That’s what this had all been leading to, hadn’t it? The prophecy. The Vasileia line. The dagger.
This was always how it was always going to end. Her and the king.
Isla gritted her teeth, steeled her mind, and picked up the dagger. A wave of energy ricocheted into her, making her stagger backward. Pure sunlight burst in her veins, rippling across her skin, giving her newfound confidence.
Sebastian stalked toward her. Isla stoked the fire of rage inside her as she made her way out to him, careful to steer him away from the rocks where Arden and her father were positioned.
“You’re a coward!” she shouted, her muscles clenching in anticipation. “You won’t even fight for yourself. You stand there and make everyone else work for you when you’ve done nothing!” She wasn’t sure who she was yelling at: Sebastian, or the invisible force pulling the strings.
He crossed the remaining distance between them in three long strides. “This is what those with power do. They hide behind beings they consider to be beneath them. Haven’t you figured that out by now, Isla?” His tone surprised her; he sounded urgent and demanding, his eyes desperately searching hers.
“Sebastian, just tell me who’s making you do this. How can I stop them?” He simply tilted his head at her words. “I don’t want to hurt you,” she whispered. And it was the truth.
“Isla, love,” he reached out and lightly ran his finger down the jagged scar on her cheek, his black eyes shifting to cobalt once more. “I would let you hurt me over and over.”
She shivered at his touch, then turned her hand over to reveal the dagger. Before she could say anything, he cupped the back of her neck and pulled her flush to his body.
“Don’t give it to me, Isla. Leave. Before it’s too late.”
Then he pushed her away with a groan, shaking his head as his eyes blackened once more. It was like there was another being inside of him, fighting for control.
She made her decision.
“I’m not leaving you, Sebastian. But Iwillstop you.”
Isla backed away, Bri’s words piercing her thoughts.
“It says your blood has to mix with the other blood.”
She brought the dagger up and sliced it across her left palm with a searing pain. Realizing too late what she was doing, Sebastian’s eyes widened, and he lunged at her with a roar.
Isla put the tip of the dagger, the dagger that held her mortal lifeblood and that of all four elementals, to her tongue.
And she detonated.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Jade
Jadewatchedthroughdimeyes as the mortal, the human, herfriend,ignited in a brilliant, golden light. It radiated from every inch of her skin. Isla threw her arms open, her clothes billowing in an ethereal windstorm, her crimson hair swinging around her face.
Part of that washerpower. Jade’s power.
The shock of it hit Jade again: she was human. She no longer felt the beat of the earth, the pulse of the ground at her feet, the pounding of life in her bones. There was a hollowness within her, as if something had been ripped from her spirit. Stolen.
She was an empty shell, broken and unmendable.
She didn’t think she had ever felt so helpless in her entire existence. Colors lost their vibrancy, sounds of the waves and the rustling trees were dampened, even the sand running through her fingers felt like a ghost.
Is this how mortals felt? Is this what her life would be like now? This aching, this longing for her element that grounded her, that brought her peace…it was unbearable. She needed her element like she needed breath in her lungs. She had no home, nothing to hold onto, no purpose.
What was the point of living this kind of life at all?
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw wisps of familiar purple smoke building at the rocky shoreline to their left.
Jade’s heart lightened. A sigh of relief fell from her, and a small smile formed on her lips. She knew that smoke.
Celesine was here. Celesine would know what to do—she always did.
