Page 143 of Skyshade
Lark would wish she had buried her deeper.
COST
Isla was filthy, bloody, and still shivering from the cold of the underground, but she needed to know for certain.
Terra and Poppy were guarding the door of the Wildling newland castle when they saw her.
Poppy’s eyes went wide—not in fear...but in concern. “What happened? Are you alright? Let me see those wrists, they’ll get infected.”
Isla was too tired, mentally and physically, to refuse. She allowed her guardians to lead her to her old room. It took three baths and endless scrubbing to wash the blood and dirt from crevices she wouldn’t have even thought of. Poppy brought healing ointments and wraps.
“Did she come for you here? Is everyone okay?”
Terra shook her head. “Wren portaled us here with the device, but she stayed behind, on Nightshade. She never came.”
Isla closed her eyes against the memory of the burning Wildling. “Wren is dead.”
There was just silence.
As Poppy finished the final set of wraps around her wrists, Isla couldn’t take it any longer. She had to know for certain. “I killed them, didn’t I? My parents.”
Poppy looked at Terra. Terra only looked at her. She nodded.
Isla felt a part of her shatter again, but she didn’t have time to break. She swallowed. “How?”
Terra sighed. “Your first cry...you brought the castle down. They were killed instantly. Only you remained. Her bonded...he shielded you.”
Lynx. It was why he had hated her at first. He knew; he had been there. She had killed his bonded right in front of him.
“You were born with too much power,” Terra said. “Your power threatened us all. Yourself, especially.”
Isla didn’t understand. It didn’t make any sense. “I never had power.”
Poppy’s smile was sad. “We ensured that. There was a metal, passed down for generations. Rumored to suppress power. We never had much use for it...until you.” The very metal that had just been tied around her wrists. But she’d never had bracelets like that.
“We ground it into your food. We laced it into your clothes and weapons,” Poppy said. “Between that...and convincing you that you were born powerless, you never tried to use it. We knew the dose of stone wasn’t strong enough. One day, you would overpower it. We trained you as best we could without it, hoping you would be able to control your abilities once they appeared.”
Villainous from the first breath. The words she had once spoken in humor to Grim were very real when it came to her.
She fought against the tears. There wasn’t any time for them now.
Poppy and Terra had brought her clothing. She slipped on her familiar brown training pants, long-sleeved shirt, and boots. Poppy silently braided her hair away from her face.
For the first time in months, she felt like a Wildling again.
“Things are going to get bad,” Isla told them at the castle door. “Grim will come for you, if I don’t.” Terra nodded.
Poppy threw her arms around Isla. She held her guardian for just a moment.
She opened her eyes and found Terra watching her. Then, her former teacher said, “We trained you well. Now kill that murderous witch.”
In her clean clothing, Isla used Grim’s flair to portal into the clearing on Sky Isle. Leaves rustled across the forest floor, carried by the wind.They had partially covered the body in the center of it, like a blanket.
She went to her knees and cried.
Remlar hadn’t deserved this death. He had been alive thousands of years. He had helped her, when most wouldn’t have dared.
He had become a friend.
