He nodded. “Not that I would remember them, but the palace has records. It’s a precaution. It’s been that way for generations.”
Isla realized something. “You’re trying for an heir, aren’t you?” She remembered the women talking about being involved with the ruling line ...
Grim did not deny it.
She swallowed. “I’m guessing ... it hasn’t worked?”
He shook his head. “Bearing children as a ruler can take time.” He looked at her. “No, I haven’t continued since we made our agreement.”
Good. If he created an heir, he couldn’t attend the Centennial. Still, there was only one reason why he would want to have a child that she could think of. “You think the dreks will eventually kill you,” she said. “You want to ensure your realm survives.”
If he was dead, he couldn’t help her at the Centennial. It was in her best interest to not only help him find the sword ... but also help him use it.
Grim nodded, just the slightest bit. “It’s my duty.”
“And if you did eventually have a child, after the Centennial, you wouldn’t want to know the mother? You wouldn’t ... allow her to help raise the child?”
“No,” he said.
A precaution. Love makes our power vulnerable. It is a weakness.
“That sounds ...” she said, “very lonely.”
Grim made a face. “I’ve never felt lonely in my life,” he claimed.
The way he said it made her feel like he really believed it. Still—everyone got lonely. “Maybe you just don’t know what it’s like to miss someone, then,” she said quietly. “Because you don’t open yourself up long enough to let them in.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Love is for fools, anyway. It makes people do foolish things.” He looked at her and said, “I do not intend to become a fool.”
She was the fool, she knew. Because something about him saying that made her heart break.
LOYALTY
“I know what the sword does,” Isla told Oro. He immediately called a meeting.
Azul was not fighting with them, but he had remained on the island, to help in any way they needed him.
He was there, in the war room, when she told them everything. Her history with Grim. The oracle’s words. The fact that she had important memories. Azul looked pensive. Zed looked furious. Enya looked curious. Calder looked from Oro to Isla, then back again.
They might have been angrier if she hadn’t immediately told them about her latest memory.
“Dreks used to be people. Cronan made a sword that controls them and can make more.” She pressed her lips together. “I believe Grim now has that sword.”
Heat flooded the throne room.
“It’s done, then,” Zed said. “It’s—”
“Wait.” Azul held up a hand. “You don’t remember finding it, though, right? Perhaps you never did.”
It was a good point.
Zed laughed without humor. “The oracle said Grim has a weapon. The dreks flew toward Nightshade after the attack. It’s obvious he controls them. And now, with the sword ... perhaps he has created more. We must prepare to face an army of endless dreks.”
Calder was the one who said what they must all have been thinking: “How do we possibly prepare for that?”
Even before learning about the sword’s use, winning seemed impossible.
Now, she wondered if it was foolish to ever think they could stand a chance against Grim.
