She opened her eyes. Looked behind her at the gate. And found that the entire fence was made of melded skulls and bones.
A yelp escaped her throat, and she scrambled back on the muddy ground, her fingers sinking into it. Her back crashed into something solid, and she screamed again.
Just then, the entire gate ripped off its hinges.
The blacksmith stood there, her dagger still lodged through his eye.
He was the most muscular man Isla had ever seen. His arms were enormous. He was holding a massive hammer that looked like it would go right through her body if she was hit with it. He had long, flowing black hair. Skin the pallor of a corpse.
Isla scrambled back against the other wall she had hit, a scream lodged in her throat.
The wall spoke. It sounded bored. “You can’t have her, Baron. At least ... not yet.” She looked up and saw Grim frowning down at her. Not a wall. She had crashed into his legs. He raised an eyebrow. “I told you not to cut yourself, Hearteater.”
The overwhelming urge to put a dagger throughhiseye filled her, but she couldn’t stand again if she tried.
The blacksmith—Baron—hissed and returned the hammer to a holster on his back. “Ruler,” he said, bending onto a knee. “To what do I owe the honor?”
“Black diamond hilt. Twin blades. You know the sword.”
The blacksmith smiled proudly. Isla wondered if he was ever going to take the blade out of his eye. “I do. A very special weapon indeed. Among my best work.”
Grim motioned toward her. “You’ve sensed her blood. Can she help me find it?”
The blacksmith pursed his lips. Considered. “She can.”
Thiswas why he needed her. Isla was trembling on the ground, but she found her voice long enough to say, “Why can’t he find it himself?” She wondered if the blacksmith would answer her after she stabbed him in the face. Or if Grim would even allow him to.
The blacksmith met her gaze with his now single eye, and a shiver snaked down her spine. After a moment, he said, “The sword was cursed so no Nightshade ruler can claim it. If the sword so much as senses his ability, it will disappear.”
So Grim couldn’t use his powers to find it. This was why he needed her ... though that didn’t make sense.
Why not force one of his people to search for it? Why choose one of his rivals in the Centennial?
Before she could ask anything else, Grim said, “Do you know where it is?”
“Decades ago, I heard it had been stolen from a Skyling market. I sensed it return here, to Nightshade. Since then, nothing.” He frowned. “I can’t feel it anymore. Wherever it is ... it’s slumbering.”
“Is there anything else we should know?”
The blacksmith opened his mouth again. His eyes darted to Isla. Then he closed his mouth. “Nothing else,” he said.
“Good. Now, return the dagger. We’ll be going.”
The blacksmith roughly pulled Isla’s weapon from his eye. What was left ... Isla looked away to keep from retching.
He bent low to return it to her. Isla reached out with shaking fingers. Dark blood coated her blade. The rain only partially washed it away.
Before he handed it back, the blacksmith said, “You weren’t supposed to be able to do that.”
Then he walked back up through the forest to his forge, and Isla was left with burning questions.
And anger.
She turned on the ground to face Grim. “Youdemon. You almost got me killed. You—”
He rolled his eyes. “I was there. You were never in any danger.”
Isla’s entire body shook with her fury. “Never in any danger? My ankle—something is wrong with it. And myshoulder.” She shook her head. “Why? Why let him hunt me?”
