Page 137 of Skyshade
She did love Grim. He did make her happy. Yet...
“My heart is halved, Oro. I love him...but I could never forget you. I could never not love you.” She swallowed. “And even—”
“Even if you were with me...you would still love him.”
She nodded. “You deserve more than that, Oro. Before I remembered my time with him, I loved only you. That was the truth. But now...”
Now, things were far more complicated. She felt torn between past Isla and the woman she was now. It was almost as if they were two separate people.
“I don’t care what anyone thinks I deserve.” His breathing was labored. The pain of the injury seemed to be catching up with him. “I want you. I still want you, even though you’re a traitor. I still want you, even though you’re my enemy. I still want you, even though you might kill me. I want you, I want you, I want you, and it is the most selfish thing I have ever felt.”
His eyes fell closed.
She screamed. She pressed against his chest, tears falling against it. She begged the water to work faster. She pulled the bone from her pocket, but it was useless without the right skyre.
He couldn’t die. She loved him. She felt their bond, felt it dimming, and would do anything to stop it. Give anything to stop it.
She pulled her necklace, reached for the other bond, cried out for anyone, anyone to help—
“Heart.”
Isla whipped around to see Grim there, gasping. He was out of breath. Zed was there too. The Skyling rushed over to Oro’s side and brushed her away, taking over the pressure on his wound.
She was in Grim’s arms in an instant. “I—I couldn’t feel you!” she said into his chest.
“I know,” he said, holding up the sword he had retrieved. “We were imprisoned, we—”
He looked behind her. He saw Oro fading. She could see it, clear on his face. He wanted to let him die.
Isla forced him to meet her gaze. “Save him,” she said, her voice a brutal command.
So Grim portaled them all away.
In the castle, she found Wildling elixir, a few leftover vials she had sent to the island. First, though, they had to remove the blade.
Grim roughly pulled it out, clearly taking some pleasure in the way Oro seized in pain. She shot him a look and applied all the elixir onto Oro’s chest and waited. Waited.
When Enya entered the room, her fire-wings flared out of her back immediately. She rushed at Isla in a flash of crackling red, pinning her against the wall. Her hand was at her throat, and her eyes were brimmed in fury. “You did this.”
Grim’s voice was pure malice as he said, “Just checking, heart. You’d be upset if I kill her?”
“Yes,” Isla gasped below the Sunling’s grip, before Starling energy radiated off of her, sending Enya sliding back a few feet.
She couldn’t blame the Sunling for her anger. It was her fault. Enya had been right about her.
The Sunling gave her a look that told her she knew that, before rushing to Oro’s side. She grabbed his hand. Whispered a few words to him that she couldn’t hear. They had been friends for centuries. She could see how much she loved him.
They all waited in the same room, watching as the elixir worked diligently. Oro had lost a lot of blood on the beach. It was a slow, painful process.
Zed was leaned against the wall, staring at the sword in Grim’s hands.
“What happened?” Enya demanded.
Zed looked haunted. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Isla glanced at Grim, who stood a few feet away, glaring at Oro, as if he could personally will him not to recover. He shrugged. “Not me. The thief. They had some sort of...quarrel.”
For several agonizing minutes, she watched Oro, panic like claws around her heart, until his pulse began to stabilize again. Her relief was like ice through her veins.
