Grim
With Isla, he felt infinite, for the first time in his long life. Even now, she gave him strength from worlds away.
The wind crackled as he portaled to the Algid in search for Cronan’s skyre. He was standing right in front of where he used to train as a child, along with his siblings and the other noble children.
Back then, he believed he was destined to die young. All he knew was preparation for the Gauntlet—the tournament where he and his siblings would fight to the death to determine the heir. He was under no pretenses that he would win. Not when he could barely summon a single shadow.
Just as Isla’s had been.
When they finally emerged, it was in a path of endless ruin.
Just like Isla.
It was strange to think how much they had in common, when they seemed, at first glance, so different. He was reminded of it now more than ever, as he portaled across his lands in rapid spurts, looking for hidden symbols.
Instead of skyres, all he found were reminders of her. This was where they had fallen in love, and their memories were everywhere. They had painted over all the pain of the past.
Before Isla, Grim’s life had been stuck in winter. She was his spring. The moment he met her, his world finally woke up. Meeting her made him understand why people bothered falling in love.
He had lived centuries before her—but his life had only truly started after her.
He never wanted to go back to that cold darkness again.
So he portaled to every ancient ruin, searching for the skyre. When he still couldn’t find it, instead of leveling an entire swath of land, he took himself to the field of nightbane. Not because of Cronan’s skyre . . . but because he wanted to feel close to her.
The endless violet was now ash. But once, it had been a field that had made Isla gasp with wonder. It was where he had gotten down on both knees and asked her to be his wife.
“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.”
They were forever bound. Nothing could keep them apart. Not even the universe itself.
He wouldn’t rest until he found that skyre.