Suddenly, Cronan created a shadow like a scythe—and used it to cut his own arm off.
Gasps sounded through the room as it thudded to the floor and blood gushed from the wound. But they watched as the limb regenerated within moments.
“You see, even now...she still loves me.” He laughed cruelly. The rest of the lords laughed with him. Cronan walked right through what remained of Lark, kicking the ashes.
“Even now. Even after everything. She loves me. And it shows what I have always believed...” Cronan’s eyes bore into Grim’s at his next words. “Love is the most foolish decision imaginable. It can only ever lead to ruin. It is a curse.”
With that, he brushed the dust off his shoes and opened his arms wide.
“Who’s ready for dinner?”
ORO
Azul didn’t seem surprised by Oro’s arrival.
Now that Oro finally had the portaling device—and knew how to use it, thanks to Isla—he could transport across the world in moments.
“Have creature attacks happened here too?” Oro demanded as soon as he set foot in the Skyling castle. He looked around, and the walls seemed stable enough. The beasts had mostly come through the tide pool, but some had ripped right through the air itself in storms that dissipated just as fast as they appeared.
“No,” Azul said, his light blue cape whispering against the polished stone floor as he turned. “But we are sensitive to the skies, and some of us have sensed its disturbances.”
He gazed up at the clouds in the open ceiling for a moment and frowned. “So, he went, then?” Oro knew he meant Grim. Oro nodded, and Azul sighed. “Keeping that portal open has left a gaping hole in the veil between worlds. Worse than what ever existed on Nightshade.”
Yes, but what other choice did they have? Getting Isla back wasn’t just for Oro and Grim...it was for the entire world.
“Trust me, I know,” Oro said. Azul looked him over, eyes snagging on the tells of his tiredness. Azul had them too. Oro didn’t doubt he was going through his own challenges, what with most of the realms still on his land. “I know you’ve got your hands full here, but we need help, Azul. I’m—” He swallowed. He was king of Lightlark. He was supposed to be the most powerful person in this world. But strength,he knew now, sometimes meant admitting weakness. “I’m not going to be able to hold them off much longer.”
Azul had known him a long time. Long enough to know he didn’t ask for anything he didn’t desperately need. He nodded. “I’ll call for volunteers.” Then he paused. And it was because of those centuries of knowing each other that Oro could sense the Skyling had more to say. Unlike the other rulers, he was thoughtful with his words. He always considered them before he spoke.
But they didn’t have time. “What is it?” Oro asked impatiently.
Azul studied Oro and said, “My husband told me something else. I didn’t share earlier because I didn’t think Grimshaw would understand. But you...you might.”
“What was it?” Oro asked more harshly than he intended. Now wasn’t the time to hold anything back, not when so much was at stake.
“He said that in some interpretations...Crowntide is not an event. It is a person.”
Oro stilled. “What does that mean?”
“It means that there’s a person whose entire existence changes fate,” he said. “In her case...a person destined to end this world.”
“Or save it,” Oro added vehemently.
Azul didn’t seem convinced. He looked...torn. Haunted.
“What are you saying?” Oro asked. He didn’t like where this was going.
Azul gazed at him with sad eyes. “If she dies, her fate dies with her.”
The room went deathly quiet, as if the wind itself had paused. Oro felt fire smoldering through him as his irritation turned to fury. “Are you trying to get me to kill the woman I love?”
He took a step away from Oro. “I’m just pointing out a way that this could end without involving your death.” He paused, looking out at the sky again. “Isla told me the prophecy. That she is bound to kill one of you. With her life tied to his...who do you think her choice will be?”
He knew everything Azul was saying was true. He knew every prophecy promised that Isla was just as likely to destroy this world as she was to save it. But that didn’t stop his anger from growing until fire blazed in his palms.
Azul just sighed again. “You gave her a choice. She made it.” He looked at Oro warily. “You may have a choice to make too...between her and this world. Will you be strong enough to kill her if it comes to that?”
Oro couldn’t suppress the treacherous thoughts that bloomed in the back of his mind.
