And the room shattered as Grim landed in the center of it in a streak of onyx shadow. The knights were sent flying back, and Cronan himself was launched from his feet.
Grim paid no attention to his ancestor. He didn’t spare a glance at the army of knights strewn around the room. He didn’t seem to notice the galaxy beyond the glass ceiling that was currently spilling around them.
No. He just looked at her, like they were the only two people in the universe.
“Heart,” he said, his lips hardly moving. But she could feel that word as if it was carved into her very soul.
She was broken and bleeding, but her lips turned up into a smile that he echoed, and every jagged piece of herself finally clicked into place. The bridge between them was full and final, gleaming. She couldn’t tell where his soul began and hers ended.
This was a love to rival time and space and destiny. This was a love that would shape fate and galaxies.
Now that he was in front of her, she wondered how she had ever survived being a world apart.
But it didn’t matter anymore. He had found his way back to her. Just like he had always promised.
Tears pricked her eyes as she looked, and looked. A thousand apologies and promises sat on her tongue. But she didn’t need to say a word.
“I know,” he said, and she felt like he really did. Heknewher. Every part of her.
Cronan’s crown was still on the other side of the room, in pieces. He was on the opposite end, struggling to stand. As he bellowed orders to his knights, Isla scrambled to her feet and ran toward Grim as he moved toward her.
It was over. This torture had finally come to an end. They were together, and nothing,nothingcould come between them now. Not even Cronan. With their powers joined, they’d be unstoppable. Their world would be saved. Every piece of her plan would fit into place.
She reached for him. He reached for her. Their fingers were just feet apart. But before they could meet, a shadow snaked through her mind and spoke.
It wasn’t the pain of the intrusion that made her eyes go wide—it was the words.
You think this love is infinite? Watch how easily it is broken.
No.
Time seemed to slow, as Isla reached for Grim, trying to bridge those inches between them. Her husband’s shadows were spilling through the room, killing everyone in their path. Half the knights were already dead. They were nearly at Cronan’s neck.
But Isla saw the exact moment Cronan broke into Grim’s mind. It happened so quickly, she couldn’t even say a word. Couldn’t even warn him.
And Grim stopped in his tracks. His shadows dissipated.
Grim blinked, gazing around the room in confusion. His eyes landed on her, and—
She didn’t see even the slightest glimmer of recognition.
Look how easy it is to take one’s memories, Cronan said, into her mind.You should know. But this time, it’s permanent. His memories of you are gone for good.
Cronan’s cruel laugh echoed throughout her skull.
Anything can be broken.
Impossible. Isla refused to believe it. Nothing could break them.They were infinite.
But as she reached for her bond with Grim that had been forged through countless obstacles, adventures, and memories, like a mosaic, like all of the tiny decisions that had turned intoeverything, she fell to her knees with a raking sob.
The bond between them was gone.
GRIM
There was a woman on the floor that he had never seen before.
She had the strangest aura around her. It wasred. Like roses and hearts and blood. He had never seen an aura that color. Or one so saturated.
