Yuto snatched the book and tossed it onto the floor. The heavy thunk echoed over the crackle of the fire. He pointed at it like it was a snake coiled to strike.
“That is the book?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yuto, please. I’m sorry for reading it, but I had no idea what it would say. Please don’t be angry with me over this. I didn’t mean for it to be a betrayal.”
His eyes snapped up. “A betrayal? Aradia, I’m not angry at you for reading it. I’m terrified to read it myself. I—” His voice cracked. His fists shook. And then a single tear sprang from the eye of this immortal, indestructible male. “It has taken me a very long time to come to terms with my grief. If I open those pages, I fear it’ll rip open my soul.”
“Oh, Yuto,” I whispered.
With a shaky breath, I pushed aside the pain in my skull and threw my legs over the side of the bed. He made a move to stop me, but I held up my hand and padded across the cold stone in my bare feet. I knelt, the nightdress pooling around my knees, and wrapped my arms around the book, hugging it to my chest.
“See, I’ve got it,” I said. “You don’t have to look inside.”
“I should,” he insisted.
“Not if it will cause you pain.” I took a step back when he lifted a hand toward me. “Besides, I’ve already read it. I know what it says. And I know which part you need to hear.”
Pain flickered across every inch of his face.
“What I have to tell you has nothing to do with your family.”
“Alright. Go on then.”
I took a deep breath. “You have been sentenced to remain here by your...enemy. In most cases, the portal honors those sentences. Take Panos for instance. The magic would never allow him to leave before he could. His soul is far too blemished.”
“I’m not certain I’m following you, Aradia,” he said with a frown. “The portal only interferes when someone accidentally steps into Inishfall. Then, and only then, it will read one’s soul.”
“You’re wrong,” I said, lifting my chin. “I know you don’t like to hear it, but it’s true. The portal of Inishfall reads every soul.”
Yuto’s frown deepened into a scowl. “And yet it has kept me here. Every year, I’ve tried to leave this place, and every year I have failed.”
I hadn’t known that. Images flashed in my mind. I could picture it so easily. Yuto, with hope in his heart, trekking to the portal each year. He’d press through the trees and stride up to it, his soul weary, his body tired. He wouldn’t have camped on the way, too eager to reach potential freedom.
He’d hold out a hand toward the shimmering wall. The sound of his child’s laughter would echo in his ears.
Tears splashed onto my face. I couldn’t stop them.
“With prisoners, it is different, Yuto. The magic reads your soul, but it honors the sentences. Unless...you do something big, something important, something that changes the very course of the world. Something that would save a multitude of people. In order to leave here, you have to make the world a better place. You have to do somethingbig.”
His scowl remained etched onto his face. “How am I supposed to make the world a better place when I am trapped here away from every other living thing? I can’t save anyone while I’m here, Aradia. And even if I could, there’s hardly anyone here worth saving.”
His words could have stung, but I knew what he meant. I was worth saving. His Thunder was worth saving. But that wouldn’t be enough for Inishfall.
It would want far more than that.
“Once again, you’re wrong,” I said with a smile. “There is a dark force on this island, one that will not be contained. It’s stuck here now, but it will eventually get out. And when it does, it will kill thousands.”
“A dark force?” He rubbed his chin. “Do you mean Panos?”
“Think about it, Yuto,” I said. “Do you know why he held me captive? He wanted to draw you into a trap and drink your blood. It almost worked, too. Didn’t it? That’s why you were in the woods.”
Yuto frowned. “He wants my blood? Why?”
“Something about the power of the blood of dragons. I don’t know what that will do for him, but what I do know is he has a plan. He’ll stop at nothing to escape from here. You said it yourself. He’s escaped from every prison he’s ever seen. The world isn’t safe as long as he lives.”
“But he can’t die, Aradia. He’s immortal.”
I shrugged. “I only said it was possible for you to leave Inishfall. I didn’t say it would be easy.”
