-An excerpt from When the Bridges Fell: Letters from a Lost Island

They're calling it the Schism now—the day the world broke apart. Most people, if you ask them, will say they remember the flashes of light, or the explosions, or the way the ground around the gates began to fall away. But me—I was at home that day, far away from any of the gates. All I remember is the ash. I thought it was snowing at first, but then I remembered it was summer.

-Author and recipient unknown. This letter is part of an unclaimed collection discovered after the evacuation of the mountain pass villages.

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Taly's boots clicked on the polished marble as she followed Leto down the darkened hallway. The ghostly woman drifted ahead of her, glowing softly. Her light expanded to fill the space, casting everything in the same shade of pale blue.

Leto had been circumspect in the information she divulged. Tea was to be served in the Water Maze, though Taly had no idea what or where that was. And besides the Queen and the fairies and now her, the palace was uninhabited. When Taly had asked why, the question was ignored.

Taly took a long breath—in and then out—but her fingers still shook as she smoothed her hands over the supple velvet that hugged her waist. She had never worn anything as fine as the ensemble Leto had chosen for her. A formal frockcoat spun from shadows and threaded with stars, a silky tunic as blue as the sea—both perfectly layered and draped over a pair of steel gray leggings that flaunted every curve. Sapphires dotted her ears, accentuating that strange fey arch, and water magic darkened her lashes. A simple diadem painted a streak of silver through the graceful riot of golden curls that spilled over her shoulders.

They passed through a wide arching vestibule with a tree—an actual tree—growing down from the ceiling, pinpricks of light dotting its spindly branches. Mirrors surrounded her on all sides, and Taly's eyes were inevitably drawn to the stranger that stared back.

She looked pale, even beneath the pretty pink flush Leto had applied to her cheeks, and her hand kept drifting to the tiny piece of quartz hanging around her neck—her mother's necklace. When they were children, Skye always knew when she was afraid or upset, even if she was just sitting quietly with her thoughts. At first, she'd thought he'd been reading her scent or listening to her heart, until one day he'd found her sitting on a bench in town, trying to work up the courage to go talk to the boy working in the butcher shop. "You fidget when you're nervous," was all he had said as he pried her hand away from her necklace, squeezing it tight.

He'd sat with her like that for an hour, refusing to let her leave until he'd made her laugh.

Taly blinked back the sudden tears that sprang to her eyes. She would give anything to see Skye right now—to have him take her hand and make some stupid joke that was so terrible it was almost funny. She tried to remember his eyes, his smile, the way he would pace and scuff his heels whenever he got nervous, and for a moment, the fear ebbed. She could almost imagine him standing behind her, telling her to hurry up, and hey, if she was going to die, at least she would get to ask the most infamous woman in all the worlds why she did what she did. Who else got to say that?

"Madam?" Leto called from beyond one of the gilded doorways.

Taly jumped, not realizing she'd stopped in front of the mirror. "Sorry," she mumbled, jogging to catch up. "Also, I'd prefer it if you didn't call me 'Madam' either."

"Of course, Ma'am."

Taly rolled her eyes but chose to stay silent as she continued to follow the ghostly woman past more hallways and more mirrors and a seemingly endless number of rooms and stairwells until they came to a long receiving hall. A set of massive oak doors stood at the opposite end, opening on silent hinges as they approached.

Taly blinked, raising a hand to shield her eyes as she stepped into the bright light of day. The formal gardens stretched into the distance, a kaleidoscope of color punctuated briefly by gently rolling lawns of green candy-colored grass. The air was warm and fragrant, thick with aether.

They continued to walk, down pathways and stairs, through grottos and groves. In the distance, Taly could've sworn that the garden hedges were moving, like great, lumbering beasts carved from leaf and branch and root.

She was sweating by the time they came to a large reflecting pool. Heavy bricks of white polished stone formed a twisting labyrinth across the smooth, shimmering surface, and a raised platform lined with trellises covered in bright blue ivy floated in the center of the artificial lake.

Taly marked every turn and pivot Leto made, across the maze and through the wide, wooden arch leading into the trellises. Flickering orbs of fairy fire had begun trailing after them at some point, and they whizzed through the narrow corridors, setting the leaves rustling.

