Isla and Aurora met eyes. It didn’t make sense. Aurora couldn’t wield her abilities here. The Starling ruler laughed. “The dagger you chose at the Starling shop, the oneIplanted there. One I had enchanted so it could never kill me should you discover my plot. Of course you chose the one with a serpent on it ... so predictable, little bird. So weak ... sofoolish.”
Aurora lifted her arms, and vines crashed through the glass of the Place of Mirrors, sending shards everywhere. They filled the room, squirming like serpents, reaching toward them all.
Oro and Grim were instantly smothered. Trapped firmly against the remnants of the glass wall. Aurora would end them, even with their powers drained, just to squelch any other claim to authority. Isla knew that.
“Killed by your own abilities ...” Aurora mused, hands lifted, ready to strike Isla down with all the forest offered. She paused, for just a moment. “I did like you, Wildling. But all the rulers must die today. Again.”
Before Aurora could send the vines and roots to end her, Isla reached back down her spine, her favorite hiding place. Her fingers wrapped around something that was buzzing faintly. Glowing.
Aurora’s eyes widened. “I told you not to bring anything, fool,” she said.
Isla grinned meanly. “I’m not good at following rules, remember?”
Then she plunged through her puddle of stars.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
CURSED
Her room looked just like she had left it, though the outside was barren. No trees near her windows. No grass.
She had fallen roughly, collapsing onto the stone, her knees screaming in pain.
At the commotion, her door flung open. Just as it had three months prior.
Poppy was wearing sleep clothes. At the sight of her, the woman screamed out in joy. Her guardian rushed to embrace her, arms going around her neck. She smelled of cinnamon and blood. It must have been a feeding day.
“You did it, little bird!” Poppy said. She must have assumed Isla’s early arrival meant she had succeeded in the guardians’ plan. The first step of which was to seduce the king out of his powers.
And though her true plan had been different from the start ... Isla supposed she had.
She did not embrace her back. Finally, Poppy let her go, and Isla said, “You knew. Both of you.” Poppy had the nerve to look confused. Isla ground her back teeth together. “You both knew I had power ... didn’t you?”
Celeste—Aurora—had called her a name only her guardians had ever used.Little bird.And that was when Isla had realized that the Starling’s plot required help. People from the inside.
“And you killed them, didn’t you?” Isla said.
Only Poppy and Terra had access to these chambers. Isla had gotten all her information about Lightlark, her parents, and her curse from them.
Lies.
And liars.
Poppy’s hand went to the single blade she carried.
Isla drew hers first, one she kept beneath her vanity.
“Why?” she ground out.
Poppy looked pale. “We did it foryou.The Starling ruler gave us a choice—kill your mother and her lover so that their power would be transferred to you in time for the next Centennial and raise you to be able to seduce the king one day ... or she would kill the entire Wildling line and end our realm. She demanded we convince you that you weren’t born with ability ... so that you wouldn’t ever try to use it. She said it was dangerous, the mix of power, that it could kill you.”
Isla stepped forward, pointing her dagger at Poppy. “You killed my parents,” she said, the words barely making a sound. Not the curses. Not the fact that her mother broke the rules.Them.The people her mother had trusted most. Her head was full of mist. Her limbs were limp. Her chest still throbbed. “I should kill you,” she said before uncurling her other hand, revealing her vial of Wildling healing elixir. “I should leave Terra to rot.”
She downed the bottle, hoping it would work over the next few minutes, for wounds she hadn’t yet gotten.
She dropped her blade. “But I have something more important to do.”
Isla strode past Poppy to her wall of swords. She rushed to put on her full armor—shoulder plates, high metallic boots, chest plate, long metallic gloves, and, finally, her helmet. She grabbed two swords.
