Page 49 of Grim and Oro (Lightlark)

Crackling fills the world, as all the night creatures in the water are smothered, buried. As they claw against the frozen sheet.

My head aches from the effort. My blood feels thinner. But I’m almost to the island. Almost to Ara.

Footsteps. Hundreds of footsteps .

Slowly, I turn. Only to be met with a wave of half-rotted shadow creatures. The ones from the woods have used my ice to get to me.

There’s no time to create a shield. No energy. I take a breath and am buried.

Before a single claw or tooth can reach me, the world goes dark as endless night, and I’m forced across the ice by a powerful wave of shadows. When my vision clears, the creatures are gone. Every one of them. Gone. Reduced to ash. And Grim is carrying the child across the frozen lake.

I stare at him. For moments, I just stare. All of them. He killed all of them . And there isn’t a scratch on him.

He hands the girl to me. “She needs a healer.” He nods at the sky. “Go.” Ara groans in my arms. Her heartbeat is weak. She’s pale as bone. I look at her, then him. I just saw his powers on full display. Powers he didn’t use during the battle.

He was holding back. I know that now for certain.

I can’t leave him alone. Not after seeing this.

Grim gives me a scathing look. “You’re wasting time,” he says. “She’ll die.”

Is this what he wanted? To be left alone, to do whatever he planned? He growls in frustration, then takes a step toward me on the ice. “I am not running away. I am not going to kill anyone that doesn’t try to kill me first. Now go .”

Truth . I linger for one moment. Another. Then, I shoot up into the sky, leaving Grim on the ice.

I pace the hall outside the infirmary. I can hear the Moonlings inside, bustling around Ara. I can hear her mother’s quiet sobbing.

Enya’s warmth engulfs me in a moment. “You did it,” she breathes into my ear, her arms tight around me.

“I didn’t,” I say, and she takes a step back, frowning in confusion. Then my brother appears behind her.

“He did it,” I say to them both. The room is quiet.

“And where is he now?” my brother demands.

Just then, Zed strides in. “He’s back in his cell.”

My shoulders melt in relief. “You found him?”

Zed shakes his head, confused. Everyone looks so damned confused . “No,” he says, honestly. “He put himself in there. Closed the bars, and everything.”

We all stare at each other.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Enya says, leaning against the stone wall.

She’s right. None of it has. Yet—

He’s been telling the truth this entire time. Is it possible that this Nightshade heir, the warrior we’ve all watched kill thousands ... is happy to be away from his lands, away from killing, even if it means being locked up?

My brother turns to me. The extent of his exhaustion is clear. “You’ve spent the most time with him,” he says. “He is yours to handle.” Then, he strides out of the hall.

I run a hand down my face. “For once, you’re all quiet,” I say to my friends, who are staring. “No thoughts? No opinions?”

Before they can answer, the infirmary doors slam open, and Agnes comes tumbling out. She grabs my hands, her eyes full of tears. “She’s alive. Because of you ... she’s alive.”

She throws her arms around me, and I stand there, holding her the same way she held me countless times as a child, until she pulls away and goes back into the room.

I hear a small voice. Ara’s. She’s awake.

She’s alive .

“What will you do?” Enya asks.

“I’m going to ask him one last question,” I tell her.

Zed was right. Grim is exactly where he’s supposed to be—in a cell that smells like dead rats.

He sighs when he sees me. “I thought you might give me a respite from your presence. It would only be fair, I think.”

“Why?” I ask simply.

He seems to realize it’s not simply a response to his statement. He rolls his neck, making it crack. “Why what?”

“Why didn’t you use those powers on the battlefield?” He isn’t even ruler. His father is still alive. But his powers ... they’re unlike any I’ve ever seen.

Grim just stares at me. He looks slightly curious again. “You’ve never hidden yours?” I tense.

You and me ... we’re not as different as you think .

A wicked grin overtakes his face. He knows the answer without me even having to give it. “It’s a shame you are who you are, and I am who I am.”

“And why is that?” I ask, through my teeth.

“Because I think, in another life, we could have been friends.” Friends .

I almost laugh. I will never be his friend. I will never be able to see past the blood of his sword, or the sins of his father.

“Answer my question,” I snarl. “Why didn’t you use those powers?”

He leans his head back against the filthy stone as he studies me. “The answer has been the same this entire time. Though I might be skilled in dealing death, I do not revel in it.”

He’s telling the truth. I sigh.

I’m going to regret this. I know I am.

Still, I take a step forward and grip the cell door.

“You said you’ve never been free in your life,” I say, as I unlock it.

“From now on, you are. As long as you don’t kill anyone, as long as you don’t leave this island .

.. you are free. To do as you wish. Or to stay here, sitting in your own piss, for eternity.

” I lift a shoulder. “I don’t care. Do as you please. ”

Then, I leave the cells, wondering if I’ve made a grave mistake.