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“That doesn’t make me feel better.” At all. Because even one future without him in it was too many.

“This is my fault,” Azura muttered to herself. “I thought it was still too early to begin training your Sight, but it seems I forgot to consider the variables.”

Taly frowned. “I’m not sure I follow.”

Azura hesitated, considering her words. “Normally, you would find it exceptionally difficult to focus on a single person’s future. Even duringtimes of peace, when you don’t have so many players on the board making pivotal decisions, if you don’t take measures to keep yourself centered, dream divination can be a bit like groping around in the dark.”

“How do you stay centered?” Taly asked as they began ascending a wide staircase.

“There are a few ways,” Azura said. “The most common is to meditate with a personal item. Something the person carried with them. Something they valued. Blood would also work. Hair too. Essentially, anything that could connect you to the person whose future you wish to see.”

Taly’s frown deepened. As far as she knew, she didn’t have anything of Skye’s. She had lost her pack when Byron got spooked and ran off, and Azura still hadn’t returned her dagger and pistols, both of which Skye had placed his mark upon in some way.

Which then begged the question: “Why am I able to focus on Skye’s future?”

Azura waved her off. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. For now, it’s just important to understand that these visions aren’t necessarily real. Although,” she added with a sympathetic glance, “I understand that this will be little solace while you are experiencing them.”

Taly bobbed her head. That made sense. Sort of. “So… he’s not dead?”

“Probably not.”

“You’re not sure?”

“Anything ispossible,” Azura said as she led them up yet another staircase, “but not all things are likely. For example, it’s possible that elephants could learn how to fly, but that doesn’t mean I’mgoing to build a net to keep them out of the gardens.”

Oh.That made Taly feel marginally better. Except— “What’s an elephant?” Other than something that couldn’t fly.

Supposedly.

Azura smiled—a real smile this time, free of that strange melancholy that had been hanging around her like a cloud all evening. “It’s an animal from the mortal realm. Magnificent creatures. Ugly, but… in a regal sort of way.”

“That makes no sense.” Taly swayed a bit on the final stair. Shards, she was exhausted. Even her bones felt tired.

“You really should rest,” Azura said, something like worry dimming her eyes.

Taly shook her head. “I’m—”

“Don’t say fine. Not when it’s such an obvious lie.” Azura stopped in front of a door. Taly’s door. The Queen had somehow led them back to her tower without her realizing. “My advice to you right now would be that if you find yourself in a dream from which you’d like to wake up, find a ledge and jump. A good fall is generally all it takes to snap you right back into the waking world.”

No teasing, no disparagement. Not for the first time, Taly realized that she knew nothing about this woman—and likely understood even less. “Can I ask you one more question?”

“You can ask,” Azura said with a hint of a smile, “but I can’t promise that I’ll answer.”

Taly pulled her robe against the chill of the night. “That first day, you said there had been other time mages born since the Schism, but all the Sanctorum has ever found are suspects. What happened to them?”

Azura’s eyes shuttered. “They’re dead,” she murmured. Her fists clenched and unclenched at her sides. “All taken by the Sanctorum at their Attunement Ceremonies, and later killed. Their mothers were not as resourceful as yours. Or as willing to remove a Sanctifier’s head.”

Taly’s brows rose. “My mother killed a Sanctifier?”

Azura snorted, giving a little half-smile. “Three of them, actually. The more powerful the mage, the more Sanctifiers they assign to their Attunement Ceremony. Their deaths were, of course, covered up. The Sanctorum’s war is as much psychological as it is physical. They don’t want the public knowing that time mages are still being born, and they’ve worked with the noble houses to make sure that information stays buried.”

Taly opened her mouth to ask why, but Azura fixed her with a look. “That was two questions.” Reaching past her, Azura turned the handle, opening the door. “Which tells me that you need to go to bed. Shards know you’ll be useless tomorrow if you’re too tired to even count.”

Taly didn’t put up a fight as Azura ushered her inside, and the door softly closed behind her. She was already half-asleep by the time she fell into bed, barely noticing Calcifer as he curled up beside her.

Moments later, her aether flashed as she was sucked into another dream.

“All time mages keep a journal,” Azura said, pacing the length of the study room, speaking to Taly in her usual seat at a long wooden table. “Meeting people out of order, seeing futures that may never come true, walking through the past—it wears on a person, and reality starts to get muddy. The best way to keep your thoughts in order is to write them down. Shards know I would’ve lost my mind nine times over without a journal to keep me straight.”