Page 115 of Lightlark
A million thoughts were going through his head, and Isla imagined none of them were good.
It was too much to ask for her to stand there in the aftermath. She was strong enough to say the words—but not enough to stay.
Isla turned on her heel, but Oro stopped her with a gentle hand.
He looked strange. Slightly horrified. “Are you saying you have never used power?” he demanded.
She blinked. Was she going to have to repeat it? “Yes,” she said, her voice trembling. She swallowed. “You can’t use something you don’t have.”
For once, Oro was speechless. She might have enjoyed seeing him so flustered if she wasn’t having the worst day of her life.
And she supposed the oracle had been right. Her secret was revealed.
Just not in the way she would have ever imagined.
She turned to leave again.
And this time the king did not stop her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
TOMORROW
The next morning, Isla entered the throne room with her head held high. She had told Oro her secret and survived.
The king claimed he was a man of his word. Which meant now, the power promised would be hers. All they had to do was find the heart. And now they knew it was on Moon Isle. There were only three locations left. They would search one of them that very night.
They were so very close.
Hope was the only thing keeping her from falling to pieces.
I’m coming for you,she whispered to Terra.I’m coming to save you, just as you trained me to.
Killing was permitted. Isla should have been scared, walking into a meeting with the other rulers of realm. But she wasn’t. She had Oro. Celeste. Grim.
The king had called the rulers together for an update. Isla was safely by his side. Grim appeared next. She hadn’t seen him since the ball, but every night she ran her fingers across her necklace, wondering when she would get the courage to pull the diamond and summon him to her room.
Cleo strolled inside wearing a cape that buttoned down its front, with a slit for her pants-clad legs. She looked at Isla with little interest, but Isla didn’t make the mistake of believing it meant the Moonling didn’t want to kill her. Cleo likely knew she couldn’t get near Isla with Oro as her partner.
Good.
Celeste joined them. Then Azul.
They all stood far away. Their eyes alert. Ready for attack. Ready to wield their powers, should they need to.
Oro finally spoke, his voice filling the room. “It has been sixty days since the start of the Centennial. Would anyone like to share their progress?”
No one said a word. Isla wondered what, or how much, she should say. They hadn’t discussed the meeting beforehand.
To her surprise, Oro said, “Isla and I have scoured the island for a relic we believe might have been used five hundred years ago. We think wielding it was the original offense, and that its power created the curses.”
The truth. Nearly all of it. She blinked, shocked.
Azul frowned. “What sort of relic could possibly have cast curses?”
“One infused with Nightshade power,” Oro said simply.
Again, the truth. Isla stared at him, lips parted. Hadn’t he said he didn’t trust the others? Why hadn’t they discussed this beforehand?
