Page 32 of Grim and Oro (Lightlark)

I WOULD KNOW HER ANYWHERE

If there was any hope of surviving this, it’s gone.

The scar is ripping seam by seam. The entire sky is blackened by scales. They’re everywhere. They aren’t stopping.

I don’t stop fighting.

I see her in my mind, the memories playing over and over. Isla, in that line. Isla, stabbing my chest. Watching her sleep. Watching her run from the blacksmith and hold her own against the thieves. Watching her dance. Watching her laugh. Watching her watch me with something like happiness.

And then, like one last shred of pity from this world, I feel her .

I feel her.

But it isn’t an illusion. It isn’t a memory.

My body, my mind, my very soul all still.

I would know her anywhere, in any world, any universe, any time-line. In darkness and light, in quiet and chaos, I know her.

I will always know her. We could live a thousand lifetimes, and I would find her and love her in all of them.

Our souls could never be strangers. They are forever stitched together, like the stars and night.

I look away from the dreks, toward that feeling, that pull—

Until I’m looking at her.

She’s standing in this field of ash, dreks screeching.

Fear greater than I’ve ever known crashes into me, seeing her here, in a place that’s going to be full of death. My eyes widen in horror. But then—

The realization sets in.

There’s only one way she’s here. One way she’s using my powers, without the portaling device .

So that’s what this is.

That’s the name of this feeling, of this longing, of this obsession that is both cruel and merciful, both curse and cure.

I’ve never loved anyone, or anything.

But I love her.

I love her .

I smile, even as death rages around us, even as my own is imminent. I can die now, with a smile on my lips.

Because I’ve found it. I’ve found something worth living and dying for. I reach for our shared power, to portal her away, back to safety.

But I never make it.

Talons pierce through my chest. I roar.

It’s answered by a scream, one that threatens to cleave the heavens in half. She’s screaming for me .

And then, I feel it.

The ground trembling. The world, splitting. Power, pure and utter power , blinding the universe.

I know what it is, and no—

NO .

It is unlike anything I have ever seen in anyone other than myself. I remember Laila’s death. How my shadows surged . How they ruined everything in their path, how they raged.

Hers are the same. She has accessed the greatest depths of emotion, and she has no control. It’s all coming out, like a dam breaking open, no signs of slowing.

Under this cleaving, unyielding power, every single drek turns to ash. The ground itself trembles. The world goes black, for just a moment, as if the universe itself is shuddering.

I portal to her side, throwing myself through the darkness, through her ruinous power, but it is done. When the world settles, I see I’m too late. The sword is dug into the ground, and her powers—

She used them.

She used all of them .

She found them in the darkest pits of herself and clawed them out. She followed what I told her , and used emotion, pain , as power.

Pain can be useful. It’s the strongest emotion .

It’s all I feel as she falls into my arms, her body spent. She’s cold. So cold and fading. I sink to my knees, her body splayed out across my lap, and I grip her face.

“Isla, come back to me. Come back.”

I shake her, fear and desperation and pain taking over.

“Wake up,” I say, my voice breaking. “Stab me through the chest again if you have to, just wake up.”

As life leaves her, she manages to say, “Grim. Pain is not the strongest.”

No. Don’t go. Don’t leave me here, alone. Stay.

Stay .

She doesn’t.

She dies.

Isla was right. I know that now. She taught me.

Pain is not the strongest.

Love is.

I imagine a life without that smile, that laugh, those eyes. Without her . And the world feels unworthy of turning. Everyone else seems unworthy of living.

My roar shakes the world as I demand it to give her back, as I threaten time with all my shadows, as I plead with the gods, begging .

I will give anything , I think. Anything .

Even myself.

I feel a pull. The last shred of her power, somewhere down this crumbling bridge. I reach toward it. Clutch it.

It is almost gone, fading, like the last star in the sky blinking closed.

No.

My pain, my power, it has all been used to kill , to destroy . Maybe it could be used for something good. Maybe it could be used to save . This bridge between us—it goes both ways.

I remember something I read centuries before, in a book that is now just dust. An ancient way to save a life by trading it. By giving something up. Giving everything .

I do.

I feel the power rushing from me, draining me, and this is what my father warned about. This is the love that kills kingdoms. This love feels like it could kill worlds .

I don’t care.

I press a hand against her still heart, and I bring all of myself to the surface. The power. The life. The blood.

I give it all to her, to my heart, almost losing myself in the process, almost giving too much away—

Until I hear a beat.

She opens her eyes, and the relief—it consumes me.

I’m alive.

So is she.

Green. Green . “Heart. You’re here, heart.” My hands shake, feeling the warmth return to her cold skin. Seeing the color come back.

“How?” she asks in a feeble rasp.

“You died,” I say, my voice breaking on the word. I shake my head. “You died in my arms.”

I close my eyes, and tears—tears of gratitude fall.

I will never let her go. I will never let anything harm her. I make the oath to the world. To myself.

