Celeste. She’s immobilized. But what if she isn’t? I fly through the halls, needing to confirm she’s still here.
But her body is gone. She’s been freed.
The Starling sparks ... Could Celeste be capable of so much power?
I haven’t paid her enough notice, I realize. Clearly, I’ve underestimated her. Isla thinks Azul attacked Celeste. I assumed it was Cleo ... but maybe she was right.
Did Azul discover something he wasn’t supposed to know? There’s no time to ask him. Isla is in danger, I’m sure of it. If she’s still on the island, I think I know where she’ll go. I remember following her. I remember the place she keeps returning to.
The Wildling Place of Mirrors.
I fly as far as I can, until the barrier of power around the Place of Mirrors stops me. Then, I run.
The palace glistens, reflecting the night. My heart races. My senses narrow, like I’m back on the battlefield, focused solely on one target. Not letting anything else get in my way.
I’m inside in a moment. And that’s when I see her.
At first, there’s bone-melting relief that she’s okay. She hasn’t left yet. She’s stillhere.
Then, I see the needle sticking out of her palm, connecting her to the Starling. I recognize it immediately.
“Isla,” I say carefully. All at once, pain lances through me. Something being taken. The gold flowing through my veins is being drained, the fire in my heart vanishing.
My powers ... they’re leaving.
Impossible.
Grimshaw is trapped against the wall, and he’s folded over too. As if the same thing has happened to him.
Celeste is here. She begins to bleed, and I see it: all six powers within her blood.
It doesn’t make sense ... until it does.
Celeste begins to laugh. She starts to speak. I shake as I force myself upright—then her arm juts out, sending me against the glass.
“How?” Isla breathes.
I can barely hear her. A roaring in my ears has muted out the world. I’ve never felt so weak. So drained. As if I blinked long enough, my eyes might never open again.
“Why don’t you ask them?” Celeste says. She looks right at me. “Love on Lightlark is a dangerous thing, isn’t it?”
I shake with rage. She’s dead. She hurt Isla, and I’m going to kill her. I don’t even need to hear what she’s about to say.She’s dead.
She walks over to me and sighs.
“The untrusting, cruel king fell in love with a Wildling?” She grins, and I want to set her aflame. I want to watch her burn. “It was torture, wasn’t it, King? Trying to fight it. Believing yourself under her spell ... not knowing that she had no Wildling powers to begin with, until she told you her secret.”
There it is. The truth.
And so many more follow it.
Celeste is not Celeste ... butAurora. My brother’s bride. Grim knew. He knew everything. He unknowingly gave her the heart of Lightlark, which allowed her to spin the curses. He was partially responsible for them, as I suspected. And according to Aurora, he and Isla have a history ... one he made her forget.
So that she could fall in love with me.
So Isla could get access to all my powers ... and Grim’s ... and Aurora could take them all.
The fact that Grim was betrayed by Aurora doesn’t make me hate him any less.
