Chapter 15: Emory

Led by Keiran and the Selenic cohort, Emory descends beneath the Decrescens Library into the Treasury. Confronted about her Eclipse-born Tidecaller nature, she challenges Keiran’s manipulation at the lighthouse. Keiran admits he needed proof of her power to secure Council support and declares faith in her potential.

In the cavern—once the Order’s first seat—Keiran explains their use of Dovermere-fed waters to craft stronger synthetic magics and reveals the cohort’s true aim: use Emory’s Tidecaller ability to help wake the Tides, restoring magic to its former breadth and possibly returning the dead. Lizaveta condemns Emory as a Tidethief and fears a Collapse, but the others are hopeful. Emory, tempted by the chance to bring back Romie and the Dovermere dead, agrees to help.

Emory undergoes the initiation: after taking an Unraveler synth, she speaks three truths—her guilt over waking on the beach among the bodies, her longing to find her absent mother, and her fear-laced account of first channeling Reaper magic during Travers’s brief revival. The oath is sealed by forced submersion, triggering terror but ending with her acceptance as a Selenic.

As they celebrate, Emory bonds with the cohort. Virgil reframes Reaper magic as endings and renewal and offers to teach her its peaceful uses. Lizaveta departs in anger, and Virgil urges patience. Keiran walks Emory to her dorm and demonstrates the Selenic Mark: activated by salt water and intention, it carries voices across distance, creating an intimate telepathic link. Keiran renews his conviction that intention and Emory’s power can wake the Tides.

That night, Emory dreams of Dovermere: Romie stands by a vast hourglass as spirals, sunflowers, and shadow claws merge; a monstrous shadow-beast rises; a velvet voice warns, “That way lies madness, dreamling.” Emory wakes unsettled, the warning lingering as the promise and peril of the Selenics’ plan loom.