Page 162 of Lightlark
Then she drew her puddle of stars once more.
She had escaped Lightlark. She was safe, for now. She could flee. She could run.
Yet.
She couldn’t leave them behind.
Grim had betrayed her on every level ... He deserved Aurora’s wrath, a slow death at her hands ...
But Oro did not. She remembered his words, spoken true:I’ve never lied to you, Isla. Not once.He was the only person she could trust. The only person who hadn’t truly betrayed her. She wouldn’t abandon him.
Poppy gripped her wrist. “You’re going back? You made it out. Don’t be a fool.”
Isla hissed. She shook out of her guardian’s hold. “I might be a fool. But at least I have honor,” she spat. “I will return with power for Wildling. I will save this realm, and Terra. But afterward ... I never want to see either of you again.”
She raised her arms to the ceiling, her two long swords pressed together above her head.
And portaled away.
The moment Isla landed in the Place of Mirrors, she was moving. The vines Aurora controlled reacted reflexively, lunging toward her from every direction, thorns and all.
Isla might not have had power.
But, unlike the other rulers, she was used to fighting without it.
Her blades made a slicing sound as she peeled them away from each other and turned them both in wide circles, at her sides, at her front, behind her back—and wherever she cut, plants fell.
Aurora had stolen Isla’s power ... and even dead, the enchanted forest sought to protect the Starling ruler. The decaying nature created guardians in response to Isla’s threat, creatures crafted from bark. They hurtled toward her through holes in the glass, wielding weapons made of bone and horns from wild animals. Isla roared and lunged, fighting them just as fiercely as any foe, spinning on her heel, turning her blades, shielding from their thorns and bone daggers with the metal across her arms.
The world went silent. Every step was delicate as a dance, every move of her blade targeted, her arms pulsing not with pain, but power—she had trained every day before the Centennial since she was just a girl. She played not with dolls but with blades. She did not braid her hair but wove vines to make shields.
For a moment, she was back in the Wildling woods during a rare training excursion outside, Terra sitting in a tree above, watching Isla move, her sword cutting through the air. Her arrows shooting targets carved into trees. Her throwing blades hitting their marks every time, from any angle.
And she heard claps, somewhere. Terra used to clap only when Isla had conquered a fighting technique. One that would earn her a new blade to display on her wall.
But the clapping didn’t come from Terra.
Aurora’s hands rang together, and a thin vine punctured the glass, so small it made it through Isla’s raised blades.
And wrapped around her neck.
Isla gasped. It gripped tightly as her breath was choked from her throat, thorn cutting against her neck, right against her larynx.
Aurora stood in front of her, laughing. Clapping once more. Amused. “You cameback?You were free, little bird.” She clicked her tongue, suddenly disappointed. “And you flew right back into your cage.”
She closed her fist, and the vine tightened even more, bringing Isla to her knees. Isla sliced at its root, cutting it free. But the piece wrapped around her neck remained.
Oro and Grim watched her, both fighting against their chains, eyes wide in fear. Blood spilled down their temples, down their limbs. Aurora had cut them a thousand times with those thorns. It seemed Isla had interrupted her slow torture of the two rulers.
They hadn’t even had a chance to stop it ... hadn’t had access to their pools of power before Aurora had stolen them, because of her, becauseshehad suggested they meet at the Place of Mirrors.
Still ... there was an advantage to being here. Grim and Oro might be trapped, but Aurora was limited to only Wildling power. Beyond this place, her new powers were limitless. She could wield all six realms’ abilities. No one in history had been able to do that.
Worse—she wasn’t bound to any of the curses, as their creator. Leaving the rest of the realms weak, easy to conquer.
No. Aurora could not leave the Place of Mirrors.
Even if it meant Isla wouldn’t leave either.
