An impossible power—a flair.
Celeste wasn’t Celeste at all.
Oro finally looked ready to collapse. His eyes flashed with pain.“Aurora.”
Aurora.Isla knew that name. The Starling ruler who had died the day the curses had been cast. The one who had been set to marry King Egan.
“I watched you die,” Oro said, his voice rasped.
Aurora turned and faced Oro. “An illusion, I’m afraid,” she said.
“Why?” Oro’s voice was guttural. Then realization hardened his features. “It was revenge, wasn’t it?”
Aurora only smiled.
“What do you mean?” Isla demanded. Her head was swimming. Nothing made sense.
Every word seemed to pain him, but Oro said, “My brother was supposed to marry Aurora.” Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. “But he fell in love with someone else. With her best friend.”
What?
“With your ancestor.”
Her ancestor. The one who had died the night of the curses. Her name was Violet. She knew almost nothing about her. Certainly not this.
Aurora laughed without humor. It had all happened centuries ago, but the pain was raw on her face. “They meant to marry, with a ring already on my finger. I was so angry ... I used my shape-shifting flair to change into a beautiful Wildling and convincedthisfool”—she looked pointedly at Grim—“that he would have me that night if he gave me the most beautiful flower on the island ... one I knew had bloomed on the remnants of Night Isle, just weeks prior. The heart of Lightlark. Something Egan had told me about as children. I had tracked it, intending for it to be a wedding gift. Instead, Grim unknowingly unlocked the heart for me to use. The job was rushed. Since I had not found it myself, I could not wield it effectively. I cursed all the realms without really meaning to. Even my own. OnlyI, as the curses’ creator, was left unmarred.
“Then I panicked. With all the rulers except for me dead, I would be the prime suspect. So, I faked my death with a Nightshade illusion, using the heart. Yousawme die ... but the person who truly perished was my heir, my foolish sister. I took on her identity, her face. Then, when I formed the Starling newland, I forbade attendants in the castle. Led from afar. Keeping secrets is easy in a realm where everyone dies at twenty-five. I became a new Starling ruler every Centennial. All the while, biding my time. Planning. Waiting.”
“For what?” Isla demanded. Tears streaked down her face. This couldn’t be real. She still refused to believe it.
“For the right moment to take everything I had been denied. Only this time, I wished to rule all six realms. Gaining access to all of Lightlark’s powers proved difficult.” She sneered at Oro. “Even with a new face, a new personality, every Centennial, you always rejected my advances. An untrusting king indeed. Egan had told me about the bondmaker. I began searching for it every Centennial. But, even if I was able to trick you, King, into using it with me, I would receive justfourofthe six abilities. A ruler can only use the bondmaker to gain ability once and lose ability once. I needed a way to get all six powers in one go.”
She turned to Isla. She was still on the floor, watching as everything in her life, everything she thought she knew, shattered.
“And that’s where you come in, little bird.” Isla swallowed. “It was all luck, really.”
Grim’s voice bellowed across the room.“Aurora,”he said in warning. “Don’t.”
She only smiled. And continued. “Years ago, one of Grim’s powerful, curious generals stole one of his relics and used it to visit the Wildling newland. There, he met a beautiful Wildling. And, though forbidden in every way, would you believe they fell in love? The Nightshade general was powerful ... so powerful, he thought he could subdue the Wildling’s curse ... keep it at bay. And he did.” She smiled at Isla. “Long enough for them to have you.”
Isla shook with rage. “No.”
“Yes, Isla. You are not only Wildling ... but also Nightshade.”
She shook her head. “I’m powerless.”
Aurora laughed. “Quite the contrary, little bird. You’reverypowerful. Your Wildling abilities have simply been cloaked by your Nightshade powers. Made invisible. Unusable, unless a skilled Nightshade should untangle them ... Manifestations of powers are so strange, aren’t they?”
Power.
Isla had always had power.
And she had lost it. To her best friend. Who had never been her friend at all.
“I saw my chance to get all six powers and planned accordingly.” Aurora pursed her lips.
“Then something I hadn’t anticipated happened. I didn’t know you had been visiting other rulers too. You apparently mentioned something suspicious about me to Grim, and the very next day, he appeared in my room.”
