Nightbane (Lightlark, #2)(114)

He was her enemy. He was coming to destroy the island. He was going to kill innocents, kill her, if she didn’t stop him. So why did the idea of hurting him hurt so much? Why did it feel like she was being torn in two?

Their army was lined up and ready, spread across the only clearing left on the Mainland. Skyling warriors glimmered like ornaments, armor shining as they waited above. Ciel and Avel were among them. Each were supplied with dozens of metal-tipped arrows. Zed and Calder had worked hard to make sure of it.

Before Azul had left, hours before, he had given them a gift. A violent storm raged high above the island, contained between rows of clouds, as a fence to keep the dreks from being able to escape once the Skylings began using their special weapons.

Azul had looked devastated to leave. He had clutched her hands in goodbye and she had slipped one of her rings onto his finger, the same way she had the first time they ever saw each other. “Keep it safe for me,” she said. “Until we see each other next.”

Lynx came to a sudden halt in front of Oro. The traitorous creature greeted him with about ten times more fondness than he had greeted her.

Enya stood next to Oro in rose-gold armor, looking determined. She nodded at Isla, then at Lynx, who tipped his head in greeting.

A Sunling called to her, and she excused herself. Isla watched her go and—

“Be—be careful,” Isla said, surprising herself. She didn’t realize how much she had come to care about the Sunling, even after what she had told her.

Enya grinned over her shoulder. “Don’t worry about me, Wildling,” she said, winking. “I do not die today.”

Isla wondered if she could say the same.

She slipped off Lynx’s back and landed in front of Oro. She couldn’t meet his eyes, after what she had just learned. “They’ll be here soon,” she said. She wouldn’t tell him how she had visited the oracle. How could she explain that the woman had predicted she had just as much chance of killing Oro as Grim?

No. Impossible. She would kill Grim today and end the prophecy. There would be no chance that it could ever be Oro.

“Are you okay?” he asked. His hand was warm against her arm.

“No,” she said. “I’m afraid.” She had never been in a true battle before. And certainly not one of this scale. “I’m afraid I’ve already ruined everything.”

Oro shook his head and pulled her fully to his chest. “We have a plan,” he said, lips pressing against her forehead. “The portal being open doesn’t change that.”

No. But it certainly made the stakes higher.

Their plan had slightly shifted, now that they knew Grim was targeting the portal in the Place of Mirrors. Nightshade power didn’t work there, which meant Grim couldn’t portal directly inside. Isla had covered every inch of the isle in poisonous plants. The closest he could get was the bridge, where she would be waiting.

That was where they would battle.

“Isla,” Oro said softly. She looked up at him. He traced her lips with the tip of his finger and smiled. Then his face became serious. “If something happens to me, I want you to leave. I want you to take all my power and leave.”

She frowned. “Oro, nothing is going to—”

“Love,” he said, smiling again. He looked almost happy . . . almost at peace. He tucked away a stray hair and said, “It’s all for you.” He took her hand and pressed it over his heart. His eyes closed, for a moment, and he kept smiling. “All these years, I saved it for you.”

Isla didn’t know why she was crying.

“It’s yours. It will always be yours. Protect the people of Lightlark.”

No. She didn’t know why he was talking like that. All she could say was the truth. “I love you.”

Oro smiled wider, and this was too perfect, too much joy to fit in a person, too good to be true, like a sunny day right before a storm. He produced a rose in his hand and said, “I know.”

She reached beneath her shirt and showed him her golden rose. The necklace she wore below the one she couldn’t take off.

He took her into his arms and kissed her.

That was when she started to worry.

His kiss was desperate, like it might be one of the last things he would ever do. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “One day, I’m going to take you to my favorite place.” She remembered him telling her about it. A beach on Sun Isle with water the green of her eyes. “And I’m going to lay you upon the rocks.” Her pulse quickened. “And I’m going to make it your favorite place too.”

Isla smiled. She wanted that, desperately. She could see it so clearly—Oro pressing her against the sand, waves washing around them while he wrung pleasure from her, the same way he had in their bedroom.

And she could see beyond that too.

“Tomorrow,” she said. “We’re going to do that not one day but tomorrow. We’re going to win, everything is going to be fine, Lightlark is going to survive, and we’re going to go to the beach tomorrow.”

Oro smiled. Nodded. But she knew him now. She could see the tiny signs.

He didn’t believe her.


One moment, the Mainland was empty, save for their own soldiers.

The next, Grim’s army was everywhere.

Isla’s blood went cold. Grim had portaled them all—thousands—at once. She knew how much power that required.