“Fine,” she gasped with a tone that said she found me irritating as fuck and I sighed, biting my tongue in favour of just getting this shit over with.
We made a move to head on again, but Geraldine screamed suddenly, raising a hand and pointing a shaky finger at the wall. I turned towards it, reaching for my axe then hesitating as I realised what she was pointing at. A pair of glimmering silver wings had appeared on the wall below the painting, a hum of energy about them which made them hard to ignore.
“Darcy told me that Queen Merissa left visions for her marked by a symbol like that,” Orion breathed, stepping towards the marking with a look of awe on his face.
I arched a brow in suspicion. “Why would the queen have left a vision for us to find?”
“You are right,” Geraldine breathed. “You are most unworthy, a scaled salamander of suspicion, spawn of the false king, an unequal rapscallion of a man. And let us not get started on the Power Shamed scandal in the room.”
“Alright, Grus, that’s enough,” Orion grumbled as he stepped forward with his hand outstretched and I followed.
The moment my fingers brushed the stones, I was drawn into a vision which stole my breath as I was gifted a peek at a life that could have been.
“This future was stolen from us all,” Merissa Vega’s voice echoed through my skull and my jaw fell slack as I watched a lifetime of memories on fast forward where the Vega twins had been raised with me and the other Heirs.
Lance and Clara had grown up with us too, all of us spending countless hours in each other’s company, growing together and planning for a life where we were united as the force of power destined to rule Solaria.
I was gifted visions of Roxy and I, looking younger than we were now, drawn to each other time and again, sharing our first kiss in this very palace during her fifteenth birthday party and getting caught by her father who damn near bit me in half as he chased me the hell out of there.
Lance and Darcy fell for each other when he came home on his first break in the middle of a pro Pitball season and had a whirlwind romance which the press were all over like a rash. Roxy and I kept sneaking around, trying to fight what we were to one another because of our positions and what it would mean for the Celestial Council.
But in time we stopped fighting it and my lips parted as I watched image after image detailing the way I’d given up my seat for her, marrying her and handing my position to Xavier in my place.
The entire kingdom was at peace and in love with their princesses. When it came time for them to ascend, I was right there at Roxy’s side while Lance stood by Darcy. And everything was so fucking good that I could almost taste it. This future which had never truly been on the cards for us thanks to my father.
Geraldine began to sob as the vision faded, murmuring her love for the true queens over and over again while I tried not to grieve a life I would never get the chance to live in any way. Because my death was coming on swift and certain wings. I wouldn’t be in any version of Roxy’s future now. But as the impression of that vision lingered within my mind, I began to wonder if a future with the two of them claiming the throne really would be as bad as I’d feared.
With the other Heirs there to guide them, perhaps they could learn what was needed for the rule of our kingdom. But I wouldn’t be around to find out if that was the future they would face or not.
And though the ache of grief over everything I’d never had weighed heavily in my chest, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if I truly did manage to destroy my father and tear him from this world before I was forced to follow him beyond the Veil. Because just maybe, once I was gone, the age of the Dragons would fall, and it would be time for the Phoenixes to rise once more.
D ante swooped overhead, electrocuting a whole line of Nymphs as they ran to intercept the escaping rebels. He’d taken down half the fence with his lightning powers and we’d done the rest of the work, slicing through the magical boundaries beyond it just before Lionel and Lavinia had shown up to rain down death on as many people as they could.
The rebels’ magic was locked down, their hands in glowing blue cuffs, but Caleb had shot between the guards, stealing their keys and freeing as many rebels as he could get to. The more of them that reclaimed their magic, the more the tide turned in our favour, but the Nymphs were arriving in droves following their queen and I didn’t know how long we’d have the upper hand.
Washer and Max stood by the broken fence behind me, using their Siren allure to draw all the rebels towards them, feeding them a sense of freedom which I felt humming in my own chest. They cast shields and ice barriers around them to protect themselves from any enemy strikes too.