Page 59 of Skyshade
He took a shaking breath. “I don’t recognize you, love.”
“You’re not supposed to.”
She grabbed her starstick, then him, and it was done.
They were back in his room.
Their room. They had shared it for months. Part of her ached, truly ached, to just crawl back into that bed. Let Oro help her get warm again, let that warmth be a bonfire that lived permanently in her bones, making her feel safe and loved. Go to the beach with him, the one he had promised to take her to.
She wanted it so badly, it nearly brought her to her knees.
Oro must have seen it on her face. He lit the great hearth in his room, to warm her, then caught her wrist in his hand.
“You don’t have to go back.” He was looking at her neck. At the necklace that marked her as Grim’s wife. “We can find a way around it. You have a choice.”
She had two necklaces. One, permanently on her neck. Another, she kept in the pocket of the pants she most often wore. The one with the golden rose he had made her.
It nearly killed her, but she reached her hand inside. Gripped the gold.
It pained her to say the next few words. “I know,” she said. “And I made it.”
Isla handed the golden rose necklace back.
In his eyes, she saw unfiltered pain. Gone was the cold, heartless king of Lightlark. No, this one had a heart.
And she had broken it.
She was about to portal away, when the balcony door to his room burst open. Zed walked through. “You’re back, you—”
He spotted her immediately, and he didn’t hesitate. He was fast, faster than them both. In half a second, he had his bow ready, and before her hand reached her starstick, he had three arrows careening toward her.
One pointed at the center of her head. One at the center of her heart. Another at the center of her stomach.
Oro threw his power out, a Starling shield that blocked the arrows.
But not all of them. Not in time.
She looked down and saw one sticking through her stomach.
Oro’s heat filled the room. He roared. “What did you do?” he demanded, and Zed was suddenly chained to the floor by glittering sheets of Starling sparks.
There was no regret in Zed’s face as she fell to her knees. As pain flooded her chest like a wildfire.
“What you wouldn’t,” Zed said.
Oro reached toward her, calling water from the balcony to heal her. He took the arrow out, and she screamed. He worked to close the wound. She couldn’t stay here. She had to go. As soon as it was mostly stitched, she reached for her starstick and said, her words just a gurgled rasp, “I’m marrying him again.” Oro didn’t know the circumstances, but he didn’t need to. All he needed was to hear that she was telling the truth. “I made my choice. It isn’t changing. Don’t seek me out again.”
And then she was gone.
Zed had nearly killed her.
She portaled to the Wildling keep, took one step, then collapsed to the ground. Grim was there in an instant, cradling her in his arms. Yelling orders.
Grim’s shadows were everywhere. “Who did this to you?” he demanded, but she didn’t say a word.
His power raged around them, growing more ruinous as he began to understand her silence. His voice was raw as he said, “Don’t tell me. If it’s anyone you care about, Isla, don’t say a word. Because nothing will stop me from wiping every ember of their existence from this world.”
She knew it was a promise. He had done it before.