Leto stopped beside a break in the hedges, inclining her head. "I must leave you here," she said, her voice hushed. "Her Majesty wishes to greet you alone."

Taly was thankful for the gentle push the fairy gave her, not sure she could've managed the few steps into the clearing on her own. Fear had seeped into her, and it threatened to lock her in place.

Inside, a woman stood in a circle of white stone—tall and statuesque. Her ebony hair fell down her back in waves, and the pale pink of her dress perfectly complemented her creamy complexion, the color deepening to amethyst near her feet. She wore no crown, no jewelry except for the pendant at her neck. A crescent moon set inside an unbroken circle—the symbol for the Time Shard.

The woman's golden eyes widened when she caught sight of Taly still lingering at the edge of the clearing, and she rushed forward, arms extended. "Finally!" she trilled, her voice like a song. "I was getting worried!"

Taly stiffened, sucking in a sharp gasp as the Queen eagerly embraced her.

This is unexpected, Taly thought, the Queen's pendant cutting into her cheek. The Lady Azura Raine was a giant of a woman—taller than Skye, maybe taller than Ivain—and even in heels, the top of Taly's head barely grazed the woman's chin.

When the Queen took a merciful step back, her eyes flicked up and down and back again in a way that made Taly feel as though she were being weighed and measured and somehow found lacking.

"Have you been eating well?" the Queen clucked, what seemed like genuine concern flashing behind those strange golden eyes that seemed more metal than flesh. "You're thinner than you were the last time you visited. I'm always telling you—good nutrition is important. It shouldn't take you three days to recover from a little aether depletion. Not with Leto fussing over you the entire time."

The Queen squeezed her shoulders, and Taly squeaked, managing to wriggle away. "What do you mean three days?" she asked, putting a few more steps between them just for good measure. "I don't even remember falling asleep. Did you do something to me?"

The Queen followed Taly's retreat, amusement dancing at the corners of her mouth. "I kept you alive, if that's what you mean. Your aether levels were critically low. Leto was sure you were going to suffocate in your sleep. I've seen you in all manner of states, my dear—covered head to toe in blood, out of your mind from poison—but you've never collapsed. Had us all dreadfully worried. Especially when you wouldn't wake up."

Taly's back hit one of the trellises, and it swayed behind her. That would explain why she couldn't remember anything. Although it pained her to imagine fainting right at the Queen's feet. If Skye had been there to see it, he never would've let her live it down.

The Queen grabbed Taly's arm, and she stumbled after her, too shocked to put up much resistance as she was dragged from the clearing and into the hedges. This woman knew her—or thought she did. The only question was how. Taly had never been inside the palace before, much less met the queen that used to sit on its throne, a woman rumored to have died over two centuries before she was born. "Your Majesty, if I may—"

The Queen let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Since when do you call me Your Majesty? It's Azura. Or Az, if you feel so inclined. I keep forgetting this is your first time here, especially now that you look a little more like yourself.

"As for Vaughn," she went on without missing a beat, "he's always been a bastard. Ever since he was a child. And I know that's a horrible thing to say about a child, but, in his case, it's true. Your mother was the only one that could ever stand him for more than five minutes. Maybe that's why he took her betrothal to your father so badly. Shards, I really thought he was going to make a scene at the wedding. We all did."

Taly's thoughts jumbled together, and she could feel a dull ache setting in behind her eyes as the Queen flitted from story to story. Azura knew about Vaughn, seemed personally acquainted with both her mother and father? Taly hadn't even been aware she still had a father. Her memories from before the fire were scattered at best. Little more than a tangle of half-remembered dreams already worn away by the passage of time.

They finally came to a small wooden and glass gazebo, and the Queen was still babbling—something about a cuckle fish, a bottle of tequila, and a top hat.

And Taly... well, she didn't particularly care about the cuckle fish or just how it had found itself inside the bottle. She was still trying to figure out just what a "bachelorette" party was and why it had been held in a place called "Vegas" when she found herself being pushed to sit on a gnarled wooden bench. Azura took a seat across from her, arranging her skirts beneath a delicate crystal table, and began picking at a tower of brightly colored pastries. There were cookies laced with frosting, cakes stuffed with cream, candied fruits, pocket pies, and little dots of chocolate and caramel everywhere.

