Page 225 of Grim and Oro
Her ferocious zeal is back. The look in her eyes that makes me feel like I can do anything. Like together, we can conquer any hurdle. “This isn’t over,” she declares. “I refuse.” She steps toward me. “I refuse to believe this is how it ends.” She pushes a finger into my chest. “You are king of Lightlark, the most powerful person in all the realms.”
I raise my eyebrows. And here I was, thinking I was nothing but a cursedwretch.
“There has to be another way. Another ending.”
Her finger is still pressed to my chest. I peer down at it, then look at her. “What do you suggest?”
She blinks. Opens her mouth. Closes it. I hate that she looks so surprised I would ask her opinion.
None of my plans have worked. If anything, they’ve worsened the situation. Perhaps she can think of a better one.
She does.
Of course she does.
It takes days, but she figures it out. Everything that I couldn’t, for decades. It’s brilliant.She’sbrilliant, like the sun, like gold.
She knows where the heart is.
We meet at night, the same way we have countless times before.
She flicks my crown when she sees me.
Her obsession with it is perplexing. Does she hate it? Does she want it? I reach up and give it to her. I put it right on her head, and it slips down, resting across her forehead.
“If you’re right about this, Wildling, you might become more powerful than even me,” I say.
Wishful thinking. I’ve never wanted to be the most powerful person. This role was not chosen—it was given in blood. Countless people had to die for this crown to reach me.
I would give it up in a moment, if I could. Perhaps Isla would do a better job than I did. Perhaps she’s the key not only to breaking the curses, but also to surviving whatever comes next.
She gives me her crown, in turn. It’s tiny on my head, uncomfortable even, but I don’t move to take it off.
I’m not one to hope. It’s gotten me nowhere, over the centuries. But looking at her, beaming, walking with pride, wearing my crown, her chin held high....
She makes me want to hope again.
“What will you do?” she asks me, as we reach Moon Isle. “When we break the curses.”
When, not if. I almost smile at her confidence.
I allow myself to truly consider a world beyond this mess. A world where we actually succeed. “These past centuries, the focus has been on the curses. How to break them. How to live with them. How tosurvive them. With all that erased, I could be free to bring Lightlark to its previous glory.”
She gives me a look. “With Sunling as the reigning realm?”
I shake my head. “No. Before that. When the realms were united.” I imagine a world where realms aren’t divided by their curses. Where they are thriving again. Creating.Living.
She sighs. “I’m not sure the people of Lightlark would be thrilled if Wildlings returned.”
“They will have to learn to be,” I say, my words firm. She glances over at me. I don’t drop her gaze, even though I feel exposed, raw. “And perhaps you would want to stay.”
Don’t leave, I want to beg, as though I have any right.
Build this better world with me.
I realized it this morning, before seeing her. I was excited, hopeful. And also devastated. Because when the curses end, she has no reason to be here anymore. She has a home thousands of miles away to return to. I always knew these hundred days would come to an end; I just never thought she’d be the reason I’d mourn them.
She blinks, my words surprising her. “Perhaps,” she says.
