summon me.”
“Glavstonedid, not I. And I had to punish him to within an inch of his life to get him to. I didn’t know he was so far in Ravin’s pocket.” Kaelis’s attention drifts back to his father, and his gaze hardens. “My father was confident that by forcing me to sacrifice three futures to the Chalice, he would take from me the ability to revolt against him. I would become the perfect warrior he so dearly wanted because I would have no hope for my future. My ambitions would mean nothing, and his would supplant them. And if anyone else could uncover the true history of the past, there would be no way to restore my bloodline to power.”
My attention shifts from Kaelis’s silhouette to Naethor. He’soutlined in cold blue by the Chalice. As still as a statue. I can see the overlap in the shape of their noses and cheeks. The familial resemblance is there, as much as I’m sure Kaelis loathes it.
“How do you know that was what the Chalice was taking from you?” I ask. “What the immutable thing was?”
“I knew it in my bones, just as I think you did after sacrificing your future to the Chalice last year.”
That silences me as I think back to the feelings I had. I knew from the first moment that I’d given up the possibility of a relationship with Liam. I’d never thought it was just meeting him in one moment. Or dancing with him. It was giving up the idea of us completely—of a love that could flourish once more.
Maybe giving that up, too, was a form of destiny. As if the Chalice were trying to correct itself and bring me back to Kaelis.
“And this is why he takes the futures of other Arcanists,” I murmur.To turn us into his unquestioning servants.Someone without a future—or who perceives themselves as having less of a future—has little to lose and will be more likely to cling to any direction that’s offered.
Kaelis of the vision turns up the next card.
Ten of Coins.
It’s thrown into the Chalice, and the world blurs once more.
However, this time, when everything comes back into focus, the same blue hue dances on the walls. Now it originates from a shallow pool that circulates around a statue. Along the outer edge are twenty familiar slots.
Different versions of Kaelis and me stand before it. We’re older than in the first vision. Roughly our current ages, maybe a year or two older? It’s hard to tell in the dim lighting.
Kaelis lays a final golden card into its slot. The tenth Major. The Wheel of Fortune. My card.
The me of this world stands at his side, dutiful and determined. Her crimson eyes watch as he lays the card down and the water of the pool turns from blue to gold. The statue comes to life, leaning forward.The globe it holds in its hands is presented to Kaelis. But unlike the rest of the statue, it is no longer stone. The globe has turned into swirling threads of gold.
Kaelis reaches a hand into his pocket. My eyes widen as he produces a card with an intricate frame drawn upon it but a blank center.
It’s just like Mother showed me.
Every line is there, even the ones I forgot. Though I get only a glimpse, I quickly imprint them on my memory. I knew that somewhere in the academy I’d find the final pieces for how to ink the vessel. I never expected the answer would come from Kaelis’s own memories. Luck is still on my side.
“This is how I knew what the vessel was…and what the World could do,” the real Kaelis says from my side, his words somber. “I had only theories and partial information before this.”
The Kaelis of the vision holds the vessel card into the orb of magic and the light stitches across the card, inking the legendary twenty-first tarot. I am shocked into stillness at the sight of the World in his hand. At it being real at all—as real as this could be.
Vision Kaelis holds up the World and takes a breath. The glow of the font illuminates the inking on its surface. My eyes widen. But the prince then turns before making his wish.
Once more, I watch myself be destroyed by his hand.
We’re back with King Naethor, who looks positively incensed. Younger Kaelis, for his part, stands defiant. Even though I can imagine the physical toll these visions, in such quick succession, are taking on him.
Naethor’s loathing makes me think of the dance we shared at the Feast of Cups last year.He must have recognized me before then,I realize. Back when I was at Fate Hearth…Maybe that was why he issued his warning to me.
“Why did he endorse our marriage during the end-of-year Swords celebrations at Fate Hearth?” My thoughts gain sound as I muse aloud. “He knew who I was.”
“Calling you my bride protected you from more than the suspicionof enforcers,” Kaelis says thoughtfully. “It protected you from Ravin, and my father in a way also. It put you in a spotlight and made it so that if they moved against you without cause, it’d risk showing a dangerous rift in our royal family. It could imply that I was not in alignment with the king. Or that the king did not have quite the firm hand guiding his son that he so likes to project.”
