“I know,” Grim said, which was the only reason he hadn’t already done it to get her back.
The stairs Cleo had made were still yards away. Beasts stood in their path, including that scorpion.
He didn’t have a sword anymore. Just the dagger he had lent Oro.
With a grunt, he pulled at the chains, seeing they ran beneath the sand. Oro followed suit. The lost king’s shackles were longer than anyof the others. They seemed to have run through the entire length of this prison.
They shared a look.
Together, they ran, tearing those chains from the ground. And when they came across that scorpion again, they didn’t have to speak as they split up, the chain taut between them. When the creature lunged at them, they caught it on its legs, and the beast came crashing down with a sea-rattling bellow.
Grim used his dagger to slice away one of its massive, razor-sharp scales, and he tossed it to Oro.
Together, they rushed toward that wall of steps, cutting down anything that remained in their path. But when they finally reached the wall, the sea was shaking so forcefully, entire steps of ice were breaking off, nearly crushing them.
Grim jumped up, took hold of the bottom ledge, and began to climb. Oro was right beside him. The steps were massive, but far apart. They’d have to leap onto each one to reach the top.
There was a sickening crack, and Grim looked up to see a shard of ice the size of his body careening toward them. He and Oro barely lunged out of the way in time. It shattered against their step, tearing it in half, smashing against a creature that had been trying to reach them.
They shared an uneasy glance before they lunged for the next step. And the next. Grim jumped just as the stair beneath his feet fell away.
The entire sea wall was rattling now. The steps shook with it. Grim stumbled as the ice fractured below his feet. The moment he landed on a ledge, he leapt for another, his arms burning with strain, his pulse racing as he fought his way up as fast as he could. Ice rained down in pieces, slicing against his skin, but he didn’t slow. Not when all the steps below him were gone. The ones above him were already crumbling.
“Just a little farther,” Oro yelled over the roaring.
Grim jumped onto the next ledge, relief snaking down his spine as he felt the ice hold. Its cold burned his palm as he pulled himself up. There was only one step left.
He hoped it was high enough for them to get their powers back—or they would be stuck. The ledge would crumble, and they would fall back into the depths of the prison. The sea would bury them for good.
Grim jumped with all his strength—and his fingers locked around the cold edge. He pulled himself onto it.
And with mind-melting relief, he felt the shreds of his power awakening.
Oro was below. The step he was on had already cracked. It wouldn’t hold much longer. “Jump,” Grim said, crouching on the ledge, feeling it loosening. All he needed was to fully stand. He could do it now, and portal away. He could leave Oro behind.
Instead, he sighed and turned to extend his hand.
Oro just stared at it. Grim could read the emotions on his face. Distrust. Worry. The Sunling thought Grim was going to take his hand, only to drop it, and put an end to him once and for all. “Just fucking jump,” Grim snarled.
And the Sunling did. With a grunt, Grim pulled him up onto the ledge with all his strength.
But it was too late. The step beneath them both fell away—
Grim took hold of Oro and used all his strength to jump as high as he could, with the Sunling weighing him down.
There they were—the embers of his power. He clutched those tatters and was able to portal them just a few feet higher, where his abilities roared to life. And then, he portaled them back to Cleo.
The moment they appeared, the Moonling’s knees buckled. The ocean roared as it filled the gap once more, water shooting upward as the sides rejoined. Grim had doubted the Moonling, but he had been wrong.
Cleo had held.
She looked absolutely spent, her entire body twitching on the rocks of the isle. Still, she found the strength to peer up at them, long moon-white hair plastered to her face. “Did you find him?” she croaked.
Grim nodded.
The Moonling collapsed against the salt-licked stone.
ISLA
