“I haven’t even suggested anything yet, Rynn. Be reasonable—” Jade started, but a sharp burst of wind silenced her, blowing the hair from her face and leaving her in a trembling rage.
“I don’t care what plan you were going to propose. Isla is not getting anywhere near him.”
In her peripheral, Isla saw Celesine cock her head and stare at the scene playing out. She couldn’t read the Aether’s expression. Was this what the spirit elemental had been pushing them toward? She would know best, after all. Isla wasn’t sure what part she could play, but shewassure that shewanted to be there when the dark god fell. He’d threatened her family and torn her life apart; she wanted to watch his power crumble beneath him.
Resolve thickened inside her. It was interesting how much determination tasted like vengeance. Perhaps fate had other plans for her besides a quiet life under the stars.
“I’ll do it,” she said, the words leaving her mouth unbidden. “Whatever you need, I’ll try to help.”
“Absolutely not.” The wind picked up around their feet, swirling angrily as Rynn’s wrath grew. She’d known this would happen, that he wouldn’t agree with her out of his unrelenting need to protect. But Jade was right: Isla was the only one the dark god couldn’t manipulate. That had to mean something.Shehad to mean something.
“Look at me, Rynn,” Isla said. She drew his face down to meet her gaze, trying to infuse all that words couldn’t say into her eyes. Her hair whirled around them in a sea of red as he seemed to struggle to get his wind into submission.
She thought his callous demeanor slipped, if only for a moment, before he responded. “I will not let you put yourself in more danger for us. It will not come to that.”
Isla brushed her fingers along his jaw as she said firmly, “It’s not up to you. If this is the best option, I want to do it. I can face him.”
The wind came to an abrupt halt, and she saw his refusal the second he made up his mind. Rynn withdrew from her.
“Then you do it alone.”
Gathering the air at his feet, he circled it into rapid spirals until it had enough force to propel him off the ground. He shot into the air and out of sight, not looking back once.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Jade
IfRynnwasnotpermanently one step away from being on Jade’s bad side, the look on Isla’s face after his grand exit would have firmly rooted him there. Against Jade’s better judgment, the mortal had grown on her. She appreciated Isla’s determined spirit and the fact that she took anything they threw at her in stride. How Rynn just treated her made Jade want to blow a hole in the mountain and his puffed-up ego.
Unsurprisingly, the devastation painted across Isla’s face swiftly morphed to frustration. The girl was resilient as ever. “How did you live with him for so long without killing him?” she huffed.
A snort escaped Jade. “Now you understand what it was like for millennia.”
“He’s hurting, child.” Celesine placed a comforting hand on Isla’s arm. “He has much pain in his past where humans are concerned, and he’s afraid after what happened with the last one. He will come around, just give him time.”
Isla turned to Celesine with a confused look on her face. “What do you mean, ‘the last one’?”
Jade, Kai, and Aidan shared a quick glance. Aidan shifted his gaze to the trees and Kai played with the water in the stream, both avoiding Isla’s question. Apparently, their flighty little friend had not yet told Isla a few important stories.
Celesine looked embarrassed and cleared her throat. “I apologize, I thought you would have known. It’s not my tale to tell, and unfortunately, I don’t have much longer here in this physical form.” She addressed the entire group. “I’ve told you all that I know. How you choose to use the dagger is up to you.”
“Okay, but first, we have tofindthis dagger. Do you have any idea where it could be?” Kai asked.
Celesine shook her head, her deep black curls brushing across her chest. “The last I heard, it was lost on Iona, hidden by the Primevals until the right hand should find it. Legends of this weapon have grown over the centuries, and many greedy souls have attempted to locate it. None have been successful, of course, but its existence no longer remains a secret.”
Something clicked inside Jade’s head. Turning to Kai and Aidan, she asked, “Do you think that could be what the King of Karstos has been looking for?”
Their faces registered the same acceptance she felt as they processed this new possibility. It made perfect sense. The selfish king was holed up in his palace, sending legions of men and even recruiting common thieves to do his dirty work. All the rumors they had heard about him searching for something, especially among merchants and those traveling across the seas, added up. And the raiders they had fought in the mountains several days ago said the king’s orders were to look for a knife. Ithadto be the same dagger.
Aidan crossed his arms. “Say heislooking for the dagger. I doubt he knows what it really does, but we still need to find it before him…or anyone else, for that matter.”
“Before we do anything, I’m going to have some choice words with a certain moody elemental,” Isla grumbled, glaring in the direction Rynn had taken off to.
“Well, I suppose we know where we’re going next,” Kai said with a sparkle in her eye. “Back to Iona.”
Jade’s heart leaped.
Home.
