“At dawn.”

“Dawn?” Farilane felt a weight on her chest. Her breath became short.

“Your death will lock the timeline and send it in the right direction. The world will mourn you, and a million tiny reverberations will result and spread out like ripples that will seed the future. If you don’t die, if you see the sunrise, then the window will be missed, and the baseline of the future will change. The cascading events won’t properly line up and none of what is required will occur. Everything will fail. I know it’s hard to understand, but little things have massive repercussions.”

She nodded. “How am I to, ah . . . I mean, in what manner must I . . .”

He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter—just so long as you die.”

“And if I choose to live?”

“Then you will live.”

She put her palms together, nodded, then set her fingertips to her lips. “But everything will be destroyed as a result?”

“Maybe not everything,” he replied.

“Will humanity be spared?”

Kile shook his head.

“The Fhrey?”

Another shake.

“So the dwarfs inherit the world?”

“Afraid not.”

She felt as if the air had been sucked from her lungs. “Wow,” the word came out an octave higher than she expected. She forced a fake grin. “You really—you really make my choice fun, don’t you?”

“I’ll tell them to await your decision.” Kile said. “I’ll tell them that the prophet decrees you have the right of choice, and that it will be honored.” He started for the door.

“Kile?” she stopped him.

He turned.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

For the first time, he appeared at a total loss. “Sorry? I don’t understand. For what?”

“This must be awful for you.”

“This must be awful . . . for me?”

“I don’t know what it is you did, what crimes you committed, but I can see this penance of yours is beyond horrible. I’d rather be the forest than the fire. Whether you succeed or not, allow me to add my voice to the many who must have thanked you over the centuries for what you are trying to do.”

Kile stared at her, dumbfounded. He blinked, balled his hands into fists, wet his lips, then took a deep and steady breath.

“What?” she asked.

“You are the first.” He turned quickly and headed for the door.

Chapter 23: A Blizzard in Summer

Chapter Twenty-Three
A Blizzard in Summer

Farilane walked in a circle around the world. She took her time. Still, it only required a minute to circumnavigate Elan, to travel from Desolatia and back again. In the end, she stood on Percepliquis, the City of Persephone, the center of the world, and sighed.