Isla didn’t see what was written on the slab, didn’t hear the crowd. All she felt was something warm washing over her body. Ella. The Starling draped a towel across her back.
She was shaking, her vision going in and out. “Please, get me to my room,” she managed to say.
Isla owed Ella far more than pain cream, she thought as her attendant rushed her out of the stadium, using the cheers of the crowd and the crowning of Cleo as the winner as a cover. The Moonling had clearly chosen her trial to showcase her superiority over the others.
She might have been more concerned that Cleo was now tied with the king, and could potentially be choosing their matches, if she didn’t feel so weak.
Ella was small but stronger than she looked, holding Isla up as they slowly made their way through the empty castle. Water dripped anendless puddle behind her. The rest was frozen. Her lungs ached, two buckets of ice in her chest.
“I’ll draw a bath,” Ella said when they finally made it to her room. “And get tea.” She rushed out of Isla’s room.
Isla was going in and out of consciousness. Her body had gone numb.
Her mind was full of her mission.
She needed to find the bondbreaker.
For so long, she had denied her desires. Pushed them down. Her guardians’ warnings were always on her mind. Saying her life didn’t just belong to her. Teaching that wanting anything but saving her realm was selfish.
Now, she couldn’t lie to herself any longer.
She wanted many, many things.
And she was willing to do terrible things to get them.
Not just for her. Her desires made her understand her people more than she ever had before. They deserved to have what they wanted. So did Celeste’s people—including Ella.
I promise,she might have said aloud, or maybe her words never reached her mouth. Ella had helped her into the bath, and the hot water scalded her frozen skin, made her scream out, too dazed to hide her pain.I’ll find the bondbreaker. I’ll break the curses.
Even if it means breaking myself.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CASTLE
Isla awoke feeling on the brink of death. There was a relentless cold at the center of her chest. All day, she stayed in bed, drinking broths. Ella fed the fire. Kept bringing tea. Drawing hot baths. By night, Isla only felt a little better.
Celeste risked a visit, bringing a special Starling soup recipe she had procured from Star Isle. “I’ll go instead,” she said as soon as she saw her.
And Isla knew she must have looked on the brink of death too. A groan escaped her as she pushed herself off the bed. She shook her head.
It was the twentieth day of the Centennial. Tonight was the full moon. Her only chance to go to Moon Isle undiscovered. “No offense, Cel,” she said, “but you can’t move like I do.”
Her friend sighed. “I know. But—”
Isla shook her head again, cutting the Starling off. “If you get caught, it’s over. We can’t risk it.”
Celeste frowned. “Can we riskyou?”she asked pointedly.
Isla waved her concern off. She stretched her limbs as she formulated the hair dye again. “I’m fine,” she lied. Celeste knew it was a lie.
But she also knew as well as Isla did that they didn’t have another choice.
Everything she wanted was on her mind as she forced down the pain of her arm, the cold with every breath, her need for rest.
None of it meant anything compared to their need to find the bondbreaker.
***