"And that's when I said" —Azura paused to take a bite from a frothy cream puff— "Atlas, Breena is a quality woman. You're never going to win her over with things like flowers or jewelry. If you want to woo her, get her the thing she really wants, the thing that all women really want. A dagger—sharp but still small enough to be worn to a ball."

Azura took another bite, licking cream from her fingers. "The gowns were so dreadfully tight back when your parents were courting. It was almost impossible to wear more than a few throwing knives beneath your skirts, never mind a decent short sword. Although, Breena was a creative one. I once saw her hide a rapier in a place where a rapier had no business being." A laugh, then, "Is there something wrong?" She eyed Taly like there was, indeed, something wrong. "Why aren't you eating? I've never known you to turn down sugarberry tart before."

"I... um..." Taly pressed her hands between her thighs to keep them from shaking. "Sugarberries are fine." More than fine. She loved sugarberries—had, on more than one occasion, forced Skye to go with her through the Seren Gate to the nearby town of Marin for the First Harvest Festival just so she could eat her weight in sugarberry confections.

But that begged the question: how did the Queen know that?

How did the Queen know her at all?

"I'm confused," Taly said, even though it felt like an understatement. She was more than confused. She had lost the thread of the conversation a long time ago—alongside her grip on reality. "Who is Atlas? And how did you know my mother's name was Breena? How do you know Vaughn?"

Azura paused, setting the half-eaten pastry in her hands on a delicate golden plate. "Oh, dear," she murmured. "Oh, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear... You said you would know next to nothing when you got here, but I didn't think it would be this bad. So, am I to understand you don't know who your parents are?"

Taly shook her head.

"And I suppose you also don't know why you're here?"

Another shake of her head.

"Or who's invading your island?"

That was also a good question—one Taly also didn't know the answer to.

She shook her head.

"I suppose," Azura said, drumming her fingers on the table, "that you also know nothing about our arrangement."

"Why would I have an arrangement with a terrorist?" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, and Taly's stomach gave a sickening lurch when the Queen raised a brow.

"I see that mouth of yours has always been a problem." Azura leaned back in her chair, smiling. "If I'm being perfectly honest, my dear, I was hoping that was one aspect of your personality that developed later in life. Shards only know how many problems it's caused."

Taly chewed on her lip. Azura wasn't wrong. Sarina was always telling her to think before she spoke.

Azura sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I suppose we'll start with the basics," she said as if it pained her to do so. "You, my dear, are a time mage. Not the first to be born since the Sanctorum started hunting our kind, but thanks to your mother's ingenuity and a little intervention on my part, the first to survive to adulthood."

Taly stared at her palm, the place where that little moon-shaped scar used to be. "My mother made me look human."

Azura shook her head. "Your mother didn't just make you look human. She made you bleed like a human, grow like a human, move like a human. She had your body so convinced it was mortal, your blood used iron instead of aether. Or at least it used to, until the spells began to break down." Azura reached into her pocket, producing a small shadow crystal that she placed in the center of the table. "The anchor for your mother's spells. I thought you might like to keep it. The enchantment matrix was so old—once I removed it, what little magic was left crumbled."

Taly reached out a trembling hand, carefully picking up the crystal. She had carried this with her for fifteen years without knowing it. It felt strange to be holding it now—one of the few items of her mother's she had left.

Azura went on, "You've been here before—many times, along with your entourage. However, due to the unusual nature of this place, we're a bit out-of-sync—chronologically speaking, that is. You never show up in the right order."

"What does that mean?" Taly asked, still staring at the crystal.

"It means that while I've known you for a very long time, you do not know me. Not yet, at least. Time mages experience the world differently, especially in places like this where the normal rules of time and space don't apply."

Taly swallowed, clenching her hand around the stone. "We know each other." Not a question, exactly, though she still couldn't quite wrap her head around the concept. She grasped at a flicker of memory, something Azura had said at the gates. "Are we friends?"

"Of course."

"But you committed genocide." Taly finally looked up. "How could I ever be friends knowing what you did?"

Taly expected anger, violence... anything but the look of bland dismissal that washed over the Queen's expression. "I'm sure you have many questions," Azura said. "About the Schism, this place, your family, me. And just so you know, I don't plan on answering any of them."

