Page 132 of Skyshade
She thought about the bone still tucked in her pocket.
“We’re going to lure Lark out. I need a way to injure her, for at least a few hours. Do you know a way to do that?”
Mercifully, he nodded.
Hope must have bloomed in her expression, because his eyes narrowed. “She’s far older than you, girl,” he said. “She will be expecting you to do exactly what you’re doing. She is many steps ahead of you already.”
“I know.” She was counting on it.
“There is metal that would leech her powers. You could find a way to get it on her.”
“No. That’s how she was trapped in the first place. She won’t fall for that again.”
Remlar looked pensive. “Then you’ll need a curse. A strong one. Bound to something powerful.”
She turned to Oro. “I don’t know if Grim can spin curses.” It was a Nightshade ability, but a specialized one. She had never heard him talk about it.
“The ruler cannot curse,” Remlar said. “But I can.”
She faced him. Remlar was partially Nightshade—she knew that—but his powers were mysterious. “You can?”
He nodded and pulled a blade from his pocket. It shone brightly.
“Shademade,” she whispered, and he perked up.
“So, you have been learning,” he said, grinning to reveal his crowded teeth. “I will curse this blade and bind it to myself. It won’t take long.”
They flew to the castle, where Enya and Calder had gathered all the remaining soldiers they could find—the ones that had agreed to leave.She reached into the depths of Grim’s power, across the bridge between them, and with effort that left her panting, portaled them away.
“Some were missing,” Enya said when she was back. Some had been killed.
“Burn any remaining bodies from the battle,” Oro said. Enya nodded. Calder followed her.
When they were gone, she turned to Oro. “I have to—”
“I’m going with you,” he insisted. Fine. This time, she flew herself. They weren’t going far. When she touched down at the Place of Mirrors, Oro eyed her warily. This was the home of the portal, the one that would doom him and Lightlark, should she use it.
“I just need to see something.”
Walking into the glass castle felt like walking through a dream. She had spent some of her best and worst moments inside.
The vault sat in front of her, its door still open.
She stepped toward it. Oro was right behind her. She touched a palm to the metal. It glimmered in a way she hadn’t truly noticed before.
Shademade. Of course. But Wildling power worked here. This metal had been infused with something that made their abilities slip through. She pressed her hand against it, feeling its power. Trying to sense the threads that it had been made with. Blood. Wildling blood must have been fused with it somehow.
“What are you doing?” Oro demanded. “Why did you need to come here?”
She ignored him.
“Isla,” he said. “What do you want with the vault?”
“Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”
He caught her wrist. She had kept her markings shadowed before, but in the Place of Mirrors, they were on full display.
Oro stilled. “What are those?”
