Isla’s neck twitched. Alright, that was definitely the dagger talking.
Nearing Jade’s backside, Isla prepared to launch herself at the immortal. One drop of blood, that’s all it would take—and then her powers could no longer be held captive by Sebastian’s mind games.
Without warning, Jade released her arms and swung around at Isla. Her eyes glowed with disdain, heartless and unfeeling. A hand shot out and circled Isla’s throat, slowly raising her into the air. Isla flailed against her hold, but the elemental was strong—too strong. Her airways closed, screams dying on her tongue as she scrambled for even the tiniest gasp of breath.
“Where has playing the savior gotten you? It’s pathetic. You humans have always been weak,” Jade spat, her cold voice scratching across Isla’s ears.
“Then—you better—get used to it,” Isla choked out. She lifted the dagger in her shaky hand and, in one swift motion, brought it across Jade’s exposed forearm.
The blade began glowing and the familiarhumsounded in her ears, only ten times stronger. The handle vibrated in Isla’s grasp as Jade dropped her to the ground, then fell into a heap across from her, unresponsive.
“Oh, gods…” Isla whispered, even as a part of her mind—the part taken by the dagger—smiled wickedly in victory.
Kai and Aidan scrambled to Jade’s body. “Did it kill her?” Worry lines painted Kai’s face as she and Aidan panted, still recovering their breath.
“I don’t think so—but I think it worked. I think it took her powers. The dagger started to glow when her blood touched it.”
“He’s going to keep coming after us. You’ve got to take all of ours, Isla. Put them all inside the dagger,” Kai pleaded.
Isla nodded. As if it knew what was coming, the dagger came alive in her hand, thrilled with the prospect of more power. Isla reached for Kai’s outstretched arm.
One cut, one drop of blood.
Kai shuddered and sagged against Aidan. If the world wasn’t pure chaos around them, the sight might have been comical. The dagger gleamed even brighter, as if pleased with the sacrifice.
Still, it wanted more.Shewanted more.
Without waiting for his permission, Isla crossed over the two limp forms and struck Aidan in the arm, perhaps more forcefully than was necessary. The dagger's influence was clouding her mind, and she fought to push it back.
Aidan, too, lost consciousness as the blade in her hand vibrated with so much force that she had to hold the handle with both hands to steady it.
The power contained inside the dagger rolled through Isla in waves. Her eyes fluttered closed, and her head shrugged onto her shoulders. The energy was so raw and euphoric, drowning out almost everything else around her.
Isla slowly opened her eyes and saw Jade beginning to stir. There was something…offabout the earth elemental. Her fierce brown eyes were dim and distant, her bronze face now paled and pained. She had lost an irreplaceable part of herself. The gleam of timeless power, of stability and strength, was gone.
Jade was human.
The dagger thrummed in Isla’s hands, reminding her that she wasn’t done. She had one more elemental to go.
Isla stood tall and strode toward the injured figure lying in the sand, leaving behind the other three as Kai and Aidan came to.
Making her way to Rynn, she stopped abruptly when she wondered if taking his powers, his immortality, would allow the wound on his leg to kill him. She faltered, the dagger fighting against her instincts to abort the plan and save him instead.
He was conscious again, his breaths labored as he clutched his leg, his pants and the sand beneath him soaked in blood. The gash on his shin had already started to stitch itself together, but his hooded eyes showed that he was clearly still in pain. He silently watched as she lowered to the ground next to him.
Isla didn’t have to do this, didn’t have to halt his healing and leave him to suffer. She could go after Sebastiannow.
But that voice inside her head grew stronger with each passing moment. She had the power of three elementals literally in the palm of her hand, yet the dagger was still greedy. It madehergreedy.
Lifting her hand, she let the tip of the dagger collect the blood dripping from the gash in Rynn’s leg. His eyes instantly rolled back in his head as he lost consciousness. She caught his head before it hit the ground and gently set him down, his dark locks like ink against the white sand.
The dagger emitted a hot, brilliant gold light. She yelped and dropped it, watching in fearful fascination as it trembled on the ground, vibrating the particles of sand around it. The humming and roaring from before filled her ears, building and building to an earth-shattering crescendo that made her slam her hands over her head before—
It stopped. The light receded, the movement ceased, and the dagger lay flat on the beach, coated in thick red blood from each of the immortal beings.
Swallowing and shoving her nerves deep inside of her, she looked in the distance at Sebastian and her family, a wave of anger blanketing her mind. The king continued to threaten them, continued to use their safety as collateral for getting the dagger from her. She wanted to believe that he wouldn’t follow through with hurting her family or the elementals. And maybehewouldn’t—but the force inside his mind didn’t care one bit about any of them. She knew if it came down to it, if she didn’t comply, they would all be slain at Sebastian’s hand.
But it didn’t have to be that way. She could fight. She could become the elementals.