"But—"

"Not that it's going to stop you from asking." The Queen leveled a glare across the table, and Taly's mouth snapped shut. "You're always so serious. Always need to know every little thing. You're always saying 'Azura, this isn't the time' or 'Azura, that's inappropriate' or 'Azura, please stop rambling, you're giving me a headache.' You're always so predictable, and I'm not saying that just because I can see the future." Reaching across the table, she flicked Taly on the forehead. "You, my dear, are a fun-killer."

Taly jolted, rubbing at her forehead. "I am not." Shards, how had they gotten here?

"Yes, you are," Azura countered childishly. "In fact, by the authority vested in me as the High Lady of Time, I dub thee 'Lady Caro, Killer of Fun.' There—now it's official." She pouted, reaching for another cookie. "No wonder Skye always looks so bored when he's here. Poor boy probably never gets to go out and play—not with Lady Fun-Killer attached to his hip."

Taly shook her head. She wasn't going to ask. Didn't care about this madwoman's ramblings. "Look," she said, placing both hands flat on the table, "I don't know how I got here, or even where here is. And to be perfectly honest, I don't give a shit. About any of it—you, the Schism, the missing time mages, this future version of me that apparently has no problem with the fact that you committed genocide. I just want you to send me home."

"Don't be ridiculous. You can't leave."

"So, I'm a prisoner then?" Taly was amazed her voice remained so even.

Azura barked out a laugh. "A prisoner?" she exclaimed, nearly descending into a fit of giggles. "What makes you think you're my prisoner?"

"I was brought here against my will and now you won't let me go. Even by the loosest definition, I'm pretty sure that makes me your captive."

"You know," Azura said, the corners of her mouth lifting up in a way that seemed more manic than amused, "you said that you were going to say that. Well, not you you. The other you—the one that grows into someone worth knowing. And granted, I didn't believe you— her? —at the time. After all, our visits are always so pleasant, and she made a special trip just to make sure your rooms were prepared. Brought along the loveliest bottle of wine. Actually, now that I think about it, that's probably how she talked me into loaning you so many of my jewels."

Taly eyed the ring on her finger—an obscenely large emerald surrounded by a nest of gold. She usually hated wearing rings, but she'd been drawn to it immediately. It was the same color as Skye's eyes. "Are you insinuating that I'm complicit in my own captivity?"

"Well, you did ask me to train you, so... yes—it seems that your current state of captivity is entirely your fault. And that makes me feel quite a lot better, so thank you! Given your age and unusual set of circumstances, your education will be unorthodox, to say the least. I was starting to feel marginally guilty, and it was a very unpleasant emotion."

Taly leaned back. "I asked you to train me," she murmured to herself.

Though it didn't stop Azura from muttering, "Have we really not established that yet?"

"And if I said I no longer wanted your help?"

"Oh, I gave my word, dear. I never go back on my word."

"But you gave your word to me. A future version of me, but still me, and I'm telling you, right now, to let me go. You're not breaking any vows."

Azura paused, considering. "Well, that is a conundrum," she said at last. "Oh, it makes my head hurt. Are you the same Talya Caro as the one I know, or are you different, in which case which woman's wishes takes precedence? Would the fabric of the universe come crashing down if I allowed you to deviate from the path I know my friend is supposed to follow, or would the timelines stabilize? Would there be an entirely different universe that grew from the divergence, with another you and another me?" A pause. Azura smiled. "You would know these answers if you had even a basic knowledge of time magic."

Shit. She'd walked right into that one, albeit unknowingly. "I want to go home," Taly tried again.

"Don't be ridiculous." Azura reached for an empty plate. "You will stay here," she said, piling the plate high with an assortment of cakes and cookies, "until I say you can leave."

Taly eyed the plate that was placed in front of her. Her stomach gave a vicious growl, reminding her that it had been literal days since she'd last eaten. "And when will that be?"

Azura began to fill her own plate. "Eat, dear. You really are nothing but skin and bones. Any thinner and I'll be able to see right through you."

Taly obeyed, taking shaky bite of what appeared to be sponge cake. Something in the back of her mind cataloged the taste and texture—both exquisite. "You still haven't answered my question. How long do you intend to keep here?"

