Oro glanced over at him. “What do you think I am? The moon?”
In a flash, he portaled so he was in front of the Sunling—and the king’s throat was in his fist. He was done playing nice. His shadows sharpened into a dozen swords, all skimming the king’s useless golden armor. “You’re anything I tell you to be,” Grim said. He tightened his grip on the Sunling’s throat, relishing in the color leeching from his face as he choked—
Before his fingers were singed. Grim turned himself into shadow a moment later, but his hand fuckingburned.
Oro’s entire skin was crackling with flames. The Sunling took a step toward him. “No,” he said, voice steady but as firm as Grimhad ever heard it. “I’m king. You’re a guest on my island, Nightshade.”
Then, he shot toward him in a streak of fire.
Well, fuck. Oro clearly wasn’t as eternally patient and civil as he claimed to be. That was made obvious by the force in which he hit Grim straight in the jaw. Grim portaled away, but not before pain racheted through his skull. He materialized on the other side of the beach, bone still singing.
Oro turned, catching sight of him. The flames coating his body flared higher.
Grim enveloped himself in dagger-like shadows.
Azul just sighed and sat down upon a rock, not bothering to get between them.
They surged toward each other in streams of flame and shadow.
“What’s wrong, Skyling? Not going to help your dear friend?” Grim shot at Azul as his shadow-coated fist made contact with Oro’s temple, sending him soaring through the air, then crashing into the sand.
Azul shrugged. “The king of Lightlark doesn’t need my help.”
He said it just as Oro sat up—and unleashed a beam of energy from his chest that was so saturated, it went right through all Grim’s shadows. It sent him flying back, only stopping once he collided with the white cliff. The mountain shuddered. Rock crumbled as he slid down it.
But before he hit the sand, he shot forward. Shadows gathered in his hands, hardening into pure obsidian power. He was ready to send that calcified shadow right through the Sunling’s skull. He bared his teeth, moving to strike—
Then he went deathly still.
Oro did too. He stopped, just a foot away. His fire completely extinguished.
And in Oro’s eyes, Grim saw the same bone-melting despair that had him sinking to his knees, right into the sand. His shadows were washed away by a wave. All the fight had left him. His voice was a choked rasp. “Please—please tell me you can feel her.”
Oro’s own voice was hardly a whisper. “I can’t.”
Grim’s world was ending, right there on that beach.
Because he couldn’t feel her either.
ORO
Love had always made Oro brave. His mother’s love had helped him get through the hardest moments of his life—through training, through even imprisonment at his father’s command for refusing to gild. His friends’ love had gotten him through war, through his mother’s death, and through the aftermath. His love of his people, and his duty, and his brother helped him get through the curses.
Even though he had been brave for centuries, his heart had turned to ice over the years. He had given up hope that the curses would ever be broken.
And then Isla crashed into his life, fracturing his cold heart. She was the first sign of spring after a long winter. Her green eyes were blazing with determination, with courage, with strength, and Oro couldn’t help but fight for a world that deserved to have her in it.
His mother had always told him to find his fire. He had.Shewas his fire—the reminder in his heart to always keep fighting for light even in endless darkness.
He refused to believe that she was gone. A fire like hers couldn’t simply be extinguished.
But neither of them could feel her anymore. Grim was on his knees, gasping for air. Clawing the ground. He wasshakingin fear and heartache. Oro wanted to do the same—it would be so easy to crumble, but right now, he needed to be logical.Sheneeded them to keep going.
So, he strode over and slapped Grim. Hard. The Nightshade didn’t even flinch. He just slowly looked up at Oro with an expression sodevastated, it was like he was incapable of any emotion other than soul-rotting sadness.
For a moment, he almost saw his old friend in that look. A friend he would have wanted to comfort, in the middle of this pain.
Oro gripped his arms and hauled him to his feet. “If she was dead, you would be too,” he said. Grim had bound his life to hers in order to save her.
