Crowntide (Lightlark #4)

by Alex Aster

Oro Rey never thought he would see Grim Malvere, demon ruler of Nightshade, cry.

And he punched Oro square in the jaw.

ow

“I would gladly slit your throat right now, king. But I love her more than I hate you.”

“I love her more than anything. I will tear apart this world, and the next, and the one after that, until I find her and bring her back.

She doesn’t even have to be mine. She might never be mine, but the mere fact that she lives proves perfection exists. It proves this world has wonders in it yet.

She was a breath of spring in the middle of winter. She was a guiding star in his dark sky, the axis on which his world turned.

If she was dead, he would feel it. Right? He would be dead too. They shared a lifeline . . .

“Nothing in this universe can keep me from you,” Grim said to the night sky. He hoped, wherever she was, she could hear him. “I will rip down the constellations themselves to see you again.”

“The portal is closed. The only other one is on Lightlark, and though I have no problem using it and destroying all of you, I know my wife would.” He didn’t miss the Sunling flinching at the word wife. Good. Flinch, Sunling.

“I was thinking that the most important person in the entire universe should wear it.”

She was his eternal bliss. For her, he would face anything.

Then, she shoved him right off the edge.

“I love her at her weakest, at her strongest, at her best, at her worst. Ours is not a perfect love but a bleeding one. Not a flawless love but a relentless one. I have seen the worst in her, and she has seen the worst in me. And yet . . . I love her as much at her worst as I do at her best. I love her for everything she is and everything she isn’t. And that . . . that is why our love is infinite.”

And if she betrayed you? If she . . . killed you? He laughed again, a huff against the cold night air. “Then I would thank her for giving me any of her time at all.”

“I don’t want power. I don’t want riches. I want something far more precious. I want her. Forever. Until the end of time, and then a while after that. That is all I want.”

This world needed Isla. She had endless wonder. Endless hope. She always saw light where most would see darkness. It was why Oro had fallen in love with her. She was his reminder that this world could be better. She was his light in dark places. She was his eternal summer.

“The oracle said half a millennia after the curses, everything would change. This world would sit on the edge between complete doom and prosperity. She said someone born of life and death would decide the fate of this world. That this person would be marked by halves. Half curse, half cure. Half day, half darkness. This person would need to choose one side—without losing themselves in the process.”

“It has a name, this war,” Cleo said, breaking the uneasy silence that had settled over the room. “What is it?” Grim demanded. “Crowntide.”

Shackled by their feet, they writhed in pain, grasping their necks. They twitched and eventually stilled, only to lurch to life a few moments later. Oro and Grim watched in silence as they drowned. Died. Revived. Only for the process to be repeated. Again, and again. For eternity, it seemed. An endless torture. No, this wasn’t just a land, hidden away. It was an ancient prison.

Lark made a fist—and sent it all hurtling down toward Isla.

“I don’t know, Oro. Why don’t you ask each of them before you kill them? Have a little interview while they’re trying to rip your throat open?”

“I still think that love is for fools.” He shrugged. “But she makes me not mind being one.”

“Because I love her enough to want her back, even if it’s not with me. Can you say the same?”

you bring it out of her. You make her the monster you want her to be, so that the monster within you isn’t alone.”

“You don’t even know how you’ve corrupted her, do you? You just care that she’s yours. You don’t realize she’s only yours because she’s so ashamed of what she’s done that she thinks all she deserves is a monster like you.”

Because there, sitting alone in the distance, was the lost king.

yay

She saw— Herself.

what

“She has all six abilities, and wears the diamond Infinite, which cast him out. With her help, he could return. And if that stone were ever wielded together with his sword and crown . . . he would have the power to rule everything . . .”

“One of the last remaining pieces Cronan needs to take over the universe,” he said. “The Threads of Time. It must not fall into his hands.” His silver eyes glimmered. “This is the key to breaking the universe . . . and to saving it. You must find a way to get it to her. It is the only thing that can help her right everything.”

“I do trust that you love her,” Grim said. “But I also know you love your people. Your friends. I would choose her over the world. Can you say the same?”

“She would never forgive you, you know,” he said. “If you destroyed the world for her.” “I know,” Grim said, which was the only reason he hadn’t already done it to get her back.

“Do you think I give a fuck about the universe?” he said. “I care about my wife. The world can fall to pieces in the meantime.” “My love is not lesser, because I care about this world,” Oro said. “She does too.” “Which is the only reason it isn’t already ash,” the Nightshade growled. He shook his head. “She is my heart. Of course, your love is lesser.”

That was what she did—she didn’t make the darkness go away . . . she outshined it with her light.

But Azul and Oro were gone.

uh oh

sometimes, you have to lose something, to gain everything.”

Not just any man. He looked so much like her husband that her heart stopped for a second. But she knew exactly who this was. Cronan.

“Touch me again, and I’ll eliminate the need for my wife to make a choice that fulfills this prophecy.”

I love you, he thought, willing it to reach her, wherever she was. Even with a universe separating us, I love you. Even on my enemy’s lands, I love you. Even if you never want to be with me again, I love you.

And Cronan didn’t even glance at her as he flicked his wrist like he was swatting a fly—and Lark was shredded into ribbons.

And Isla knew exactly what her key was. She knew what would get her to do anything. The men she loved.

Isla reached for those thin threads that still bound her to the men she loved . . . And severed them.

“Nature is cruel. Life cannot exist without death. It is an endless, inevitable cycle.”

Be my sword. Be . . . my weapon.” She could feel her mind melting around his shadows, reshaping, rethinking. He was right. They hated her.

“How foolish . . .” Cronan said, his voice echoing through her head. “You can never trust anyone,” he said. “Not unless you control them.”

Anything can be broken. Especially friendships.”

When you start to doubt yourself, I want you to picture a pool reflecting every moment you were brave. Every moment you fought, when it was easier to give up.

“I have been caged my entire life,” she said, and she could hear the echoes of that little girl within her speaking. “I have been used and manipulated and lied to. You will not be the one to break me.”

“I want everything with you, Hearteater,” he had said. “I want marriage, I want children, I want to be standing next to you, holding your hand, at the end of the world. I want to live endless lifetimes with you, because one isn’t enough. Not for me. Not even close. If we live a thousand years—I’ll want a million more. I’m selfish, I’m greedy, I want you for endless eternities. We are infinite.”

Isla turned to him—and plunged her entire hand into his chest. She squeezed, watching his eyes bulge . . . And ripped out his heart.

Instead of completing the ceremony—Isla shoved her hand through Grim’s chest, stabbing her nails right through his heart.