Oro shook his head, furious. “You don’t knowwhathe did,” he said, baring his teeth. “And that was a long time ago.Beforehe became ruler and inherited immense power.”
Isla’s hands trembled at her sides. She looked up at him, eyes gleaming. Pleading. “Please. Reconsider.”
He shook his head.
She bared her teeth. “You can’t make this decision on your own. You said so yourself. The choice is important. It’s harder than the killing itself.”
Oro’s expression was sad—pitying, even. “I’m not making the decision alone, Isla,” he said.
He must have Cleo’s and Azul’s support, then. A majority of the rulers.
He had gotten their approval of his choice behind her back.
Her blade was in her hand in a moment. She lunged at him before he could make a move, pressed her dagger against his throat.
He let her. He did not strike her down with his fire, the way she knew he could with half a thought, even weakened.
Oro stared at her with his honeycomb eyes. Hollow. Emotionless. “Do it,” he dared. His connection to all the people on the island prevented her from killing him. But she could make him bleed, make him hurt.
Isla’s hand shook, the dagger trembling against his throat. She stared at him for a long while.
Then she took her blade and left.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
CHOICE
Isla had a plan. It wasn’t perfect, and it made her a liar, thief, and hypocrite.
But it was nothing she hadn’t already been in the last ninety days.
Celeste opened the door, and Isla started talking. “Tell me that you’re my friend. And that you’ll forgive me.”
The Starling straightened her spine. Her expression became resolute, ready for anything. “I’m your friend. And I’ll forgive you,” Celeste said firmly. Still, Isla heard the hint of fear there that everything had gone wrong. And it had.
Isla had everything. The heart. The promise of power. The chance to save her realm.
But it all had a cost: Grim’s life.
For as long as Isla could remember, the thing she wanted most was freedom. Then, as the Centennial went on, she wanted power.
When Oro had declared that Nightshade would die, when Terra and Celeste were in danger, Isla had realized that there was one thing she wanted a little more than both.
A future—happiness. A life with the people she cared about. Terra and Poppy were the closest things she had to a family. Celeste was her best friend. Grim made her feel things she thought had been denied to her as a Wildling ruler. She had always thought freedom, or even power, would change everything, fix her. But they wouldn’t ... She knew that now that she had begun to fix herself.
So, she made a plan. One that would still save her realm. Still save Celeste. It wouldn’t give her the power promised. It wouldn’t be a permanent solution for Terra and the Wildlings.
But it would give her Grim.
“I think I know where the bondbreaker is,” Isla said. “And I have a plan for us to use it ... but not only us.” She took a steadying breath. “Let Grim in on our original plan. Let us split the blood cost of the bondbreaker three ways.”
She would save him. And in exchange, he would have to agree to help save her people. She didn’t know what love felt like, but this, this sacrifice ... rulers in love could share power. If he loved her too, she could bring whatever power they shared back to her lands, to save her realm.
Or, if that was not possible, when her curse was broken, Isla would attempt to trade the Wildling abilities she would gain in exchange for Terra and the rest of the Wildlings that had been taken by the ground. The forest on the newland was known to make deals—and a Wildling ruler’s powers were too valuable to refuse. It was a sacrifice she was willing to make to right everything.
Shewantedto win the Centennial; she wanted that immense power that was promised, longed for it like a lover. She wanted the Wildling power she had been denied at birth.
But she wouldn’t choose it over Grim. Or anyone else she cared about.
