He frowned. “What?”
Her voice was firm as she said, “Don’t save me.”
He couldn’t have heard her right. “What—”
“It’s what he wants!” She shook her head. “Please—please promise me you won’t come find me. I’ve already...I’ve already given himso much of what he wants.” She started crying again. “I didn’t mean to. I was...I wastrying—”
“I know you were,” Oro said, pulling her into another embrace. He smoothed his hand over her hair as she shook against him.
And even though he often swore he would give her anything she wanted...this...thishe could not give.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t make that promise.”
And then she and the beach vanished.
GRIM
“Heart.”
This was not a memory. He had combed through all of them, reliving their story a thousand times in his mind, if only to see her again.
That’s why he knew this was something else. It washer. Somehow, she had found a way to communicate with him in his dreams.
He hadn’t even realized he had fallen asleep. He had been searching for the skyre...his body must have simply given up on him. He hadn’t slept in days.
Isla rushed over to him. She looked just as she did every night she spent by his side. Her long hair was out of its knot. She wore a short silk dress that she swore was comfortable. But a starlike burn marred the skin on the center of her forehead.
He caught her in his arms and ran his thumb over the mark. Yes, she was in his room, the way he always wanted her to be, but this wasn’t real. She was in trouble. “What’s happening? Tell me how I can help.”
She sighed against his chest. He realized he was wearing the outfit she had bought him in the Algid markets instead of the armor he fell asleep in. If she could change this...was she changing her own appearance? Were there more injuries than this mark, that she was hiding from him?
He waited for her to say something. He wrapped his arms around her and thought this was how they always should be. Hearts beating against each other. Together.
“I was given more time to live, but...he has me.” Grim’s arms tightened around her reflexively, as if he could protect her from his ancestor a world away. “He’s trying to get back into your world. He’s trying to reshape my mind...to make me into his key. His...weapon.”
Fury lanced through him. But one word caught his focus. “Why did you sayyourworld?”
She took a step back to look him in the eyes. “I can’t come back. Hewantsthat, and—” She swallowed. “I don’t want to see it ruined.” Her voice was thick with emotion, like she was trying not to cry.
“By him?” Grim asked.
“Or by me.”
Finally, those tears fell. And Grim remembered Oro’s words. About him...making her worse. Making her into a villain.
“You are not going to be this world’s ruin,” he said, because he believed it. His wife cared about her people, and his. Abouteveryone. If she didn’t, then her grief wouldn’t weigh so heavily on her.
“I might be,” she said, and he knew she was thinking of the prophecy. The one she had kept from him. “I’m sorry,” she said, as if sensing his thoughts. “I’m guessing Oro told you what the oracle said. I should have—I should have told you.”
Grim smiled, faintly. “I have no right judging you for keeping something from me.” Not when he had kept so much from her.
She took a shaking breath. “There’s—there’s something you should know,” she said. “When I was with Oro, in the desert. We...”
“Isla,” he said softly, stopping her. He could feel her shame and sorrow. “I don’t care what you did or didn’t do.” He meant every word. “I’ve apologized for before, and I will a thousand more times, but I blame only myself for the fact that you fell in love with him.” He stroked his hand down her cheek. Though he regularly wanted to kill the Sunling, he couldn’t even blame him either. “I should never have taken those memories from you. I know your heart is split, that you love himtoo. And though I hope you’ll always continue choosing me...it’s my own fault if you don’t.”
“Grim—” she said, and he shook his head.
“And I forgive you,” he said. “For everything. Just as you have forgiven me. Because I know you, and I know us, and nothing can break that.”
