Page 60 of Skyshade
Oro would certainly hate her if Grim killed all his closest friends...but she couldn’t do that to him. They were the only people he had, especially now that she had left for good. So she remained silent.
She heard Wren’s voice, but her eyes wouldn’t open. The world felt too heavy, like she was being dragged underwater.
“This is the only full vial left,” she heard Wren say.
Grim didn’t hesitate. “Use it.”
“Wraith—” she gasped. The elixir was meant for the dragon. “Please.”
Grim hesitated for a moment before he said, “I’ll restitch her wound myself. Use the vial for my dragon.”
Good. Good.
Commotion. Then, something cold against her skin. Pricking it. Breaking it. Redoing the stitches that were already there, the ones that had broken because she had left before he could finish. Grim had to know who had made them.
He had to know, and it had to be killing him.
She thrashed in Grim’s arms as he sewed her skin back together. She gasped for air. His snow-cold hands ran down her back. “I know, heart,” he said gently. “I know.”
Zed had wounded her.
She shouldn’t be shocked. She was a traitor. Everyone knew securing Lightlark’s safety meant ending Nightshade.
It was still a surprise, though. The betrayal felt raw, more painful than the wound itself.
She had been too careless. Of course it was a danger going to Lightlark at all, especially without her powers.
She grieved Oro. They could never be together. Not when she saw what she had turned him into. Not when his friends hated her enough to try to kill her. There was no going back from that. She hoped he forgot her. She hoped she never saw him again.
AFTERMATH
The storm cleared, and with it, her chance at finding the portal.
Entire villages had been torn apart by winds that were described as hands dropping from the sky, scraping away everything in their path. Wicked, twisted creatures had been spotted again, attacking villagers in the most rural areas of Nightshade, too far from the tunnels to use them for shelter. Their bodies were never found. The only remnants of them were the puddles of blood staining their floorboards.
Without the healing elixir, the injured died.
This was just the beginning; she could feel it. Azul was right. A storm was coming, unlike any this world had ever seen. They needed to find the portal, and close it, before the next one.
If only she hadn’t lost the ring.
Wraith was still recovering. She visited him once she could leave her bed. He purred weakly. Lynx sat with him in the stables, watching over him.
If the dragon wasn’t injured, she could retrace their flight path, try to find the stone...but she knew it was little use trying. It could be anywhere.
Grim was busy helping the people of the villages that had been destroyed, though she couldn’t help feeling like he was avoiding her.
He had to suspect she had been with Oro. Would he think she had been going back and forth this entire time?
Would he think her a traitor, just as his court had warned?
At night, she didn’t sleep. Stress made her toss and turn in her bed. She needed an outlet for it.
She portaled back to the rooftop.
Sairsha was already there, waiting. She looked up at her. “Wondered if you were coming tonight,” she said. She had an entire bottle of wine with her.
Isla sat beside it. She didn’t say a word for several minutes, lost in her own thoughts, until Sairsha tipped her head back, taking a long swing of the drink.
