Page 34 of Skyshade
Unless they were all lying—unless they were all working against her—she couldn’t put the blame on anyone yet.
For hours, she sought each of her people out. The result was twofold—getting to hear their grievances and experiences thus far on Nightshade while also considering if they might have destroyed the nightbane.
Most seemed happy here. It should have pleased her, but, as time went on, it unnerved her. The prophet-follower had been clear. There was an enemy among her people.
Was her judgment so faulty, that she couldn’t spot them? Were they truly that good at hiding from her?
She had been betrayed, time and again, by people she had trusted. Perhaps she was the problem. Perhaps she should trust no one.
Everyone was a suspect. Everyone could be lying to her.
Again, she briefly considered going to the blacksmith and having him take off her bracelets. She could use Oro’s flair to see who was telling the truth...
No. It wasn’t worth the risk or useful, unless she planned to ask each of her people point-blank if they were the ones that destroyed the nightbane. Perhaps it would come to that, but not yet. She didn’t want her people to panic.
By the end of the day, she wasn’t any closer to identifying the traitor. It was dusk when she found Wren in the castle stables. She was tending to a tree with strange branches that curved and moved wildly.
No, not branches. When Isla got closer, she realized they were snakes.
Snakes. Isla stilled, remembering Eta’s words.
Wren simply smiled. She brushed the tree, and a serpent slid right down her knuckles, wrapping itself around her arm. It was light green, with shining black eyes. Its scales were hard and reflective, like armor. She recognized the faint patterns on its scales. It was poisonous.
Wren smoothed a finger down the snake on her arm. “I brought them here from the newland. Their venom cures sickness, when mixed with the right flowers.” She glanced at Isla and smiled. “Don’t be afraid. I trained them myself. They don’t bite Wildlings.”
Was Wren the traitor Eta warned about?
Isla shook the thought away. Besides these snakes not looking like the ones that had been spotted, Wren had never given her a reason not to trust her. If there was anyone close to her that she didn’t trust, it was her guardians. They had lied to her time and time again.
They had been her first suspects, until she learned Terra and Poppy had taken charge of maintaining the fields of nightbane. Theyhad been healing Wildlings with it, and even Nightshades who came to them for help.
Why would they then kill the creation they had painstakingly worked on for months? It didn’t make sense. Unless there was something she was missing. A bigger purpose.
Isla lived in Grim’s castle. She needed to stay focused on finding the portal and changing her fate. Any chance at finding the traitor hinged on trusting someone who lived here, alongside her people. Someone who could keep an eye on things, in case there was another event like the nightbane.
The snakes seemed to watch her, wrapped around their branches, as she took a step forward. “I believe a Wildling destroyed the nightbane. Not the storm.”
Wren frowned. “Why would any of us do that?” Her shock seemed genuine.
“I’m not sure yet. But if anything else happens...if you see anything suspicious...tell me,” Isla said.
Wren nodded.
Isla slowly extended her arm toward the tree. A single snake slithered from the pack, down a branch toward her. She tensed, waiting for it to sink its fangs into her skin, but all it did was trail down her wrist. It coiled itself around and around like a bracelet.
“Take her for a while,” Wren said.
She did.
By the time she returned to the castle, Wraith was in his stable. Her starstick was in her room, so Lynx followed her through the halls, eyes narrowed at the snake slithering up and down her arm. She thought about the traitor. She wondered if they were operating right in front of her nose.
That was when she felt it—Grim’s power, radiating off him. It made the air feel thicker, heavier. She told Lynx to wait for her andfollowed the power toward the throne room. The door was open just a sliver. Hushed voices sounded just beyond it.
She stood there, listening. At first, she heard just words. Risk. Attack. Future.
Was Grim having a meeting without her? She thought about Azul’s warning, that nothing and no one, including her, would stop him from invading Lightlark.
Was he already doing it against her back, despite his promises not to?
