Page 67 of Lightlark
“You can open your eyes now,” he said, dropping her arm like it had burned him. And Isla had never been so grateful to feel solid ground.
She did as he said and looked around. They had reached a shard of mountain that was narrow at the top but joined the rest of the hill toward the bottom. If she slipped from here, she would only plummet about a hundred feet before ending up in some crack of the cliff. She winced. Not that that sounded much better than simply falling off the side of the island.
The storm seemed close enough to touch, curled toward them in its frozen dance. The whispers she had been able to hear at the cliff were louder now. Insistent, almost.
Oro had stopped at a gaping hole a few feet away, perfectly round like a well. In the near darkness, Isla couldn’t see a bottom. It went all the way through the mountain, for all she knew.
“I’ll go first,” Oro said from her side. “Then you.”
He made to take a step forward, into the black hole, and she gripped his elbow.Go first?They were jumpinginside?
“Will something ... break my fall?”
“Obviously.”
She peered into the hole and squinted. It was as dark as the backs of her eyelids. If she couldn’t see anything, that meant the fall would be long. The drop could be deadly.
“Are you ... sure?”
Oro sighed. “Fear of heights. Fear of falling. Fear of bridges. Should we make a list of your fears, Wildling?”
Isla glared at him. Instead of pointing out that those all likely classified as one single fear, notthree,she nodded toward the hole. “Go ahead, King.”
He held her gaze as he stepped forward and fell completely away.
Isla tensed. It was her turn now.
She didn’t move an inch.
Oro couldfly—no drop would be deadly. He had a million ways to survive a fall. Isla had none.
All she had were his words, promising she would be fine. Her life relied on his honesty. Something he seemed to pride himself on, if his demonstration was any indication.
Still. If she died this way, technically he wouldn’t be breaking the rules ...
Was this an easy way to get rid of her?
Were all the other rulers, except for Celeste and Grim, in on it?
Seconds ticked by. The whispers from the storm became louder. More insistent.
She was afraid. Though Terra had trained her not to fear death, she did.
But it wasn’t what she feared most.
Her greatest fear was the one she faced in Celeste’s trial—not living. Being trapped for eternity in a room without having done everything she dreamed of.
They were so close to finding the bondbreaker. Whether she liked it or not, Oro had become an integral part of their plan. He was the key to getting into the Sun Isle library.
Before losing her nerve, she took a deep breath.
And jumped.
It was like tumbling between worlds, worse, so much worse than falling from the cliff or portaling. The hole was just big enough for a body, and there was barely any air, nothing but the musky walls, and the smell of mold, and her screams, her voice scratching painfully against the back of her throat, her eyes shut so tightly that her head pounded, ached—
Isla was swallowed up.
Before she could process the cold, the freezing water biting into her like a thousand mouths, two strong arms pulled her out, onto cool stone. She pushed him away with as much force as she could manage and gripped the ground, hair a wet fan around her head as she alternated between panting and coughing up water.
