Nightbane (Lightlark, #2)

by Alex Aster

It didn’t matter. Even from feet away, she could sense the thread that tied them together. Something like love. Something like power.

Not the old man romance!!!!

“Death,” she said. “He—” She found herself unwilling to speak his name aloud, as if that alone might summon him from the shadows, bring him to life in more than just her mind. “He was surrounded by darkness. There were dead bodies everywhere. The shadows were reaching at me—” She winced. “It looked like . . . war.”

Of course there is going to be a war in these books

Isla shook her head. “I chose you . . . He feels betrayed. He might not even care about me anymore.” Oro didn’t look convinced. She closed her eyes. “Even if he did, do you think he would start a war over me? Risk his own people?” “I think that is exactly what he would do,” Oro said, his gaze faraway, as if lost in thought. “Isla. You need to start your training, and not just to get into the vault.”

What is so special about her that 2 guys would start a war over her!?!???!

She imagined fate laughing at the irony of their pairing: a liar loved by someone who could sense the truth.

Stopppppp i cant take anymore old man love!!!

given that even Oro looked young,

The does not mean hes not 500 years older than you!!

He was white as the cliffs of Lightlark,

How are we supposed to know how white those cliffs are!?!?

His, happily, had not. The ruler of Skyling was wearing a tunic with shards cut out of its sides and bulbous sapphires in place of buttons. He wore a ring on every finger.

Yeah it is giving gay

The rebels could be chasing her. Grim would end them all in a moment.

How does she know grim still cares about her??

She knew Oro had received the news when a tidal wave of heat raged across the island. When Oro had found Isla, shaking and raw skinned, he had looked like he wanted to bring the entire island down. The very ground beneath their feet had shaken as he had said, very calmly, “Who did this to you?”

Ok portective alpha male

“If you hurt her,” he said, voice lethally calm, “she will kill you. And then I will find a way to revive you so I can kill you again with my own bare hands.”

Ok buddy getting a little agressive

“Look at me, love,” he said. Love. She held on to the word like an anchor, but the thread between them slipped through her fingers—

Valek, is that you? NO its some creepy old king!!!

Oro turned to her, then. He looked her right in the eyes as he said, “Isla. You are my favorite everything.”

Blehhhhgggg *throwing up emoji*

“No, Isla,” he finally said. “It’s the parts you don’t seem to like about yourself that I love the most.”

Okayyyyyy?????

Isla flicked the wrist that he wasn’t holding. The weapon disguised as a bracelet unveiled its spike. She stabbed it through his thigh.

Points for being so blatantly violent

From then on, they trained from the first sunlight to the last. In the mornings, she and Oro ran on the beaches below the Whitecliffs. He said it would help clear her mind, and it did.

Its like celaena and chaol

“It’s a wonder either of you train at all, with how much you look like you want to bed one another.”

Chilllllllllll girl!!!!

Wild-lings

Not the dash!!!

She sighed. Training was the last thing on her mind at that moment. She wanted him in her bed; it would be so easy to just let the world disappear for an hour—

Stoppppp your making me sick!!!

“Love, you seem to be under some delusion that you are anything less than extraordinary. Who did that to you? Your guardians? Did they make you feel like nothing you did would ever be good enough? Or was it him?” Grim. The woods heated with his anger. “Tell me, Isla. Did someone else break the curses? Am I mistaken?”

Im so done with grandpa and isla. Like her saying she sucks and she hates herself and then him saying shes amazing and the best person ever is too much

“I wish you could see yourself the way I do. You would never doubt yourself again.”

Yeah bc shes so perfect and amazing and not like the other girls but thinks shes not good enough. Boo hoo!! Get over yourself!!

She placed a hand against the nearest tree, and moss flowed from her fingers, rippling down to the grassy forest floor. The grass grew to a wild height that reached a branch that sprouted bright-purple wisteria. The flowers spiraled down the branch in bunches like bracelets, until the end, where an acorn grew, drooping like an earring. It became so large that it fell, right into Isla’s palm. This was what it meant to be Wildling.

Wait she gos from not being able to grow a single flower to growing everything in the whole damb forest!?!?

“A bonded,” Wren said. She lifted her arm, and a massive hawk with a stripe of orange on its back came soaring down from the treetops, landing on her sleeve. The bird blinked at her with its sharp eyes. “Oh, an animal companion,” Isla said. “A bonded,” Wren repeated.

