“You would put yourself at risk?” I ask.
She lifts a shoulder. “It seems like we’re all at risk, if we don’t find out where the heart is.”
All at risk. She isn’t just talking about her own realm. I can see in her conviction that she cares about this island, even though it’s done nothing but fight her this entire time.
She’s brave. Foolish ... but brave.
“Fine.”
Nothing prepares me to see the Wildling captured, on her knees, with a blade pointed at her throat.
My instinct is to burn the hive and everyone except for her to ash. My heart hammers. My fists curl.
Icare.
A sword is at my throat before I can make a move.
Remlar clicks his tongue. “A move,King, and we’ll see just how easily you can die like the rest of us.”
Isla looks panic-stricken. I know she isn’t just worried about the island. She’s looking atme. I stare back, as if finally seeing her.
My eyes are locked on Isla, so I’m not listening to Remlar when his sword slices across my throat.
Pain lances through me like poison.
All I hear is Isla’s gasp. Then, I see her reach for her dagger, as if that is also instinct. I watch her throw it across the air with perfectaim, just like she did that day at the demonstration. It cuts through the air, aimed right at Remlar’s heart.
She looks shocked, angry,worried, even. She’s looking atme.
She’s looking at me like perhaps she cares a little too.
I lift a hand, and the dagger stills right before meeting flesh. We can’t kill him. We need his information.
But Remlar is stubborn. Hewants somethingin exchange. His own blade didn’t cut me deeply, but I feel blood running down my throat. I’m losing too much of it.
“I want the Wildling,” he says.
I see black.
One moment, I’m on the other side of the hive, and the next, I’m in front of Remlar, holding him by the neck, my hand coated in flames.
I’m going to kill him. I’m going to enjoy it.
I don’t know why I feel so angry, sopossessive, because she does not belong to me. She does not belong toanyonebut herself. But this fury is like a firestorm, burning everything in its path.
My flames dance in Remlar’s eyes as he says, “I want the Wildling tovisit me. Once this is all over.”
Once this is all over. I allow a spark of hope to form, that there is light at the end of all this. That the curses can truly be broken.
Still, the idea of Isla ever coming back here fills me with rage.
Isla steps forward before I can speak another word. Sheagrees. Why?
I’m breathing too quickly. I’m bleeding too much. I barely hear Remlar tell us something invaluable—that the heart of Lightlark blooms only where darkness meets light.
I know what he means immediately. A place where Lightlark and remnants of Nightshade’s influence converge. There are only a few places like that left.
Close. We are so very close to the end of all this suffering.
