But then Isla saw those pieces of skin and sinew begin to move, dragging toward each other through the blood-covered ash.
Cronan didn’t waste another breath on Lark. His gaze was fixed solely on Isla.
And yes. She had completely underestimated him.
She knew it was useless. Useless to take her stance, to raise his own sword, to draw upon the energy of the incoming storm and surround herself with all her abilities, to unleash the blizzards and hurricanes contained in her orb, to wrap herself in rings of stars and fire and shadow and ice. But she did.
And in a rush of darkness, Cronan broke through all her defenses like they were no more than wisps of wind. Before she could even blink, he was holding her by the throat, feet dangling above the ground.
He plucked his sword from her grip. He pored over it for a moment, seeming pleased. Then, he turned his attention to her while she thrashed and gasped for air.
He looked into her eyes only for an instant before his gaze shifted lower. To the black diamond necklace that rested right against her pulse.
And then this world-leveling immortal being with unfathomable power...laughed. The sound was devoid of any joy, just cruel amusement. It echoed through her skull, and her vision started to dim.
“Worldkey,” he said, looking at the sword, the stone, and then her. “I’ve torn apart the universe searching for you.” His mouth turned into a mirthless smile. “And you’ve brought yourself to me.”
Then everything went dark, like the stars themselves had been swallowed whole.
ISLA
Isla awoke on the floor in the center of a circular room. The ceiling was domed and made of glass, revealing a swirling galaxy, stars, and planets intertwined in a mess of silver and purple and blue. They formed the shape of a crown, as if they had been forced there. Taken and tied together.
Isla imagined that if she could access her abilities, they would be amplified in a place like this. But without a storm present, she was on her own. Now, she knew why.
Cronan was a void. He had conquered this world, and his power was a sheen over everything, sucking it dry. Only the storms could break through. If Cronan was the poison, the storms were the antidote. Even her skyres couldn’t pierce this malice. This was a bane unique to him, and Isla wondered if there was any marking that could break through.
“What an interesting turn of events...” Cronan said from somewhere behind her. It was only when Isla made to sit up, to face him, that she realized she couldn’t move. She was pinned to the floor by his power. She couldn’t even speak.
She could only blink as Cronan came into her line of sight, blotting out the galaxy behind him to peer down at her.
It was uncanny, the resemblance. Grim was beautiful like a god, and so was his ancestor. Cronan’s hair was cut shorter, though, and topped by that strange, twisted crown, radiating energy like it was forged from a broken universe.
Isla couldn’t look at it for too long without feeling a sharp pull in her bones, just like with the knights, as if her blood was the sea and his crown was the moon.
She wrenched her gaze back down to his face. She felt a pang of sadness, thinking of her husband.
She should have told him the prophecy before she left. She should have shared her plan. For so long, she had blamed him for making decisions without her. And though this wasn’t the same, it also wasn’t so different.
She hadn’t told him for the same reason he kept her in the dark before the Centennial—she had been afraid he would stop her.
“My line has grown weak, it seems,” Cronan said, words dripping with disgust as he stared at the diamond at her throat.
He clearly had the power to kill her and claim the stone. So why hadn’t he already?
Isla wondered if he could hear her thoughts, as he said, “Killing you would be easy.” He motioned up toward the sky. “I’ve destroyed many planets to consume their energy. But every now and then, I come across a planet that is more useful to keep alive. Toconquer, rather than extinguish.” He looked down at her, and Isla swallowed. She summoned all her strength to try and break his hold, but she couldn’t move an inch.
“You, Worldkey,” he continued, “are more useful to me alive, for now.” A shadow emerged from his crown and snaked slowly toward her. “The diamond Infinite fights me still. It is an ancient, sentient power. It mustchooseto be claimed.”
A rush of relief swept through her chest. If that was true, it gave her more time to think of how to get out of this. It meant he was incentivized to keep her alive.
That relief quickly withered when he said, “You wield Infinite. It accepted you to wear it...so I don’t need to control the stone.” His head tilted. “When I can just control you.”
Fear slid down her spine. He had a vise on her blood and bones. Could he force her to do anything he wanted? “Look at you,” he said, her very essence shrinking at his approach. “My greatest weapon yet.”
No. She wouldn’t doanythingfor him. She fought to move, to get out of his hold, but it was useless. Those shadows from his crown just inched closer.
“I know the world you come from. I helped create it. So I know that it has never produced someone as powerful as you. You, who wields abilities from all six realms, who consumes the souls of everyone you have killed, whose heart was fused together by the seed of power we used to make the island.”