"And there goes Lady Fun-Killer again," Azura said shrilly, an evasion if Taly had ever heard one. "Can't we have one conversation where you don't try to talk business? The humans have a saying about all work and no play, and even though the humans don't get many things right, they were right in this one instance, so eat, my dear. You're going to need your strength."

Something rattled from behind the hedges, and Azura's eyes abruptly flicked away. "Finally!" she exclaimed, a dazzling smile transforming her delicate fey features. "The tea is here! But... oh dear." Her expression wilted when Leto drifted into the clearing pushing a gilded tea caddy. "Why aren't you wearing your uniform, Leto?" she whispered, glancing at Taly nervously. "I thought we all wanted to impress our guest? It's her first time here, remember?"

The ghostly woman bowed. "Please forgive me, Majesty, but the armor caused her Ladyship great distress."

"What?" Azura breathed, her eyes going impossibly wide. She reached into a pocket hidden inside the seam of her skirts, pulling out a worn, leather notebook. Loose leaves of paper had been stuffed between the dog-eared pages, and stains spotted the spine. "Oh dear..." she muttered as she frantically rifled through the pages. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh... Here it is!" She tapped the page. "It says right here: no armor. Leto, why didn't you remind me?"

"I did, Your Majesty," Leto replied smoothly.

"Fairies lie, Taly." Azura took a large, angry bite of cake. "They're sneaky, and malicious, and can't be trusted. No one told me! Absolutely no one, and I just wanted everything to be perfect." She turned the page. "What else have I forgotten?" Then another. "Tell me, Taly—what else have I forgotten?"

"I... I don't know." Taly glanced at Leto who just shook her head, turning away as she busied herself with the tea. "I've never been here before. In fact, I still don't know where here is. We haven't covered that yet."

Azura sniffed as she reached for a lavender tea cake, her fingers smudging the web of sugar paste that decorated the sides. "We're in a garden. "Shards, you didn't mention just how slow you used to be."

Leto poured the tea with a practiced hand, serving the Queen first before offering Taly a delicate teacup painted with gold. She eyed the amber liquid warily before taking a tentative sip, sighing at the taste. Reysang tea—one of her favorites. She briefly wondered if the choice had been deliberate. If that preference had been recorded in the pages of the journal the Queen was still rifling through.

Minutes passed, and Taly continued to sip at her tea, her thoughts beginning to drift. This place, this day, this thing she had become—it was all absurd. Too incredible to believe.

And a part of her didn't. A part of her wondered if this was all just a dream. A hallucination to ease the pain of dying. Maybe she was still back in the forest, in some ditch somewhere bleeding out. Maybe she had hit her head when Byron threw her from the saddle, and the world would soon go dark and begin to fade.

That didn't seem like such a horrible way to go. Though she wished she could've dreamed of something more pleasant and far less strange.

Leto leaned down and began whispering in the Queen's ear.

"It's that late already?" The journal snapped shut. "My, time did get away from me today." Azura rose from her seat. "We need to go. Now."

Taly let out a yip when Azura reached down and yanked her to her feet. The teacup flew from her hands and promptly shattered as it landed on the cobbled paving stones. "What the hell is going on now?"

The Queen said nothing as she proceeded to march them back through the garden and across the stone pathways swirling across the surface of the reflecting pool. Leto followed close behind, still pushing the tea caddy and what little remained of the pastry tower.

"Oh, dear," Azura sighed tiredly. "I was hoping to avoid this conversation for a few more days, but I always seem to lose track of time when we get to talking." They ascended the stairs and started back up the avenue. Even though it was nowhere near sunset, the sky was already turning dark, the remaining light rapidly draining away.

"You're hurting me," Taly bit out. She had to jog to keep up with the much taller woman, and she stumbled on the main stairs. She would've fallen, but the hand gripping her arm dragged her back to her feet.

With each step, Azura's back seemed to straighten, her expression turning colder. "While you're here," she said, not a bit out of breath, "there is just one rule. Do not leave the palace after 18 bells. Lock your doors, lock your windows, do not go outside. If you do, I will no longer be able to guarantee your safety."

They burst through the main doors of the palace, barreling through a dense throng of fairy fire already waiting for them on the other side. There were hundreds of them, and their smoky blue forms filled the vast chamber, bell-like voices echoing off the walls in a deafening clamor.

