They faced each other in the chamber, which was silent save for the flickering of fires. Shadows danced like living things on the dark walls.

  “There’s only one thing that makes sense,” Vera said. “As unlikely as it may be.”

  “What do you mean?” Lucian could hardly control his anger. “Why would you talk to me on the ship, then pretend not to know me here?”

  “Let me clear your confusion,” Vera said. “I sense you’re telling the truth. And if that’s so, then you have never met me. You must have met my twin sister.”

  The revelation was like a dousing of ice water. Looking her over, there was nothing in her appearance that suggested any difference. The only difference Lucian could see was that Transcend White had a braid, while Vera wore her hair freely.

  But it was the only explanation that made any sense. Despite their physical similarities, something about Transcend White’s bearing seemed even colder than Vera’s. Which was saying something because Vera was cold.

  Lucian cleared his throat, at last recovering from his shock. “Forgive me. She . . . looks exactly like you.”

  “Yes, I’m aware of that,” Transcend White said. “So, you spoke with her?”

  Lucian nodded. “Several times. She saw what I was and shared some of her knowledge.”

  Her attention seemed to sharpen, and Lucian could almost hear the gears spinning in her head. “What knowledge?”

  Under Transcend White’s steely gaze, Lucian found it hard to even remember. “Things about the Manifold. Things about the fraying, about magic, the Starsea Mages . . .” He shrugged. “It’s hard to remember everything.”

  “Compose yourself, child,” Transcend White said. “This is important. You mean to tell me that you, Emma, and my sister were all on board the same vessel?”

  Her tone stated that such a thing should have been impossible.

  “It seems that way, your Eminence.” It felt strange to call her that, but both Khairu and Emma had done the same. In Lucian’s head, she still looked like Vera.

  Her long, claw-like hands clamped onto the stone armrests of her seat, while her expression soured. Lucian had questions of his own, so when Transcend White hadn’t said anything for a while, he took his chance.

  “Is she dangerous, Transcend White?”

  Transcend White’s attention returned to him. “I want to know what she told you. I want to know everything.”

  He could hardly refuse. She had the same knack as her sister for gleaning every little detail; that much he could see.

  So, he started talking. He began from the moment he first met Vera to her philosophical musings about the Manifold and life, her time with the Starsea Mages, and the small lessons in magic she had given him. He spoke for what seemed like a good half-hour, only hesitating toward the end.

  Transcend White watched him for a moment. “Go on.”

  “She . . . requested that I become her Psion. She said the Manifold had marked me in some way, but the manner of that marking was unclear.”

  To admit that seemed a betrayal to Vera, but all the same, Lucian felt the words being pulled from him.

  Once done, he drew a deep breath, realizing he’d hardly stopped during the whole thing. He’d summarized everything that could be of interest to Transcend White, at least as far as he could figure it.

  Transcend White looked off to the side, her brow furrowed in thought. There she sat, ruminating for what had to be a good quarter of an hour. It seemed she had forgotten Lucian was even there. But he didn’t dare interrupt her. He stood, his anxiety mounting with every passing minute.

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  At last, Transcend White broke from her stillness like a statue coming to life.

  “You are truly fortunate to be here, Lucian Abrantes. My sister is a dangerous sorceress, and you’re lucky to have escaped with your life. She abandoned this very Academy long ago, giving herself to the Starsea Mages to pursue power and her selfish ends. Had you agreed to her offer, you would have been lost forever. Not only to us but to yourself.” She looked at him, her gaze intensifying. “I’ve made a crucial error, something I don’t often do. I’ve misjudged you. What you did was no easy thing, refusing an offer that would have tempted many mages. Tell me: what made you choose to come here when it seemed so uncertain? Most would have taken the easier path, the path that promised power. And it’s not every day one receives a chance to learn from the most powerful mage in the galaxy.”

  When she said that, all Lucian could feel was stunned. When he found his tongue again, his reason must have sounded pathetic. “I didn’t know that. I guess she kept that fact to herself.”

