Crowntide (Lightlark #4)

by Alex Aster

“If they do . . . if I find them . . . then I’m willing to bet you’ll become whatever weapon I need you to be.”

“You are the bravest and strongest person I have ever met,” he said. “Cronan might be in your mind, but he doesn’t know you. Not like I do. I’ve seen you rip barbs out of your back. I’ve seen you fight with two swords at once. I’ve seen you survive the unsurvivable and overcome the impossible. He has no idea what he’s going up against. But I do. And that’s how I know that I’ll see you again.”

He wrapped his arms around her and thought this was how they always should be. Hearts beating against each other. Together.

“I don’t want to live by prophecies,” he said, stepping closer. “No oracle, no fate, no power, no person could ever change how I feel about you. I’m coming to get you. So tell me, Isla. Right now. How can I help you?” “Remind me,” she said, her gaze searing into his. “Of everything that comes after.”

“I love you . . . and that’s why I don’t want to lose you.” “You have me,” he said, his heart racing “I’m yours. Always. You will never lose me.”

“It would be a waste of breath, I think, lying to someone who could sense truths.”

“He showed me. His connection to her . . . it must be going in and out. He’s seeing almost everything.” Grim strode toward them. “I wonder if the connection goes both ways.”

Because it was proof that even the strongest shackles could be broken.

“This is the Pool of Possibilities,” the woman said. “An ancient place that is only found by those who are chosen. Ask a question, take the plunge, and you will see how things might have been different.”

“Endure, Isla. Persist. When the world pushes you—you push back.”

“Wildflowers bloom even in dead places. There are those who tried to bury you deep, but you are a seed. And you are only now growing. They are going to regret ever thinking you were anything different.”

If she chose Oro, he didn’t know what he would do. He wasn’t known for his willingness to share, but he would rather take any piece of her that she was willing to give than lose her completely. But the prophecy was clear. There was a choice to be made. She couldn’t have both.

“Smart. You were always smart. Except when it came to love.” She smirked. “Love made you an utter fool.”

He was king of Lightlark. He wasn’t supposed to want anything, but damn him, he wanted her. He still wanted her.

“Everything I have is yours,” he said. “Everything?” He nodded. “Even that cape?” He made to undo it, and she gripped his wrists to stop him, laughing. “Gold isn’t my color,” she said casually.

“I’m only bringing one of you,” she said.

she curled her fingers around the dagger of energy she had been forming in her palm— And stabbed it through his shin.

“But only one thing in this world is infinite, and that is love. Not power. Not you.”

“All you have is this. And now . . . it’s mine.” He gnashed his teeth at her but could do nothing as she reached for his crown—and took it.

“You are the first to have two souls bound to yours. Two perfect, fated matches. Your soul is split, Isla. It will continue to split. Until you die—or kill one of them.”

“I choose him,” she said. “I choose him.”

“That’s my husband.” And the room shattered as Grim landed in the center of it in a streak of onyx shadow. The knights were sent flying back, and Cronan himself was launched from his feet.

She couldn’t tell where his soul began and hers ended. This was a love to rival time and space and destiny. This was a love that would shape fate and galaxies.

Look how easy it is to take one’s memories, Cronan said, into her mind. You should know. But this time, it’s permanent. His memories of you are gone for good.

The bond between them was gone.

good

Oro knew it had been foolish to continue loving Isla through everything, even after he learned she was married. But all his rules and safeguards and trepidation burnt to ash around her. She was his constellation, and he had hoped that they would find their way back to each other.

Enya collapsed on the ground, her red hair gleaming against the sand. Was this how she died? No. No.

And as she accessed it, she was immediately hit with a wave of unrelenting sadness. It was so intense that it formed a barrier in their connection. She had never been able to feel his emotions through the bridge before. She didn’t know how this was possible, but her heart broke to know that she had caused this pain, and she desperately wanted to reach him, somehow.

“I’m sorry for not choosing you. But you deserve someone who can be wholly yours. And too much of me will always belong with him.”

“What are Grim’s weaknesses?” she asked hurriedly, Oro’s shape already blurring. “In battle?” The look Oro gave her was one of devastation and acceptance. A roar sounded nearby, but it was muted. “He only has one that I know of.” “What is it?” He gave a sad smile. “You.”

Isla. A name that sounded like the hiss of a snake. Fitting.

A bloodied battlefield. Countless dreks falling through the sky. Then him, on his knees, roaring in agony. Not from a physical pain, though. From her, lying lifeless in his arms.

But before they could catch her, the creature turned, shot through the air— And swallowed her whole.

He looked down. And she was staring up at him. Alive. Somehow . . . she was alive. “You didn’t die,” he said, in disbelief. She scowled. “I could have told you that.”

“Wow, Enya,” he said. “I really thought that was how you went.” Enya gave the Skyling a sidelong look. “Did you really think my glorious death was in a beast’s stomach?” Zed shrugged a shoulder. “Sounds pretty glorious to me.” Enya huffed. “Trust me. My death is far better than that.”

“A child between the two of you would be the greatest heir to have ever lived.”

There is a place where all worlds meet. A place that would allow me to conquer the entire universe, every galaxy. But to access it . . . I need a key.”

Pool of Possibilities.”

“The day you die is when I’ll feel my last shred of happiness.” She scowled. “The only death that would make me happier would be his.”

“Your world will fall. I’ve already decided it. Everyone will die.” He said it lightly, casually even, but Isla didn’t miss the almost imperceivable fold that formed between Grim’s brows. He didn’t know. He thought Cronan would spare his people.

“You have three weeks to make your decision. That’s when I take your world, and everything in it,”

“That was nothing compared to my tomb.” Her green eyes glowed through the dark. “You were there for mere days. I was imprisoned for thousands of years. In metal that was molded to my body so that I didn’t even have an inch to move or breathe. No power. No light. Nothing but the darkness.”

“Cronan controls everything in this world, isn’t it clear? He is woven into its very fabric.”

“Except for the storms,”

Find your fire, it said. And it was his voice.

She would find her fire. She would ignite. And when she did, Cronan would burn.

“I wish I never met you,” he said. “I really do.”

“I wish I never met you, because even after everything . . . I still. Fucking. Want. You,”

“Even if you don’t want me too. Even if you kill me. I realize now . . . there is nothing that could make me not love you. And I am afraid of what that love will lead to.”

She might not be his ever again, but he would always be hers.