Page 73 of Grim and Oro (Lightlark)

UNLEASHED

I try not to think of Isla, but it’s as useless as trying not to breathe. Any thought of her is like air in my lungs, keeping me going. Especially after that fucking dream.

That dream . I’ve never woken up so hot and aching in my life.

I wanted to run to her. To go down on my knees and admit everything I’ve thought about her, if only for the small chance she’s thought the same about me.

But I didn’t. I’ve stationed guards to watch over her, to make sure she’s safe. She doesn’t need me. Not right now. And, if that searing betrayal on her face was any indication, she doesn’t want to see me at all.

I need to finish my work with Cleo. Only then can I tell Isla the plan. Only then do I have any chance at forgiveness.

It’s taken weeks to get Cleo to trust me enough to open the gate in a mountain, revealing a labyrinth. I allow myself to hope, for a moment, that this could all end today. That the heart of Lightlark is right inside.

But it isn’t.

The betrayal was for nothing. Her pain was for nothing .

.. I remind myself that it helps, that it narrows down the places the heart could be significantly, that the two other places are so dangerous for Wildlings that I had hoped to avoid them, but it doesn’t feel worth it.

Not when I haven’t seen her in weeks. Not when I remember that look on her face.

I’m walking back through the Moonling forest, too tired and annoyed to fly, when a bird swoops down, squawking. I recognize that bird. Isla and I saw it when we were here, visiting the oracles.

Isla . The thought of her ... what I did to her ...

Cursed bird. I duck, ignoring it, but it won’t leave me alone. Finally, I turn around and look at it. It’s flying right in front of my face. “What do you want?” I demand.

It flaps its wings once. Twice.

Then, it turns in the opposite direction.

I’m relieved until I hear it squawk again and see it coming back around. What? Does it want me to follow it?

I’ve clearly lost my mind, if I’m thinking that the bird is speaking to me .

Still, it won’t leave me alone.

“Fine,” I say, through my teeth. I follow it.

It’s not long before I hear the voices.

Men’s voices. They’re talking about a hunt. Or a catch ... something they’ve found. Something they’re going to eat.

Then they start talking about a face . A beautiful one.

The bird squawks louder than before, soaring and dipping just ahead. I break through the trees, and that’s when I see her, being carried in between Vinderland, tied up. Frozen .

Anger and fear like I’ve never known before shakes the very island. The world trembles.

My fire unleashes. Starling energy explodes out of me. Blood spatters everywhere. One by one, the men are torn to pieces, mangled beyond recognition. I don’t stop. I don’t give mercy, when one begs on his knees for it. I see red.

My power rages.

My fury engulfs me. They hurt her. They planned to kill her .

I kill every last one of them, and then, she’s back in my arms.

And I’m taking us home.

I survived centuries of curses. I survived war.

Yet, somehow, I’m not sure how I survived weeks away from her.

I missed her.

She’s freezing . I want to warm her from the inside out, I want to be the flame that burns in her heart, I want her to burn for me as much as I do for her.

Tentatively, I use my power to thaw her, slowly. Slowly.

Until she moves. My relief nearly blinds me. She’s okay. She’s going to be okay .

“Just a little longer,” I say, almost to myself.

At the sound of my voice, she goes still. Then, somehow, I know exactly what she’s about to do next.

I don’t even move out of the way as she kicks, barely missing me.

Her eyes are frozen shut. It hurt her aim. Despite myself, I put my hand over her eyes to thaw them.

The moment she opens them, I can see her fury like a tidal wave, green eyes filled with it.

“ You ,” she growls.

She’s angry. Of course she is. I can almost see the thoughts swirling in her mind, as she bares her teeth at me, as she opens her mouth—

“Before you do whatever horrific thing I am sure you are imagining. Let me speak.” If she wasn’t still partially frozen, I have no doubt her blade would already be at my throat. “I did not betray you, Wildling. Though you believing it helped tremendously ...”

“Helped what?” she demands.

I tell her. I tell her why I needed Cleo. It’s true. Every word.

Her anger barely dims. She looks around, as if wanting to look at anything but me, and I see the exact moment the realization hits her.

She sees she’s in my room.

In my bed .

I didn’t know where else to take her. I take a step back. “I brought you here after I found you. I figured you wouldn’t want others to know what had happened.”

I don’t tell her I just needed to get her warm, that I wanted to bring her somewhere safe. That I’m getting a shameful amount of satisfaction seeing her on my sheets—

I shake those thoughts away, turning back to the heart. I tell her it wasn’t in the maze on Moon Isle. “Now we have just two places left to search.”

My words don’t soothe her the way I thought they might. She shakes her head, and she does something that extinguishes any ember of fire within me—

She starts to cry.

Tears slide down her cheeks. “This isn’t about changing matches.” Her voice breaks, and my heart along with it. “I trusted you. I— You . You told them. You— ”

No. Not worth it.

No plan is worth this.

I close my eyes, understanding how she must feel.

Her biggest secret ... shared as part of my strategy.

“I know. I’m sorry. Truly. Cleo had become suspicious.

She knew we had visited Moon Isle the day before, somehow.

The only way to convince her to help me was to discard you.

Publicly. Your reaction and actions in the last few weeks had to be genuine. ”

She listens. Then she shakes her head. “I don’t believe you.”

I’ve never wanted to be believed more in my long life.

“I have never lied to you, Isla,” I say.

“Even though you have lied to me repeatedly.” I take another step toward her, in my bed.

“You told me your secret. Now let me tell you my flair.” I watch her green eyes widen.

I shouldn’t tell her. This is my last remaining secret.

But I do anyway. “No one can lie to me. Because I know when people are lying.”

Shock. Silence.

Yes. Yes, she knows how much she’s lied to me. I can see it on her face.

Little liar .

“All you did was lie to me, and I still told you about the heart. I told you everything, except for this.”

“Your offer holds, then,” she finally says. The hurt isn’t gone, but it seems cares about her people more than she hates me.

You hate me, remember?

I hate you .

Liar .

I shake away the remnants of that dream and nod. “When we find the heart, you will wield it. You will receive the power promised.”

She agrees to work with me again, but I can feel the fracture between us. Breaking something that was never truly whole in the first place.