Chapter 39
ISLA
When darkness became their cover, Isla and Ameera fled their rooms in the hall. With the hood of her cloak over her head as instructed, if only to avoid watchful, curious eyes, Isla allowed the general to lead the way. Apparently, this had been quite common for her when she and Kai visited.
The island is a party that never stops, Jax had offered, and Ameera had confirmed once she and Isla reached their rooms. Just off the coast in the Southern Waters, the small island was the prime location for day and nighttime enjoyment.
Isla took some time to admire the scenery as they wove through meandering garden paths to reach a gnarled oak tree twined with pale twinkling lights that had apparently been their meeting spot of choice these past years.
In its distance, below its curling branches, she spotted Jax leaning against the bark, finishing off what looked like an apple.
Isla stopped short when she caught someone sitting on the bench behind him.
As she and Ameera closed in, it was Ameera who asked, “So you decided to join us?”
Amalie, still stunning despite her sour look, with her hair pulled back from her face and a swipe of glitter along her charcoal-lined lids that brought out the blue in her eyes and dress, gave her a narrowed smile. “Didn’t have much of a choice.”
Her eyes made impressively quick work of surveying Isla’s attire, another combination of a tunic and pants, before slipping to her mating mark, her ring.
Isla recalled what little she knew about Amalie and Kai’s relationship: on again and off again, a beautiful couple appearance-wise that the pack and its gossips adored, but behind closed doors, their compatibility was only physical.
If they weren’t all over each other, they were fighting about something.
At least, that’s what Belle had told her months ago when she began training with the guard.
Isla blanched.
Either out of sympathy or her own selfishness, wanting to evade the awkwardness that had sprouted between them, Isla craned her neck to observe the tree and its glow.
“This is beautiful.” She cast her eye to the other trees of the forest, which hadn’t been lit and didn’t have seating as this one did. “Why is it the only one like this?”
Jax slapped his hand against the bark and threw the apple’s core deep into the woods.
“My great, great, great grandfather’s—or he might be an uncle, technically—luna, for some reason, loved this tree and used it as her place to reflect.
So, when she died—tragically, of course, as it always goes—he made this in her honor.
Apparently, when he was withering away, he spent his last days right here, talking to her and waiting to be with her again.
I don’t think he was that old when he died.
They were fated mates, and she was his world. A broken heart killed him.”
A somberness cleaved her chest. “That’s…” She couldn’t find the right word, and her eyes dropped to her ring.
“Love is a devastatingly powerful thing,” he said. “For all it blooms, it destroys with even greater force.”
Isla’s eyes flicked back up in time to realize he’d also been observing her ring.
“You know, that may be the most poignant thing to ever come out of your mouth, Jax,” Ameera commented from behind her.
Jax bowed his head. “I try.”
Then his cousin rose from the bench, wiping something from her dress. “If only you hadn’t bastardized the monument by making it a meeting spot for your debauchery.”
“The island does not always equal debauchery, Cousin,” he said over his shoulder before turning back to Isla. “Though the most lecherous nights have been the most fun. I’ll let your mate tell you some of those stories.”
Isla quirked a brow. “He may have mentioned you tend to embellish.”
Jax’s jaw fell unhinged. “Nonsense, that prick. Is he still trying to be on his best behavior around you? Even after he put that mark on your neck?”
“He’s a gentleman when he has to be.” Isla laughed.
Jax cocked his head. “And other times?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Can we go, please?” Amalie snipped. By the time they all looked at her, she was already heading for the lantern-lined cobblestone path behind her.
“Why is your aunt making her do this?” Isla finally asked when she was decently out of earshot. Jax seemed surprised she’d drawn the conclusion. “It’s not hard to tell she doesn’t want to be here.”
“The day I understand my aunt’s motivations is the day the world ends. I simply obey,” he said.
Isla scoured his face for truth, which he seemed to be telling.
The alpha’s nephew gave her a smirk before sweeping his hands in a grand gesture to the rock path cast over by a yellowish glow. “Well, to the sea we go, Your Majesty. We don’t want to miss the ferry.”
“Lead the way.”
They headed down the path one by three. Isla was intrigued by Jax’s stories as he explained more of the Pack Hall’s expanse and the royal city of Ciryn that was home to those buildings she’d spotted glimpses of behind the sandstone walls.
