Page 133 of Skyshade
“Nothing.”
“Isla. You saw what happens when you use shortcuts for power. Your soul—”
She shook her arm away and stepped out of the palace, into the forest. “My soul is already gone, Oro,” she said.
He was relentless. “It isn’t. How can you say that?”
She whipped around to face him. “How can you say it’s not?” she demanded. “You know what I’ve done.”
“It was an accident.”
“And there are more, Oro. More deaths on my hands. And there will be more. Either you, or Grim, and—” she nearly choked on the words.
“And what?”
She threw her arms up. “There’s another prediction. They said I’m going to either save the world...or end it.” She closed her eyes. The truth, the truth she had started to hide from herself, spilled out. “I feel this...calling within me. To kill. It’s gotten worse and worse. I told you before, I like killing people who I feel deserve it. But...even the ones that don’t...even the ones that happen by accident...It affects me in a way I don’t understand.”
It was a relief to share the terrible truth with someone. Someone who had seen the good in her too.
“You think you might do it,” he said softly. “You think you might actually end this world.”
Isla nodded. “The bracelets stole away my power. They worked well. For a little bit, I almost felt like myself again. But then, I started killing. Something inside me started awakening.” She felt tears like thorns in the corners of her eyes. “I’m afraid, Oro. I’m afraid of what I might do. I don’t trust myself. I—I haven’t had enough time with my powers, and they’ve been more of a curse than a blessing. I’ve been more of a curse than a blessing.”
“That isn’t true,” he said, his voice steady. His amber eyes seared into hers. “You broke the curses. Don’t forget that.”
She often did. She often thought of even that act as something wrong. It had cost her a friend. It had been the worst day of her life to that point.
“I’ll help you if you let me, Isla.”
She wanted that. It was why she had told him, right?
It was easy, falling back into her past self here. Surrounded by this nature they had created together.
She wanted to let him in completely. She wanted to stay.
“Could you ever truly forgive me?” she asked. It was a dangerous question. “For killing all those people? For marrying Grim? For leaving Lightlark?”
Oro didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes,” he said, the word sharp from his mouth. “I’ve already forgiven you.”
She and Grim...they understood the worst of each other. She was married to Grim—she loved him.
But she also loved Oro. Half of her belonged to him. Was that enough?
“I know you’ve made your choice,” Oro said. “Don’t change it for me. But you are my only choice. Forever.”
They stared at each other. She reached for him—
A snap of a leaf, somewhere close by. She whirled around to face it. A woman stood at the edge of the forest, staring at her. She squinted. It wasn’t just any woman.
It was Wren.
She stared at Isla...then she took off into the forest. Isla frowned.
What? Why was she here? She had given her the starstick. Was something wrong?
Without another thought, Isla took off after the Wildling, Oro following closely behind.
“Wren?” she called into the forest. How did she know how to get to Lightlark, when she had never been here before? How did she know to find her on Wild Isle?
