SWNOVELS Chapter Skyshade: COST
Isla was filthy, bloody, and still shivering from the cold of the underground, but she needed to know for certain.
Terra and Poppy were guarding the door of the Wildling newland castle when they saw her.
Poppy’s eyes went wide—not in fear . . . but in concern. “What happened? Are you alright? Let me see those wrists, they’ll get infected.”
Isla was too tired, mentally and physically, to refuse. She allowed her guardians to lead her to her old room. It took three baths and endless scrubbing to wash the blood and dirt from crevices she wouldn’t have even thought of. Poppy brought healing ointments and wraps.
“Did she come for you here? Is everyone okay?”
Terra shook her head. “Wren portaled us here with the device, but she stayed behind, on Nightshade. She never came.”
Isla closed her eyes against the memory of the burning Wildling. “Wren is dead.”
There was just silence.
As Poppy finished the final set of wraps around her wrists, Isla couldn’t take it any longer. She had to know for certain. “I killed them, didn’t I? My parents.”
Poppy looked at Terra. Terra only looked at her. She nodded.
Isla felt a part of her shatter again, but she didn’t have time to break. She swallowed. “How?”
Terra sighed. “Your first cry . . . you brought the castle down. They were killed instantly. Only you remained. Her bonded . . . he shielded you.”
Lynx. It was why he had hated her at first. He knew; he had been there. She had killed his bonded right in front of him.
“You were born with too much power,” Terra said. “Your power threatened us all. Yourself, especially.”
Isla didn’t understand. It didn’t make any sense. “I never had power.”
Poppy’s smile was sad. “We ensured that. There was a metal, passed down for generations. Rumored to suppress power. We never had much use for it . . . until you.” The very metal that had just been tied around her wrists. But she’d never had bracelets like that.
“We ground it into your food. We laced it into your clothes and weapons,” Poppy said. “Between that . . . and convincing you that you were born powerless, you never tried to use it. We knew the dose of stone wasn’t strong enough. One day, you would overpower it. We trained you as best we could without it, hoping you would be able to control your abilities once they appeared.”
Villainous from the first breath. The words she had once spoken in humor to Grim were very real when it came to her.
She fought against the tears. There wasn’t any time for them now.
Poppy and Terra had brought her clothing. She slipped on her familiar brown training pants, long-sleeved shirt, and boots. Poppy silently braided her hair away from her face.
For the first time in months, she felt like a Wildling again.
“Things are going to get bad,” Isla told them at the castle door. “Grim will come for you, if I don’t.” Terra nodded.
Poppy threw her arms around Isla. She held her guardian for just a moment.
She opened her eyes and found Terra watching her. Then, her former teacher said, “We trained you well. Now kill that murderous witch.”
In her clean clothing, Isla used Grim’s flair to portal into the clearing on Sky Isle. Leaves rustled across the forest floor, carried by the wind. They had partially covered the body in the center of it, like a blanket.
She went to her knees and cried.
Remlar hadn’t deserved this death. He had been alive thousands of years. He had helped her, when most wouldn’t have dared.
He had become a friend.
She found his blade nearby. The one he had cursed. The one that held his power. It glistened beneath the light. Otherworldly. Shademade.
Isla remembered some of his last words for her.
You will bring the gods to their knees.
He had believed in her, when she didn’t even believe in herself. She tucked his blade into her belt.
Then, she pressed a hand against his body, and portaled him to The Hive.
The winged creatures awaited. The woods shook with their sobs. He was carried on a scrap of wind, between his people. She watched in shock as they plucked feathers from their wings and put them upon his body, until he was coated in them.
She was the last in line. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m going to do it. I’m going to do everything you taught me.”
It was the last secret shared between them.
Isla stood on the edge of the cliff next to her father’s estate, overlooking the cove where he had once tried to flee his destiny.
She clutched the large black diamond around her neck and pulled.
Within moments, the ground thundered as Wraith landed, his talons digging deep into the dirt. Grim was on his back. He wordlessly leapt to the ground. Isla’s knees nearly buckled as he walked toward her. For days, she had wondered if Lark had found him. If she’d . . . if she’d—
“I thought you were—”
His lips covered hers, and she was engulfed in him—in storms and rain and shadows. “Don’t you ever do that again,” he said. And then, he kissed her more.
She wanted to capture this moment forever. But Lark was still out there. She still wanted all of them dead.
He hugged her to his chest. He was grasping her so closely, she could feel his heart beating wildly, right against her ear.
She looked up to see him studying her body, gaze snagging on her raw wrists. The shadows that had puddled at his feet now flared, eating across the cliffside. “What did she do to you?”
“She put the bracelets on and chained me a mile below the ground. She said she was going to kill all of you.”
Grim’s voice shook with rage as he said, “I’m going to rip that witch limb from limb and have her heal herself so that I can do it again and again until the end of time.”
“And I’m going to help you,” she said. “Where is she?”
“Astria saw her go underground a few days ago, and she hasn’t surfaced since. The Skyling’s blade might not have cursed her, but it was strong enough to have weakened her.”
Good. His death was not for nothing.
Lark was strong. Soon, she would surface. There were only days left of winter. Their time was nearly up.
“This ends now,” Isla said. She had everything she needed. “Get them all—Oro, Enya, Calder, and Zed—and bring them here. I’m going to Azul.”
Grim nodded.
She left him on that cliff.
Azul was seated on his castle steps. He stood as she approached.
“What’s happened?” he said, as if he could read the pain and trials of the last few weeks in her features.
Energy simmered around her as she approached. Ever since she had discovered her true flair, it was as if part of her power had been unlocked, and now it surged around her. “The storm to end all storms? It’s happening tomorrow,” she said.
Azul tensed. “How do you know?”
“Because I’m making it.”