The Turning of the Tide

Midnight. The whole cove has found somewhere else to be, curtains drawn, and you are alone on the breakwater with the tide clock ticking backward above you and the brass token from the Nightjar still warm in your pocket.

Corwin is at the tower door, not stopping you, not helping you. Out past the breakwater, the water is doing something water doesn’t do — holding a shape, low and patient, waiting for the hour to turn all the way back.

You have one token, one debt, and one choice left to make before the clock finishes its turn.

What do you do?

• Throw the token into the water yourself, and end it
• Walk out to meet whatever is waiting instead