“Are you okay?” he asked. His hand was warm against her arm.
“No,” she said. “I’m afraid.” She had never been in a true battle before. And certainly not one of this scale. “I’m afraid I’ve already ruined everything.”
Oro shook his head and pulled her fully to his chest. “We have a plan,” he said, lips pressing against her forehead. “The portal being open doesn’t change that.”
No. But it certainly made the stakes higher.
Their plan had slightly shifted, now that they knew Grim was targeting the portal in the Place of Mirrors. Nightshade power didn’t work there, which meant Grim couldn’t portal directly inside. Isla had covered every inch of the isle in poisonous plants. The closest he could get was the bridge, where she would be waiting.
That was where they would battle.
“Isla,” Oro said softly. She looked up at him. He traced her lips with the tip of his finger and smiled. Then his face became serious. “If something happens to me, I want you to leave. I want you to take all my power and leave.”
She frowned. “Oro,nothingis going to—”
“Love,” he said, smiling again. He looked almost happy ... almost at peace. He tucked away a stray hair and said, “It’s all for you.” He took her hand and pressed it over his heart. His eyes closed, for a moment, and he kept smiling. “All these years, I saved it for you.”
Isla didn’t know why she was crying.
“It’s yours. It will always be yours. Protect the people of Lightlark.”
No. She didn’t know why he was talking like that. All she could say was the truth. “I love you.”
Oro smiled wider, and this was too perfect, too much joy to fit in a person, too good to be true, like a sunny day right before a storm. He produced a rose in his hand and said, “I know.”
She reached beneath her shirt and showed him her golden rose. The necklace she wore below the one she couldn’t take off.
He took her into his arms and kissed her.
That was when she started to worry.
His kiss was desperate, like it might be one of the last things he would ever do. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “One day, I’m going to take you to my favorite place.” She remembered him telling her about it. A beach on Sun Isle with water the green of her eyes. “And I’m going to lay you upon the rocks.” Her pulse quickened. “And I’m going to make it your favorite place too.”
Isla smiled. She wanted that, desperately. She could see it so clearly—Oro pressing her against the sand, waves washing around them while he wrung pleasure from her, the same way he had in their bedroom.
And she could see beyond that too.
“Tomorrow,” she said. “We’re going to do that notone daybut tomorrow. We’re going to win, everything is going to be fine, Lightlark is going to survive, and we’re going to go to the beach tomorrow.”
Oro smiled. Nodded. But she knew him now. She could see the tiny signs.
He didn’t believe her.
One moment, the Mainland was empty, save for their own soldiers.
The next, Grim’s army was everywhere.
Isla’s blood went cold. Grim had portaled them all—thousands—at once. She knew how much power that required.
Shadows and ash erupted across the Mainland and were met by lashes of fire. Wind swept down from the sky. Metal clashed against metal. Screams, cries, bellows—
“Tomorrow,” Oro said, pressing one final kiss to her lips. Then he jumped into the air, straight into the battle.
His effect was immediate. Isla watched in awe as Oro’s fire became a wave that washed over dozens of Nightshade soldiers. As he pulled water from the sea and flooded an entire unit, washing them right off the side of the island. He made a sword of Starling sparks and began fighting, and anyone who dared approach him died.
Lynx knelt, and Isla pushed the ground beneath her to propel her onto his back. She slipped into her saddle. “Let’s go,” she said, and he raced forward.
A group of Nightshades stepped into their path, but before they could draw a single shadow, Lynx plowed through most of them and tore the rest apart with his mighty fangs.
