The knights came for her that morning like they always did. She let them drag her through the dank corridors and push her into the galaxy room. She did not wince when those loud, resonant steps echoed. She lifted her chin when he finally faced her.
And this time, for the first time, when Cronan’s shadows sunk into her mind, she did not fight him.
She gave him everything he wanted, while she clung to the present, fighting to keep her eyes wide open. For someone like Cronan would only bind his power to an object that he kept close at all times...
And it hadn’t taken long to figure out what that was.
Cronan must have thought Isla had simply given up. She felt a jolt as he reached the very back of her thoughts, everything she had tried to hide. All that energy it had taken to form those walls, she held on to it now.
And without the pain and force of keeping him out, she realized something she never had before. When his shadows were invading hermind, he was creating a bridge between them. And she could feel the shreds of her power, glimmering.
Slowly, she began to smile. Her plans started to reshape. As he retreated from her head, his own face twisted in sick satisfaction, she clung to their connection, keeping a thread of his shadows between them. He didn’t seem to feel it. It must have never occurred to him that this entire time he was torturing her with his mind abilities...
She was learning.
She just needed more time. More time to awaken the tatters of power within and shape them into something she could use. “Why?” she said. “Why have you torn galaxies apart? Why use this power for destruction?”
He smirked down at her as if she was the greatest fool in existence. “Some worlds deserve to be destroyed.”
She didn’t believe that. “Everyworld is worth fighting for.”
“Well, your fight has been in vain,” he said simply, like it was fact. Like she was just an inconsequential speck in his immortal life.
And now, she would be just a memory he would soon forget.
His shadows lashed forward, reaching for her. He had already plundered her mind, and now he would break it and reshape it into whatever he needed. He would use her as a weapon to wield the diamond around her neck, the one he couldn’t claim himself.
He had her pinned down with his shadows. They were firm as iron, threaded through her bones. But she was stronger now, more focused, having plunged into the Pool of Possibilities and made peace with her past. She was a sword who would cleave her own future.
“Anything can be broken,” she whispered, as she broke through his hold. Before he could make a single movement, she curled her fingers around the dagger of energy she had been forming in her palm—
And stabbed it through his shin.
He roared, his knees hitting the ground. His shadows burst forth, shooting right at her. But her energy was faster, as it reached acrossthe room, and all those broken pieces of her father’s armor came together, forming a shield as they flew. She stacked each sheet high and covered it with her own energy, amplifying the power the blacksmith had poured into it. His shadows met the steel and were deflected, striking Cronan’s forehead and plunging into his own mind. Prying it open. His face twisted in horror and pain, and inch by inch, Isla’s body returned to her. She stood slowly and stepped before him. His eyes were wide and unseeing. With a flick of her finger, those pieces of metal reformed around her, a puzzle coming together on her skin, until she was gleaming.
“You may think my heart is my weakness.Loveis my ruin,” she said as he groaned in agony. “It’s easier to shut your heart off. To consume and destroy rather than give.” She smirked, just as he had countless times at her. “But only one thing in this world is infinite, and that islove. Not power. Notyou.”
She took a step toward him. “And I am not alone,” she said. She could feel the whisper of all those souls within her, including her mother and father. She could feel Grim’s and Oro’s souls intertwined with her own—she could feel their strength, calling to hers. Reinforcing hers. “I am not alone,” Isla repeated. “But you are. Because all you do is destroy.”
She was not strong enough to face him on her own, buthewas. Cronan roared as he fought his own mind. He twitched in place as he struggled to move. But there was nowhere to run. This enemy he was battling was within.
“All you have is this. And now...it’s mine.” He gnashed his teeth at her but could do nothing as she reached for his crown—and took it.
The second her fingers touched the metal, she knew for certain this was the object his power was bound to. Energy thrummed beneath her skin, burning so hot that she almost dropped it. The moment it left Cronan’s possession, he bellowed, as if something critical had been stolen.
She sank the crown onto her head, and the metal seemed to melt into her skull, searching for a host.
Instantly, power rocketed through her body. Power so fierce, so saturated, it called to her own, releasing it all from Cronan’s void-like prison.
It awoke more than enough Wildling power to send through the bond, to help complete the portal. She saw the silver pool again in her mind’s eye. But for the first time, it was not empty.
Grim and Oro were both submerged in its waters. Both halves of her heart were fighting to get her back.
Isla reached for one of them, on instinct. But the silver woman appeared in her path and stopped her.
“There is something else you should know,” she said. She seemed sadder than Isla had ever seen her, which was surprising considering that Isla was finally breaking free of Cronan. The woman looked from Oro and Grim in the pool to Isla. “Throughout history, in times of great upheaval in the universe, souls have been matched.”
Isla blinked.Matched souls?She didn’t understand.
