Grim
He couldn’t feel her.
His heart . . . she was missing. At least that thin thread had been an anchor to her, a reassurance that she was out there, somewhere across the universe.
Now, it was gone completely. He waited to join her. He welcomed death if it meant being reunited with Isla.
But his heart kept beating.
Oro was right. She must be alive. Then why had both of their connections to her been ripped away? What had changed?
She must have found a way to sever the bridge. And, if he knew his wife at all—which he did—he could guess it was because she was protecting them.
From what? From who?
Cronan must have found her.
Shadows erupted from him, and for a moment, the world was plunged into night. His darkness smothered even the sun. Grim would carve through any obstacle that kept him from her. Even his own ancestor.
His power was ripped back into him. He would need it.
They tried everything they could think of with what they had, but nothing worked.
Now, he sat on the edge of the cliff with Oro above the beach with the tide pools, watching the sea rage below them, trying to form a plan through this panic.
The waves seemed as relentless and angry as he felt, crashing against the shore over and over again in a spray of foam.
Oro finally looked over at him. Grim couldn’t tell where Oro’s emotions began and his ended. They were both heavy with trench-deep despair, and hopelessness, and rage.
“We need to stop this,” Oro said. He had a split lip. A black eye. His golden armor was singed with ash.
“Stop looking for her?” Grim demanded.
“Never,” he said. He winced as he motioned his chin toward Grim. “This. Us. Fighting.”
Right. Grim couldn’t fucking feel his jaw. Not that it mattered. This physical pain was nothing—nothing—compared to the agony in his heart and soul.
“She needs us to be aligned. Especially . . . especially now.”
The Sunling, Grim knew, was right. This latest brawl was proof enough that they each truly hadn’t put their weapons down when it came to working together.
“There was a time . . .” Oro said, “when we would sit on a cliff, just like this.”
Grim remembered. Of course, he remembered. “A time when we were friends,” he said.
There it was. The truth between them that they both might have tried to forget. They had been friends. They had dueled every day, drank themselves numb, and talked about things no one else would understand.
He supposed Oro was the only person in this universe who could understand him now. A ruler whose entire being revolved around a woman who was worlds away.
“I’m sorry,” Oro said, and it was enough to snap Grim out of his thoughts. He looked at the Sunling, feeling around his emotions. There was nothing but true regret.
“For?” Grim asked, facing the sea again.
“For not believing you. When you said you didn’t spin the curses.”
Grim closed his eyes. That was the moment that had turned friends back into enemies. Oro had been the only friend he’d ever had. And it took only a second for Oro to break the trust between them.
Aurora had spun the curses because of a broken friendship. Grim almost understood her now. The pain, the betrayal . . . it had marked him. Closed him off for centuries.
Grim didn’t speak for a while, letting the roar of the ocean fill the space between them. Finally, he glanced over at Oro again.
“I’m sorry too,” Grim said, slowly, the words hard to get out. “For plotting to kill you. And starting a war against you.”
Oro just blinked at him. “No, you’re not,” he said.
That fucking flair.
Grim shrugged a shoulder as he turned his attention back to the horizon. “You’re right. I’m not. I would do it again. Because it was for her. And for her . . . I would do anything.”
With a sigh, Grim got to his feet. Enough wallowing. Now, it was time to figure out how to make a portal to another world and get to his wife. Oro stood too.
“Truce?” Grim asked, holding out his hand.
Oro just stared at it.
Grim rolled his eyes. “I won’t try to kill you, unless it helps me get to her.”
Oro stared at him blankly. Grim knew he could sense the honesty in his words, which, according to his emotions, wasn’t making him feel even remotely assured. Still, the Sunling sighed deeply, then his hand clasped Grim’s. “Truce,” he said.
“Good.” Grim rolled his shoulders back and straightened. “I’m going back to Nightshade to see what I can find. I’ll be back when I have something.”
He dropped Oro’s hand—and was gone.