“Then let me come with you! For once, let someone helpyou!”
Tears glistened in Isla’s eyes as she jerked Bri into a hug. Kai thought she might give in, but instead, Isla said, “I’m sorry, Bri. I love you so much.” Then she looked at Kai, who would’ve never expected the words she said next.
“She’s not going to let me leave willingly. Do it.”
Kai hesitated, then nodded in understanding. Isla released Bri, and Kai let small waves of coercion flow gently from her mind into the girl’s. It was like thin ribbons extending and lightly wrapping around Bri’s subconscious, carrying her words and twisting them with the girl’s until she didn’t know what was her own thought and what was Kai’s.
“We’re going to leave now, but you’ll see Isla again soon,” Kai said tenderly. Determination slipped from Bri’s eyes as her head bobbed up and down. A relaxed smile played across her lips.
“I love you, too, Isla. Please be careful,” she said as she squeezed Isla’s hand, then turned to the door.
It was always so easy. Painfully easy.
Kai and Isla watched in strained silence as Bri’s figure retreated and grew smaller. She reached the end of the road where Isla’s house sat and rounded the corner, waving back at them cheerfully.
Isla brought her arms to her chest and interlocked her fingers underneath her chin, burrowing into herself as guilt painted her face. She tore her gaze away from the road and back to Kai. “I guess we should go,” she said, resigned.
Kai nodded. There would be ample opportunity later to investigate the Vasileia book and see what Isla knew, but for now, the girl needed time. Time to process her family’s sudden disappearance and their run-in with her best friend. Time to wrap her head around what she must do to get her brother and father back.
But time was not on their side.
As Kai led Isla out the front door with the ancient Ionan box tucked under her arm, Kai’s eyes caught on a small, thick piece of paper lying on the ground right outside the house. There was something written on it, but she couldn’t tell what it was. They must have missed the paper in their hurry to enter. Isla saw it at the same time Kai did and knelt to examine it.
Isla’s fair complexion turned even paler as all the blood rushed from her face. Kai’s heart lurched up her throat.That doesn’t look good.
“What does it say?” Kai asked.
Isla turned the paper over, and Kai saw the symbol more clearly. It was the crest of Karstos: a tree with a snake around the trunk.
Her mind scrambled. Pieces were fitting into place.
“I think I know who took them,” Isla said, her hand trembling as she gave the card to Kai. On the back of the paper opposite the crest was a message written in elegant, scrawling cursive:
Dusk. Your favorite spot by the river. Bring no one.
I’ll see you soon, love.
-S
They stared at each other, unable to speak the words rattling around in their heads.
How had they been so blind? Two beings searching across the kingdoms for something no one had been able to find. Two beings as power-hungry as they were ruthless.
They were one and the same.
King Sebastian was the dark god.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Isla
“Absolutelynot.”
“Kai, I have to go talk to him.”
“You may have a death wish, but I certainly don’t. And Rynn will kill me if I go along with this.”
Isla crossed her arms. “The dark god isn’t going to hurt me. He would’ve done so by now if he wanted to. Besides, he said he needed me for something last time we spoke.” She uncrossed her arms, steeled herself, and took Kai’s hands in her own. “If he wants to meet, it’s got to be about my family. I’ll do anything to get them back, Kai. You said you understood that.”
