Page 131 of Skyshade
“He could come back,” he said. “No matter what...there would be a place for him here.” She wasn’t sure he was only talking about Lynx.
They sank back into silence. Any warmth he’d had toward her in the desert, any affection, was gone.
It pained her to see him hurt. To know that she had been the one to hurt him, betray him, again and again. All he had ever done was love her. After the Centennial, he had been patient with her as she recovered from Aurora and Grim’s betrayal. He had helped her learn her powers. He had taken everything slow, which was what she’d needed in that moment.
She had ruined it. And he didn’t even know why.
Her eyes stung. She couldn’t take this. She continued forward, past him, desperate to be out of his orbit, his heat, his scent. She continued through the trees, remembering herself. She breathed deeply, needingto focus, trying to bury her feelings for him down into the pit of her chest.
And then she was knocked to the ground with such a force, her breath left her.
Oro. He was atop her, shielding her. She looked up to see the spot she had just occupied was stabbed through with three lances, dug right into a tree.
She had stepped on a trap. It could mean Remlar and his Skyling sect were close.
Oro must have known it too, but they remained there, staring at each other.
Tears gathered in her eyes.
Oro blinked in confusion. “I don’t understand,” he said, sitting up, allowing her space to leave if she wanted. She didn’t move an inch. “I can feel you still love me. It hasn’t changed...not in the slightest. Tell me the truth. Please.” He searched her eyes. “Is it what you did in the village? Do you think I can’t forgive you? Nothing could make me stop loving you. Nothing. Let me in. I can help you, we can—”
“I’m going to kill you.” The words were out of her before she could catch them. “There’s—there’s a chance I kill you.”
Oro stilled above her.
Her mouth tasted of salt. Her voice was a rasp. “The morning of the battle, I went to the oracle. She gave her last prophecy.” She had never wanted to tell him. But if marrying his enemy, if telling him about all the worst things she had ever done wasn’t going to stop him from loving her, from putting himself in danger, maybe the truth would. “I will kill either you or Grim, with a dagger through the heart. It is certain. It is fated.”
A crease formed between his brows.
“That is why I stayed away. Even though I wanted to, trust me, I wanted to come back.”
He considered her. “You stayed because you believed it would keep me safe.”
She nodded. “At first, yes. And then things changed. I love him, Oro. I’m...like him.” Her tears dripped down her temples, into her hair. “Now you know the truth.” She wriggled her way out from beneath him. “Now you know why you need to stay away from me. I’m dangerous. I’ll be the death of you, if you let me.”
“Isla,” he said gently, standing.
“No.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t even have to be intentional. You’ve seen me lose control. I don’t trust myself not to hurt you.”
“Isla,” he said again, stepping forward. She didn’t know what he was going to say next, because before he could continue, there was a snap in the forest.
And a voice saying, “Look who it is. The traitor and the king who loves her.”
Remlar stood before them, in the underground hideaway where he and his people had fled. Bright blue glow worms on the ceiling illuminated his skin of the same shade, his black hair glimmering beneath their light. It was part of the same cave system Isla and Oro had escaped to after the first time she had met the ancient, winged creature.
“I trust you’ve had your family reunion,” her old teacher said, sneering.
He was aware of Lark’s escape, then. “I have. You knew her, didn’t you?”
Remlar grinned ruefully. “Unfortunately.” His expression turned solemn. “I’m one of the few from the otherworld that wasn’t killed to feed this land. I was useful to them, back then.”
“I don’t understand. Lark created Lightlark. I thought...I thought she wouldn’t be...”
“Monstrous?”
She nodded.
He smiled sadly. “Those with godlike power usually turn out to be...There were gods in the otherworld. They ruled us all. They were worse than you can even imagine.” He spoke of them with reverence...and fear. She didn’t think she had ever seen him afraid.
