He cut down the next prisoner instead, not deigning to give the Sunling a response. Still, Oro kept speaking.
“You hurt her,” he said, his voice filled with barely leashed fury. His movements became sharper. He dragged his dagger down a prisoner’s midsection, then kicked him away. “You took away her memories. And when they came back...” He growled as a being with spikes on its palms tried to shred him with them. He threw his dagger into its eye and retrieved it in a flash before moving on. “I was by her side. And do you want to know what she did?” He didn’t wait for Grim to answer. “She cried, almost every night. It wasagonizing, having so much history rush back. Having an entire story she had lived erased and then returned.”
Grim suddenly wished he hadn’t saved the Sunling’s life, but he knew he couldn’t be so enraged. Oro wasright.
Still, he whirled to face the Sunling. “You don’t think I regret it every day of my life?” He blindly cut down the next prisoner. Then the next. “I was trying to save her. I thought—I thought you were the only way.”
“What about the necklace?” Oro demanded, his hand covered in blood as he buried his dagger into yet another heart. “Its power?”
“It wouldn’t have worked,” he said simply.
Once Grim had claimed the diamond, he realized that he misunderstood its capabilities. The diamond only amplified powers thatalready existed. Isla’s life was tied to his—and barely holding on. Even if that, itself, was amplified, it wouldn’t have been permanent. No, they needed to go to the otherworld, where life could be brought back for good.
In the end, he decided to give it to her during the Centennial, when killing was permitted. He thought it was the best way to keep her safe, since he couldn’t openly protect her. All she had to do was pull the diamond, and he would come for her.
Now, he wondered if he had sealed her death the moment he clasped that necklace around her neck. Cronan must have wanted that stone...and his ancestor wouldn’t hesitate to kill Isla to get it.
Grim shook away the thought, gutting another prisoner. Oro frowned but kept fighting. They didn’t speak for a few moments, but it was like the Sunling couldn’t help himself.
“It didn’t have to be like this,” Oro said, roughly. “We were...we were...”
Friends, was the word he couldn’t say.
That made Grim pause. Suddenly, centuries’ worth of rage rushed to the surface, and he huffed a cruel laugh. “Yes. We were friends. Until you accused me of starting the curses. Until youdidn’t believe mewhen I told you I didn’t, even though Iknowyou fuckingknewI was telling the truth.” He had guessed at the Sunling’s flair a long time ago, during his time in the cell. Oro had made it obvious, with his ridiculous questions.
Grim saw a hint of regret pass over Oro’s features.
It did nothing to calm his fury. “You were my only friend, and you didn’t believe me,” Grim said, turning to face him. “You didn’t believe your own power.” He bared his teeth. “It was as if you had been waiting that entire time for a reason to hate me.”
Grim supposed he had given him another reason, after taking Isla’s memories away. After invading Lightlark again. But by then he had long given up on their friendship.
Grim shook his head. “Even after you invited me to the Centennial, when you had another theory about who started the curses...you still looked at me like an enemy.”
Oro barked a laugh. “Yes, and good thing too, considering you were planning onkilling mewith Aurora.”
That had been his plan. To have Oro fall in love with Isla, gain access to his abilities, then for Oro to die. Open the portal. Save her for good. It hadn’t been personal against the Sunling, not really. At least that’s what he told himself.
They both glared at each other, before they started battling again.
“It must have been hard,” Grim spat, taking his anger out with every blow.
“What?” Oro said tersely. He seemed to be doing the same.
“Losing her.”
It was Oro’s turn to clench his jaw and grip his dagger so tightly, Grim thought he might break it.
“You know how hard it was,” Oro ground out, before he lunged forward once more.
Silence. Just their groans and the roaring prisoners as they fought forward an inch at a time. Grim tried to focus on the task at hand, tried to forget the Sunling was even next to him, but the same thoughts and fears circled his mind until he finally voiced them.
“Isla is my wife,” Grim said. “She chose me. She was living with me...” He turned to look at the Sunling. Their blades swung at the exact same speed. They were both dripping in blood, having killed hundreds of prisoners so far. “Why fight this hard for her?”
He needed to know the Sunling wouldn’t betray them. What if he planned to use the power they claimed down here for something else? He couldn’t take that risk.
Oro shook his head in near disbelief. His gaze locked onto his, for just a moment, and it was full of intensity. “Because I love her enough to want her back, even if it’s not with me. Can you say the same?”
The Sunling shot forward before Grim could respond, leaving bodies in his wake. Grim trailed behind, thinking about what he had said.