Its giving… patrounus

Okay. Isla could do tonight. “So . . .” she said. “I can pick anything? An insect”—that would be easier to carry around—“a bird”—could be useful to transport messages—“a . . . butterfly?”

She doesn't seem like an animal person

“And you don’t pick your bonded,” Wren continued. “It’s the other way around.” Her eyes were fierce. “The bonded chooses you.”

I bet she'll get like a really big animal like a tiger thats a pain to carry around

“Isla,” Wren said. “Lynx was your mother’s.”

Why did she name her leopard after another big cat!?!!

“Every time I see you, I think the gods must play favorites. Every time you’re near me, I am overcome with the urge to bed you, to have you, again and again. I want to devour every inch of you, until you’re all I taste, until you are shaking with pleasure in my arms. That is what I want.”

Im so done!!!!!!

“We are looking for the same thing.” Isla frowned. “You’re looking for skin gloves?”

Lol shes so dumb

Star-lings

Stopppppppppppp

Not a problem? “Even you are not powerful enough to escape the curses.” He sighed in clear irritation that she kept insisting on speaking to him. “No,” he admitted. “But someone else was, and they made me this.” He clutched at something below the collar of his shirt, some sort of charm, then instantly turned his attention away from her.

Auroura did that

“He has . . . he has a snake. Takes it with him everywhere.” A snake?

Maybe hes a wildling and that is his bonded

“Isla,” he said carefully, like he was trying very hard to keep all of himself reined in. He had used her first name. “Which one did this to you?”

Ok very protective

Without warning, he lifted her in his arms again. And set her on his lap.

Ok grims growing on me. Although anyone is better than old man oro

“The bath is big enough for two. It will help you not scar.” Isla just stared at him.

Woah hes moving fast

Grim’s face broke in half, into the biggest smile. “Heart, you are radiant,” he said.

This is some weird behavior for someone who is starting a war against her

His hand curled around her waist. His lips traced her neck. Her back arched, and she moaned as he began kissing her across the glitter on her shoulders, her chest, as he started licking it. “I don’t think it’s edible,” she said. “I don’t care.”

Ok grim get it!!

Terra said, “Hello, little bird.”

Shes definitely not real

“I’ve been stabbed a thousand times . . . but none of that hurts more than hearing you say goodbye.”

Awwww sad

Oro shook his head and pulled her fully to his chest. “We have a plan,” he said, lips pressing against her forehead. “The portal being open doesn’t change that.”

Honestly hes too forgiving of her

Lynx knelt, and Isla pushed the ground beneath her to propel her onto his back. She slipped into her saddle. “Let’s go,” she said, and he raced forward. A group of Nightshades stepped into their path, but before they could draw a single shadow, Lynx plowed through most of them and tore the rest apart with his mighty fangs.

I hope lynx doesn't die i like him. He probably will though

Skylings shot powerful gusts from above, forcing Nightshades toward the center. Sunlings created walls of flames. Grim’s army was slowly being boxed in, Lightlark’s legion advancing from all sides.

Thats probably only part of the army. She'll think she defeated them and then the other part will come out of nowhere

“My entire world was night, and you lit a match. No matter what happens to me in this life, I’ll find you in the next one. I’ll always find you. What I feel for you can never be extinguished. Like the nighttime sky, it is infinite. You and me . . . we’re infinite.”

Sure

Just before the blade found his neck, he bellowed, “If I die, she dies.” It wasn’t even his death that he feared. It was hers. Her death was what made him rabid, shaking, yelling, eyes wide and desperate. Oro froze, just an inch from ending the Nightshade. “No,” Oro whispered, disbelieving. Furious. Understanding something Isla still hadn’t. “You didn’t.”

What the heck is happening!?!!? Their lives are tied together somehow but i cant figure out how

Grim’s voice seemed to rumble the world as he said, “Let go of my wife.”

Okayyyy we love teen marriages. Oh sorry, i meant a teenager and a 500 year old

So before Grim could portal them to Nightshade, she turned and said, “I love you, Oro.” She closed her eyes tightly. Felt tears sweep down. She took Grim’s hand. “But I love him too.” And, because of his flair, he knew it was true.

Love triangles with two 500 year olds and a teen girl are so out