Halfway across the hall, Azura finally released her iron-grip on Taly's arm, and she lurched back, rubbing at her bicep and what would surely be a bruise come morning. The Queen looked different than she had before. Her entire demeanor had transformed and hardened; every trace of softness gone. She held up a hand, and the fairies abruptly quieted—like an orchestra following a conductor's command.

"I just want to go home," Taly said in the silence. "Please, just... just send me home. I don't know who this person is that you think you know, but it's not me."

The Queen began to circle her, her shoes clicking on the checkered marble floor. Taly swore she felt the ground shudder.

"You are a time mage, Talya." Clear, precise words, devoid of warmth but not unkind. "And I am your High Lady. For a human, that means very little. I realize that. But you are no longer human, and if it is my wish that you stay here and train, then you will obey."

"And what if I don't?" Taly raised her chin defiantly. "You can make me do a lot of things, but you can't make me obey. I will find a way to escape."

Azura's answering smile made Taly shudder. "Far be it from me to force someone into my care," the Queen said lightly. "If you'd like to flagrantly disregard your own safety, risking both your life and the lives of those you love" —she waved at the wide double doors that still hung open— "then by all means."

Taly's eyes went wide. This woman made no sense. She was erratic, unstable, inconsistent... "But you said—"

"Forget what I said," Azura chirped. "Go. Before I change my mind and decide to let you spend the night in my dungeon."

"Majesty," Leto interjected softly. She stood off to the side, her ghostly hands gripping the tea caddy. "Is that—"

"Do not interfere, Leto," Azura warned. The fairy abruptly hung her head.

Taly searched the Queen's expression, but it was a look she knew all too well. She had seen it countless times, plastered on the faces of the highborn nobility. Pleasant and deceptively blank—it was a look that gave away nothing.

Taly took a cautious step towards the door, ignoring the hushed whispers of the fairies. Between staying here with an all-powerful god of a woman whose sanity seemed to be teetering on the edge of a fathomless abyss and going home—she chose home.

Yes, there was the Sanctorum. And Vaughn. And the shades. But she would deal with those problems as they arose. There were plenty of places to hide on the island. She would figure out a way to get by.

Another step, and when Azura made no move to stop her, Taly broke into a sprint, heading for the door and the freedom that awaited her on the other side.

Beyond the towering arch, dark clouds streaked a blood-red sky, and the scent of smoke carried on the wind. Thunder rolled in the distance.

Taly stopped just outside the door, eyes on the horizon.

Lights flickered in the distance, too bright to be stars, too sparse for city lights.

Snow began to fall from the sky.

Except... no. Not snow.

Taly held out a hand, watching as something downy and black fluttered into her palm. "Ash," she whispered, just moments before the world exploded.

The sound was deafening, the wash of light that devoured the land near-blinding.

And it repeated, over and over and over again.

The air clogged with ash, and Taly choked. The ground shook, and she began to stumble. A rough hand grabbed her by the collar, and she barely managed to stifle a scream as she was yanked back into the palace, away from the door and the rain of chaos that was quickly unfolding.

It was silent inside the palace. Completely still. The explosions still rumbled, but it was like distant thunder.

"You're safe," the Queen said softly, soothingly. It was only then that Taly realized she was shaking. "We are all safe so long as we stay inside the palace. Look."

Taly looked to where she pointed. Beyond the doorway, pillars of smoke speared the air, and violent flashes of white light stilled cracked open the sky. Ash swirled in the air and pelted the ground, but it all stopped at the palace doors, as though there were an invisible line.

"What is that?" Taly breathed.

Azura gazed impassively out the doorway. "That was the reason I told you not to go outside," she said softly. "And before you ask, yes—that will be happening every night."

"Every night?" Taly edged further away from the door. "How? Why?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention?" Azura smiled in a way that indicated she'd forgotten nothing. "This is a time loop."

"A what?"

"A time loop," Azura repeated, enunciating each word as though she were talking to a small child. "Imagine time as a length of string. Now, if someone were to cut out a portion of that string and tie it in a circle—that's where we are. This is a single day, repeating over and over without end."

