Page 132 of Nightbane
He looked her right in the eyes and said, “Remember this, Hearteater, the next time you want to stab me through the chest.”
He swallowed her final moans with his mouth and pulled her into him, lifting her to his chest with a hand against her lower back. He held her closely, so closely. Only minutes later did he set her down.
Lost for breath, lost for sanity, she managed to say, “I’ll remember.”
REUNION
Isla didn’t want to remember anything else. He had stolen her people. He had forced them to his territory. How afraid they must have been. How unwilling.
It was time to bring an end to this.
At midnight, Isla sneaked back to her room. Oro would hate her if he knew what she was about to do. Everyone would. None of them would trust her again, because what she was planning was so traitorous, so foolish—
She stood in the center of her room, the moon wide as a judgmental eye through the window in front of her.
She pulled her necklace.
If she had feared he wouldn’t come, that he wouldn’t drop anything he was doing and rush to her, she was wrong.
Barely a second after her fingers left the black diamond, she heard a step behind her. Then, “Hearteater.”
She turned and he immediately swept her into his arms. He looked crazed, hungry, relieved,sorelieved. He was an inch from pressing his lips against hers, and she was an inch from letting him—she was confused, she told herself,the memories were messing with her—before he saw her expression. Sensed her emotions. There was no thread between them. From her side, anyway.
He went still.
“You heartlessdemon,” she said.
Grim’s eyes had been pleased, delighted, but now he looked devastated. “You don’t remember.”
“I remember plenty,” she said, stumbling away from him. Her eyes glimmered with tears. Angry, angry tears. “How could you?”
“You got my note.”
“Yes, Igot your note,” she said, spitting the words out with disgust. “How could you take them? How could youmake themgo with you?”
Grim raised a hand. “I didn’tmakethem do anything,” he said. “They chose to come with me.”
No. Liar.“Why would they ever go with you?”
At that, Grim went silent.
He wasn’t telling her something. But he didn’t have to. Pieces came together, questions finding answers.
She shook her head, unbelieving. Hoping she was wrong. “You have Poppy and Terra,” she said, her voice a whisper. “You took them in.”
Grim nodded, and her tears fell freely now. The betrayal ...
“You know what they did to me. What they did to myparents—”
“It is unforgivable,” he said. “But you need them. You need—”
“I don’t need anyone!” The words exploded out of her. The vines on her balcony rushed through the open door, spreading like fingers, devouring the room. Shadows leaked from her feet, from her hands.
Grim’s face broke in half, into the biggest smile. “Heart, you are radiant,” he said.
Her shadows lunged at him, but he stopped them with a simple wave of his hand.
Her voice shook. “You are a monster.”
