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.
Shadows and ash erupted across the Mainland and were met by lashes of fire. Wind swept down from the sky. Metal clashed against metal. Screams, cries, bellows—
“Tomorrow,” Oro said, pressing one final kiss to her lips. Then he jumped into the air, straight into the battle.
His effect was immediate. Isla watched in awe as Oro’s fire became a wave that washed over dozens of Nightshade soldiers. As he pulled water from the sea and flooded an entire unit, washing them right off the side of the island. He made a sword of Starling sparks and began fighting, and anyone who dared approach him died.
Lynx knelt, and Isla pushed the ground beneath her to propel her onto his back. She slipped into her saddle. “Let’s go,” she said, and he raced forward.
A group of Nightshades stepped into their path, but before they could draw a single shadow, Lynx plowed through most of them and tore the rest apart with his mighty fangs.
From his back, Isla had the perfect vantage point. She turned in both directions, her arms moving wildly, burying some Nightshades in the ground, and covering others in a sea of poisonous plants. The flora she had created previously also fought back, almost extensions of herself, stabbing with their barbs and thorns.
Near the coast, Isla saw what looked to be a moving wall of water. It was Calder. He swept across the land inside a massive wave with a dozen serpent heads coming out of it. They each lashed out, swallowing Nightshades, drowning them. Calder looked deep in meditation. It seemed contrary to his peaceful nature to kill, and she knew every death would haunt him afterward.
Nightshades fought back with relish. Unlike Calder, most of them seemed to enjoy the killing. Darkness was everywhere, ink turned over, just like in her vision. She watched a Sunling turn to ash. A Skyling was sliced in half by a ribbon of umbra. His pieces fell from the sky, landing amid the barbed brush.
She shot her arm to the side and sent a line of Nightshades hurtling toward one of the Starling shields. Their bodies broke against it. She propelled another group into the center of her poisonous plants. Their screams quickly turned to silence.
No sign of the dreks. Not yet.
Perhaps she had been wrong. Maybe Grim hadn’t found a way to use the sword. Maybe the dreks wouldn’t be a threat. They would be in battle by now, wouldn’t they?
In a flash, the world went sideways as Lynx was struck. Isla just managed to encase them both in a shield of energy, and together they slid across the Mainland, raking through all the plants in their path.
“Lynx!” she yelled as soon as she was on her feet. She raced to the leopard. He was on his side. He wasn’t moving.