“Fool,” he responded.
That she could not argue with.
She was the biggest fool in the realms for returning to this place when something bad happened every time she did.
With barely a move of his finger, the chains holding her to the ceiling melted into ash.
She fell to the ground in an undignified heap.
Grim studied her while she clutched her wrists, both raw and red. “You swore not to return.”
Isla looked up at him. “No.”
“No?”
“The promise from the duel was that I wouldn’t returnhere, which, in the moment, meant yourbathroom. Which I have no intention of ever doing again, don’t you worry.”
He looked at her with unfiltered disdain. “What are you doing on Nightshade?”
She said nothing.
Grim turned to go, and she rose to her feet. “You’re keeping me here?”
He looked over his shoulder. “You appear in my realm, using a stolen relic. You stab me in the chest. You return and hide in my chambers. Then, you return yet again and attack an innocent man in the middle of the street.”
She made a sound of indignation. “Innocent? He wanted to scalp me and sell my hair by the strand!”
Grim’s eyes narrowed. “What type of people did you expect to encounter at the night market, Hearteater?” he asked. That last word dripped with mockery.
“My name is Isla,” she said through her teeth, stepping closer to glare at him right through the bars of her cell.
“I will never call you that.”
“Why?”
He looked down at her. “Calling someone by their first name is a sign of familiarity. Of respect.”
Her nostrils flared. “You don’t respect me?”
“You don’t seem to respect your own life. Why should I?”
She scoffed. “Fine. Don’t respect me. I don’t care. You weren’t why I came here.”
“Clearly. Whyareyou here?” he demanded.
Isla crossed her arms, both in annoyance and to cover up her chest, inconveniently prickling in the freezing prison. “Why areyouhere?” she asked. “You clearly would love to see me rot. And it would benefit you at the Centennial.” As soon as she said the words, she regretted them. What if he turned away and never returned? What would she do? Escape was impossible without her starstick. She would waste away far beneath Nightshade. Even Celeste wouldn’t be able to free her. She didn’t even know Isla was venturing here for the gloves, didn’t know she had met the Nightshade ruler before—
“I believe ... we might be able to help each other,” Grim said.
Shock rendered her silent.
“We are looking for the same thing.”
Isla frowned. “You’re looking for skin gloves?”
He looked at her strangely. “No. You are looking for a way to survive the Centennial, are you not?”
Of course she was. She didn’t say a thing.
