“These pairs are matched not only in soul, but in power.” The woman looked at Isla with true heartbreak in her eyes. “You are the first to have two souls bound to yours. Two perfect, fated matches. Your soul is split, Isla. It will continue to split. Until you die—or kill one of them.”
Isla’s eyes burned. She didn’t know anything about fated matches, or bound souls, and she didn’t care—she lovedbothof them. Despite reason. Despite circumstance. But hearing this made her understand why it felt impossible to choose.
“It is the cruelest thing in the world, to have to kill your soul’s match,” the woman continued. “But it is certain. One of you threewilldie.”
“No.” She was tired of this prophecy. Tired of hearing she would have toplunge a blade through the heart of the man she loved.
The woman sighed deeply. “You’ve been preparing for this your entire life. Your fate was written before you even existed.”
“I’m going to rewrite it,” Isla growled.
The woman only smiled softly. “You act as if fate is just something that happens to you. Butyouare the one who is crafting it. You are writing your destiny with every choice you make.”
Isla froze, turning those words over, shifting her gaze to where Oro and Grim were floating in the pool. She couldn’t imagine anything making herchooseto kill one of them. She just couldn’t.
“Ican’t,” she said. “I’m not—I’m not strong enough.”
“But you are,” the woman said, fiercely. “You are strong enough to save not only your world, but the rest. And it starts with this choice. You have seen your past and gained clarity from it.” She brushed a finger against Isla’s wrist, where her mother’s charm rested. It held her mother’s flair—the ability to see the future. “If put in the pool, you will see your two futures. And what will happen if you choose one...or the other.”
Tears ran down her face because...she didn’t want to know. She didn’t want tosee. She was afraid of what she would discover. “Are you ready to see?” the woman asked.
“No,” she said.
The woman nodded, in both disappointment and understanding.
“But I’m ready to choose. Once and for all.”
Isla blinked, and the woman was gone. Only Grim and Oro remained, still reaching their hands toward her in the water.
Her hand shook at her side. This feltwrong. Her very soul seemed to protest, like it was tearing at the seams. But she had to.
Her chest rattled with a sob as she reached forward. Not to them both...but to only one. Her fingers grasped his.
She loved them both. But one had just a little more of her soul.
“I choose him,” she said. “I choosehim.” Isla felt the bridge between them ripple into existence, stronger than ever, as she led him to her.Her chest burned, her soul on fire, as her vision was overtaken by swirls of silver energy.
She blinked. It had only been one moment. When her vision cleared, Cronan was there, still on his knees, like he couldn’t fully stand. He lunged toward her. Toward his crown.
Isla took it off her head and used every shred of remaining ability to throw it across the room.
It shattered, and Cronan seized, as if stabbed a thousand times through the chest. He roared—in agony, in fury.
But instead of going for his broken crown—he went for her. He grabbed her by the neck and slammed her down on the ground, her head cracking against it. His other hand closed around the diamond at her throat. His expression wasn’t cold any longer—it was crazed.
His grip tightened around her neck and she choked, feebly kicking her legs under him. Without his crown, without the connection of their minds, Isla was powerless once more. Her vision started to go dark around the edges. Her limbs felt heavy. He was seconds from claiming her diamond once and for all. From using it to break into her world and suck it dry.
“Love is nothing but a weakness,” he said, looking mad with fury. “And you are nothing but a fool for breaking my crown, thinking that would be my end. But I always rise. I will make a new crown. And this diamond will be right at the center of it.”
Isla knew she was losing the battle to stay conscious. His face had blurred. Her lungs burned, as if filled with flame. Darkness bled into the edges of her vision.
But before she could succumb to shadow, something in this world...broke. And Isla felt a power that could rival even Cronan’s, especially without his crown. Cronan must have sensed it too, because he looked up so frantically that his grip eased ever so slightly. She sucked in a ragged breath.
“What is that?” Cronan roared at his knights, who had started spilling in to the room. The castle shook. The skies split.
Isla could feelhim, cleaving through the world like a blade, racing to her in a great burst of energy.
Blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, Isla smiled and said, “That’s my husband.”