As they drew closer to the coastline, before they walked along its edge, Isla sucked in a breath.
In the distance, the island’s lights glimmered like stars, not with the ethereal glow of Mavec’s crystals, but in a way that was a bit more ostentatious.
She hadn’t realized she was beaming until Jax commented, “You and Kai really are a pair.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“You both look at everything like it’s a challenge. Something to be conquered.” He pointed to the island. “You’re about to have the time of your life over there, and nothing’s going to stop you.”
Isla laughed, tipping her head back as a salty nighttime wind kissed her face. Having the time of her life didn’t sound bad, though she wished Kai had been here with her. “I’ve missed the ocean.”
“Have you ever been to the south of the continent?” Jax asked.
“Before Deimos, I’d never really left the north. It was one of the reasons I wanted to be a warrior, other than protecting people,” Isla said. “I wanted to travel the continent.”
Jax snickered. “So small-minded.”
“Excuse me?”
“Why only desire traveling the continent when there’s a whole world out there?” He nodded towards the water. “You know, they say if you squint hard enough, you may be able to see a siren’s tail kick above the water.”
“Really?” Isla focused, widened eyes narrowing and seeking anything over the rippling blanket of dark.
Jax nodded and, as if he could hear her next question, said, “Technically, they’re not allowed this close to the continent, but by the time someone gets in the water to fight them off, they’re long gone.
The sea makes its own laws after that until you reach their isles.
” His lips thinned. “So much out there, and yet we’re here, wolves amongst ourselves. ”
Wolves, some witches, and a part fae… apparently.
Isla caught the longing in his voice, the spark in his eye. “Is there anywhere you want to see?”
“The fae ruins of Naerel,” he answered immediately. “Their architecture was extraordinary. I mean, the entire city was crafted by magic. No mortal builders could ever compare. And now, it just sits there. Not many go to appreciate it, given the fae were so…”
“Heinous?” Ameera finished for him. She was silent for the most part, but the general was always listening.
Isla’s skin itched, the hair on the back of her neck standing. Not now. “Were they really all like that?”
Jax shrugged. “I mean, I’m not a thousand years old, so I wouldn’t know.
I’ve never met one, but an entire people couldn’t be evil.
I read some even stood by mortals during the War of Realms and offered their lives along with the others who sacrificed themselves to seal the veil and keep them out forever. ”
Isla vaguely remembered that part from her history lessons. Wolves, witches, sirens, crawlers, humans, and fae, it had taken everyone to end the war—even the deities.
Jax’s final word echoed in her head. Forever.
She swallowed, glancing at the ocean again and then up at the sky as if she could see the veil shimmering there. “Do you think the fae would ever be able to return?”
“Of course.”
Isla snapped her head his way, her eyes briefly snagging on the ferry boat they closed in on, the line of revelers fifty-deep.
Jax clarified, “History always repeats itself. We never learn. We’d just better hope it’s not our lifetime. They’re immortal; they can wait forever.”
Isla’s stomach pitted.
“What could we even learn from the war to prevent it?” Ameera asked, fiddling with her necklace—the pendant on a gold chain, like she always wore.
Jax’s following words clanged through her. “Never trust a fae.”
The air of the island had been electric.
Lights shimmered everywhere that Isla turned as infectious, upbeat, foot-stomping, hip-swaying music flooded her ears, her veins.
Jax had let out a triumphant howl the moment he stepped from the docking sands to the boardwalk. Some of the passersby echoed him, and it wasn’t long until the sound traveled distances far beyond what she could detect.
A party that never stops.
Isla had never seen anything like it. It was the perfect escape from their worries. Even Ameera was beaming as she took it in, and she swore Amalie’s sour look had lifted, too. She felt like a child on Solstice.
“Welcome to the best night of your life, Your…” Jax trailed off, his eyes questioning.
Isla smiled. “You can call me by name; I won’t tell anyone.”
He grinned back. “Very well, Isla.” He began leading them through the masses. “Can you communicate through your mating bond from this distance?”
Isla raised a brow, carefully dodging bodies. “Uh, this far away, it’s more tugs and feelings, but if Kai felt anything strong enough, I’d know.”
Jax considered. “And it’s the same for you?”
Isla nodded slowly.
“Well, tug at the bastard and tell him he’s an asshole for missing a good time.” She laughed, fully intent on doing so, when Jax continued, “What’s your drink of choice?”