Taly worked her tongue, trying to translate thought into speech. But the words wouldn't come. She was paralyzed, rooted to the spot. Helpless to do anything but watch as the world outside crumbled and burned.

"Which day?" Azura offered. "You were about to ask it. Or wanted to."

"Which day?" Taly parroted weakly.

Azura gave a soft, sad sigh, her eyes still on the door, like she wanted to look away but couldn't. "This is the day the world ended. By my own hand."

Those words settled in her like a stone, and for a moment, Taly stopped seeing the vast marble hall, the chaos at her back. She stopped hearing the explosions, the ones she now realized weren't really explosions.

They were gates, closing abruptly, each one a bridge connecting two worlds separated by time and space. Without the proper shut down protocols, the two sides of that portal would crash back together, forcing all the air, all the physical matter that used to occupy that artificial space in-between away in one explosive outburst.

There was another blast, louder than all the rest. Closer.

She knew now why they called it the Schism. It sounded like the ground, like the very world, was breaking apart.

"So, all this time," Taly said, mustering anger in the absence of courage, "you've been here? While the time mages were being hunted, while the Sanctorum was destroying the island—you were here? Reliving... what? Your greatest triumph? Time Queen victorious because fuck everyone else?"

"I would hardly call this a triumph," Azura said. The ash was collecting on the ground outside, piling up against the veil of protective magic. "More like an unfortunate necessity."

Taly sneered. Millions of people had died that day, the world had never been the same. And this woman talked like it was little more than an inconvenience. "You're a monster."

"I know."

Taly almost missed the words.

Azura finally turned away from the door. "This is what I'm talking about," she said a bit tiredly. "You're always so serious, always making me talk about things I'd rather not revisit. Lady Fun-Killer you are, Vanquisher of Joy. Maybe I should get you a little sash. Those do eventually come back in style."

A sudden giggle bubbled up, and Azura threw her head back, laughing as the fairies began to chatter and disperse.

Outside, chaos reigned.

"You will not escape." Azura's steps were slow and measured as she retreated down the hall, a row of fairies trailing behind. "It's pointless to even try. There are many doors and pathways that lead in and out, and I control every single one. I decide who comes and who goes, where and when. You're here until I say you can leave."

Taly ran after her. "And when will that be?" Her voice cracked. "How long do you intend to keep me here?"

Azura paused, and for a moment, Taly thought she wasn't going to answer. That she would deflect the question the same way she had in the garden. But then she said, "When you earn your third training designation, I will send you home. You have my word."

Taly stumbled to a stop in the middle of the hall. "But that could take years." Skye had been 16 when he earned his third seal—that was 11 years of training. It took most mages far longer.

She would be forgotten by then. Given up for dead by all that knew her.

Azura's expression softened. "Don't worry. Time moves differently here. Skye and the rest of your family—they'll hardly notice you're gone. And speaking of..." Her eyes dropped. "I almost forgot." Without warning, Taly's necklace was ripped away.

"No." Taly grasped at the necklace, frantic. "That was my mother's."

Azura held the chain just out of reach. "Who do you think gave it to her?"

Taly stopped reaching.

Her mother's necklace. The Queen had even managed to taint that.

Taly barely felt the tears as they began to fall, trailing down her chin and dripping to the floor.

The Queen offered no explanation as she began to walk away, her skirts trailing behind her.

"You seem tired, Ma'am." Leto's voice was melodic and soothing, and she placed a gentle hand on Taly's shoulder. The buzz of aether made her teeth sing. "Would you like to retire for the night?"

Taly nodded wordlessly, allowing herself to be pulled to the side, towards a door she didn't recognize.

"Everything will look better in the morning," one of the fairies whispered sympathetically as they passed.

"She's really not that bad," another chimed.

"Yes, she is," came a tinkling mutter. "But you get used to it."

A murmur of agreement rippled through the crowd.

But Taly had already stopped listening.

She was trapped.

That thought kept repeating in an endless loop.

She was trapped in a strange place with an even stranger woman until she could complete a task that could take years.

As she trudged after Leto, she felt each one of those years opening up in front of her, a dark, yawning chasm that swallowed her whole.

Author's note: So, that's it for the preview. I'm still hard at work on this book, so if anyone has any comments or feedback, good or bad, I'd love to hear it! It all helps me write a better story in the end.