  “Indeed? Count yourself lucky, then.” She straightened in her seat. “I detect no falsehood in your tale. And you have no reason to lie that I can see. I also sense you have a good friend in Emma. Though you never said so explicitly, I detected shades of her influence in your words. Without her, you would have gone down a different path. Accepting her help and trusting her sound judgment tipped the scales just enough. Only time will tell what effect that had.” She regarded him seriously. “As it stands, it behooves us to train you, Lucian. We have no other choice, even if it defies the conventions of the Volsung Academy.”

  “Why?” he asked. “What’s changed?”

  “Everything, perhaps,” Transcend White said. “And perhaps nothing. One thing is sure: whatever is of interest to my sister is of interest to me.”

  There was still one thing Transcend White wasn’t considering: “What if I don’t accept?”

  The corners of Transcend White’s lips turned up into a small, mysterious smile. That smile reminded Lucian very much of her sister.

  “What a strange question. Most who come here undergo a journey at great personal cost. Some come from many Gates away, traveling for well over a year, abandoning friends, family, and lifelong homes. The Volsung Academy is the most prestigious mage training facility in the League of Worlds. If we were to accept your refusal, it would be the first such case in our entire existence.”

  Lucian was quiet as he thought about those words. Refusing wasn’t even an option. He had no other choice, no other place to go. After what Transcend White suggested, he was thinking he had passed up an opportunity with Vera that he was too ignorant to see.

  “What about your sister is so dangerous?” Lucian asked. “I get she’s a powerful mage. I may be speaking out of turn here, but many of the things she said made a lot of sense. Not everything. But some of the things. From her point of view, at least, the Starsea Mages had a lot of good ideas.”

  “No doubt she believes that,” Transcend White said. “Their precepts make sense to the untrained, animalistic human mind. To give in to the desire for power, to twist the Manifold into something self-serving, is a perversion. That’s what the Mages of Starsea did. Theirs was a dark vision disguised in the wrappings of nobility. It was an ugly philosophy that ended in catastrophe. The appeal of that darkness has tempted many mages over the years, to their destruction, and the devastation of those closest to them. A true cure to the fraying is a mere mirage, used to control the mind that desires power. The Path of Balance must be walked: just as magic gives us great gifts, it comes at an equally great cost. This is the way of magic.”

  These things made little sense to Lucian, but he thought he caught shades of regret in Transcend White’s voice. He still wasn’t sure who was right, even considering what Transcend White had just said. But it was prudent to keep his doubts to himself.

  “One thing is sure,” Transcend White continued. “You will die without our training. And the training offered by my sister would have led to a fate worse than death. She would have drawn you into her schemes, using you to somehow empower the Starsea Mages.”

  “Vera said the Starsea Mages were gone.”

  “Perhaps only in name. Their ideas live on, though how they want to achieve them has evolved. These things are beyond you, Lucian Abrantes. Train with us and do well, and you may learn more. But the very first thing you must learn at this academy is patience—and not to allow my sister’s delusions of grandeur to lead you astray.”

  Lucian got the feeling that she was about to tell him something more before thinking better of it.

  “I . . . see your point.”

  “Yours is a stubborn mind. That much I see. It may even be impossible to train you. But I fear we have no choice. But all the same . . . we must try. I hope you prove me wrong . . . Novice Lucian.”

  Before he could even react to his new title, the doors to the chamber were thrown open at some unspoken signal. Transcends Blue and Gray entered, along with Talent Khairu. Of Emma, there was no sign.

  “Lead him to the Novice Wing,” Transcend White said to Khairu. “And confiscate his belongings.” Before Lucian could say anything in protest, Transcend White continued. “I invoke my executive privilege as Transcend White. Lucian Abrantes is to be entered into our ranks as a Novice.”

  Her dark eyes focused on him. Eyes like Vera’s, but not like hers. Eyes that seemed to hold secrets and plans of their own.

  “His training begins tomorrow.”