I will choose her over it. Every single time. Always. No matter the cost.

“How?” she asks again.

“I bound you to me.”

She blinks, confused, as if her senses are still returning. “What—what does that mean?”

How to even explain? I’m not sure I know myself. I feel her life within mine, tied. Flickering.

This is not forever. I know that. But I will find a way to make it so. I will find a solution. For now, though—

“It means we share a life.”

Her eyes widen. She takes a shaking breath. “You—” She frowns. “You gave your life for me?”

I smile down at her. My dirt-crusted fingers smooth down her face. “You did the same for me.”

She just looks at me. She looks, and I still can’t believe it.

She gave her life for mine. I did the same. Now, we are one. Not just sharing powers ... but sharing life itself.

I feel her worry. For me . Even after she did the same, she thinks I gave too much. Perhaps I did.

I smooth her hair behind her ear. “I don’t ever want to live a single day without you,” I say. “It wouldn’t even be living.”

I kneel by my bath and comb the dirt out of her hair. I take the soap in my hand and gently rub it on her skin. She’s sore. Raw. She winces, and I stop until she tells me to continue.

“I’m here,” I say, and she grips my hand, like I’m her gravity. She’s mine.

She’s my everything.

I carry her to our bed, and she lies there in near silence, as if deep in thought, before asking for her little dragon.

I portal him in—and he immediately makes a shrieking sound of happiness. He lies on her chest, and she smooths a finger down his scales.

I take the quickest bath of my life, not wanting to leave her alone. By the time I towel off and rejoin her, though, she’s sleeping. I let her rest, my hand over her heart. I just need—I just need to hear it beating.

It’s been days now, and Isla is quiet. It’s like part of her is rediscovering the world for the first time, or maybe she’s just deep in thought. I give her space. I portal her back to her room. She tells her guardians she’s sick, to get out of a few days of training.

I don’t know why ... but I portal her back to the field of nightbane. The flowers. They made her smile before. I don’t know what else to do ... how else to make her happy.

It’s night. The stars glimmer overhead, watching us. We’re drowning in purple. The petals sway gently in the wind.

“You gave your life for me,” she says again, quietly.

You are my life , I want to say. But I don’t want to scare her.

I think she can read it in my eyes. She takes a step toward me. The flowers are nothing compared to her; they should hate her.

All at once, she throws her arms around me, and her face is buried in my neck. She’s shaking. I hold her tightly, as if I could stand here, in a field of flowers, keeping her alive forever.

If I was guaranteed forever with her, I wouldn’t move. I would stay right here, in this moment, in this place, and be happy. I’m holding everything I’ve ever wanted.

“I love you,” she whispers in my ear, and I stop breathing.

I love you . No one’s ever said that to me.

She pulls away. “You don’t have to say it back. I don’t even know why—”

I shake my head and grab her arms. My answer is immediate. “I don’t love you.”

She stills. The panic in her face—the devastation—is so sharp, I don’t waste a moment before continuing.

“That isn’t strong enough a word.” I frown. “No, heart, I don’t love you. I live for you. I destroy for you. I die for you. My every thought and emotion revolve around you. You are my sun, my moon, my gravity, my eternity.”

Her eyes are wide and brimming in tears. I take her hands in mine. And slowly, slowly, I bow before her, on both knees.

I’m ruler of Nightshade. I shouldn’t get down on my knees for anyone or anything.

But she is my church, she is my curse, she is my conviction.

She is my god.

I bow only to her.

I press my forehead to her hands. In reverence. In awe. In a plea. “Let me be yours. Forever.”

She blinks. Shock wraps around me, her emotions circling mine. Slowly, understanding crests.

“You—you want to—but Nightshade rulers have never—”

I shake my head. “I don’t care. I want to marry you. If anyone has a problem with that, I will kill them where they stand.” The court will find out, of course. They will accept her. I will ensure it.

She opens her mouth. Closes it. “You ... you want this?”

I smile. My happiness and joy and relief and love are so sharp, so saturated, that for the first time, they have their own shade.

Her shade. Red. Black and red mixing to create the deepest shade of crimson. We are the same. I don’t know if it’s always been this way, or if her own feelings bled into mine, but I don’t care. We are one in every way.

“I want everything with you, Hearteater. I want marriage, I want children, I want to be standing next to you, holding your hand, at the end of the world.” My eyes burn with intensity, with feeling.

“I want to live endless lifetimes with you, because one isn’t enough.

Not for me. Not even close. If we live a thousand years—I’ll want a million more.

I’m selfish, I’m greedy, I want you for endless eternities.

We are infinite: everything, everywhere, at the same time. And I want everything .”

My hands are trembling. Hers are too.

“Isla Crown,” I say. “Will you be my wife?”

Tears fall down her cheeks, and then she’s smiling. Her happiness wraps around us in bright, searing red. “ Yes ,” she says. “Not for one life, but for every life, I will be your wife.”