Page 97 of Skyshade
Isla told Grim everything about the skyres. About the augur’s words. About her dwindling timeline. About the feather she spoke through. At first, the words came out slowly, but then, in a relieved rush. She was grateful to be burning at least some of the secrets between them.
The entire time, Grim just sat there, almost unnaturally still, as if forcing himself to be silent to let her finish.
Then, he said, simply, “No.”
“No?”
He shook his head. “No. Your soul will not be the price to pay.”
“Then what will?” she demanded. “Who will?”
He was silent.
“I’m going to keep using them,” she said firmly. “This—this guilt. This blood on my hands. It will never be erased. But any sacrifice I have to make to do more good than bad...to make sure everyone doesn’t die with me...I’m going to do it. It’s my choice.”
His eyes blazed into hers. They stared each other down.
Grim didn’t agree with her...but she knew he wouldn’t dare take away her choice. Not again. Begrudgingly, he nodded.
Grim looked away. For a few moments, there was silence, as he leaned over his knees, his hands pressed against them. He looked pensive, deep in thought. Then, he said, “I said I would choose you over the world, every single time.” He glanced over at her again, and she nodded. “It’s true. I would burn the world for you, in a moment. Without question.” His throat worked. “But that doesn’t mean I wantus to live in its ashes.” He sighed, and it seemed to move through his entire body. “I don’t want the world to die, heart. I’ve been trying to search for solutions. I thought...I thought maybe we could have a child.”
She stilled. An heir would resolve his life being tied to his realm.
“The augur’s read of your lifespan clearly makes that impossible,” he said. He was right.
But the idea of having a child with him...
“It made me happy,” he said, quietly. “It made me wish for another life. Another universe, where it was just us, just our family. One where we were free from all the responsibilities that bind us.”
“I want that too,” she said, the words a whisper. Her eyes burned, thinking about it. “A life with nothing binding me. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”
He almost smiled. He brushed away a tear that had slipped down her cheek. “We aren’t supposed to want anything,” he said gently. It was true. She had learned that from the time she could learn at all. Rulers were born simply to serve their people. Her life was not her own.
She leaned into him, and he gathered her to his chest. She buried her face in his shirt, her ear pressed against his heart. She relished in its beating. “Somewhere, out there, nearby, or in another world completely, there someone who got everything they wanted. It will never be us.” She looked up at him. “But for them...for them, I’m happy. I hope they know how lucky they are.”
“I’m not happy for them,” he said. “I envy them.”
She smiled. “I envy them too.”
His arms tightened around her. He whispered, right against the crown of her head, “I’m holding everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Isla turned and looked up at him, only to find him studying her.
His eyes were almost glimmering with intensity. “You said before, I don’t know what love is...but I do. I know it means us being infinite. It means our fates being tied together regardless of where we are,or whether we live or die.” He trailed his knuckles down her cheek. “I’m not sure of much in this world, Isla, but I am sure of this. My love for you doesn’t know reason. It doesn’t know limit. It doesn’t know death. In every universe, every timeline, I am yours...and you are mine.”
She kissed him as snow began to fall outside the glass window. She held him and thought to herself that this moment was perfect.
It was almost easy to pretend that there weren’t a million problems waiting beyond, like distant arrows aimed at this glass house, ready to shatter it.
The augur eyed her as she stalked toward him, having stepped through his waterfall without an invitation. He was standing at the ready, as if he had been expecting her.
“I wondered when you would show up,” he said. “Where are my hearts?”
Her grin was poisonous. “I’ll feed you the one in your chest, if you’d like.”
Slowly, he smiled, stretching his sickly skin taut, his pointed teeth glittering. “Oh, the prophet would have liked you...”
“Speaking of him,” she said. “I’m assuming you have his blood.”
