*Isla*
Alatar takes a step toward me. My body begs to take a step back, but I hold my ground. Emery is still as a statue behind me. A quick glance shows her eyes round with… fear. If she’s scared, and she’s never scared, I should be.
But I’m not. Not when this man, this wizard, reaches out and brushes his fingertips over my cheekbone in a frigid caress. His touch is freezing, like ice. I resist the urge to shutter and lean away from him.
“You are a prize, Isla. And you have no idea how much you’re worth, do you?”
“I have a mate,” I say with a firmness and edge to my face that I’ve never heard before. “If you touch me again I can guarantee he’ll bite off your hand, and that won’t be the worst thing he'll do.”
“What if I told you you could have endless power,” he rasps, his voice sending a chill up my spine. “That you could rule beside me as my queen. It’s your rightful place. The second you came out of the falls and were blessed with your power–”
“I’d say no,” I hiss, stepping toward him. “Never.”
He looks down at me, his power swirling around him. He looks as if he’s considering taking a step away from me now, instead of the other way around. I let my power thrum through me, settling in the palms of my hands and casting the space between in a milky blue glow.
“Leave this island,” I say. “Go back to KiloKilo.”
“I cannot do that without making a deal,” he relies coldly, his gaze breaking from mine and settling on Antony. “He can give me what I want–or you can.”
I don’t look over my shoulder at Antony even though I want to. I want to ring his neck, but I can do that later.
“You’re having a girl, did you know that?” Alatar whispers, narrowing his eyes at me. “I know her name.”
“She doesn’t have a name yet,” I tell him, fury starting to color my cheeks.
“Oh, she does,” he says, smiling. “How much does this unborn child mean to you, I wonder? Is she worth the lives of everyone on this island and your kingdom?”
“What are you implying–”
“If I can’t have the diadem, and I can’t have you, I will settle for her–”
I send my powers ripping forward, tearing open the ether filled air between me and what I assume is practically a god. I don’t miss, and my power consumes him before filling the space with blue light.
But his laugh cuts through the air and recedes to a faint echo as the space settles around us, dust left in the wake of my power and his own. “That was a good try, but it’s not ever going to be enough, Isla.” I blink, not sure if I believe him. Had I given it my all?”
He continues, “There is a temple on this island, long forgotten, but it is there, at the lowest point where the sea once enveloped a great peninsula. The storm has made it possible to access it. I expect your decision soon, Isla. You, my diadem, or the princess.”
A snapping sound explodes through the area, and soon we are suffocated by nothing but deafening silence, broken only by Emery’s ragged breaths.
Alatar is gone, for now, but I know he’s got to be nearby somewhere. He’s given us a moment to discuss our options.
“What the fuck was that?” she hisses, grabbing my arm, but I have nothing to say to her in response. I turn slowly to Antony, rage ripping through me as our eyes meet.
“What have you done?”
“Isla–”
“Where is the necklace, or diadem, whatever the fuck it is? Do you realize what he just asked of me in exchange for you keeping it–”
“It belongs to my line of the family–”
“And you’d sacrifice not only me and my unborn child but your pack for it? Your entire kingdom? Your mate and children?”
“It’s not that simple–”
“Then explain it to me,” I growl. I’m damn near close to shifting and ripping him to shreds. I might still, when this is all over.
Antony takes a rough breath and breaks from my gaze to walk over to the edge of the terrace to look out over his destroyed kingdom.
“The Diamond and Diadem–which my ancestors made into a necklace after the death of Queen Eleanor–were the only things keeping the magic here in check. There were those who knew that the blessings of the falls were actually meant to be a curse. But those in power saw it differently, and wanted to keep it that way. I know very little about it, Isla. No more than you, honestly, but I saw first hand how the balance here was thrown off by the diamond being returned to its rightful home. I gave Alatar and his followers the edge over Maatua, and he was able to flex his power.”
“Do you have the diadem?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why won’t you give it back to him if that’s all he wants?”
“It was a risk I couldn’t take–”
“Antony,” I cry, stretching my arms wide. “Look at what he's already done. He has destroyed everything! You even offered him your life–”
“Maddox has had to make sacrifices for his title. He has responsibilities to his title and his legacy,” he bit out, taking a step toward me. “Like needing an heir. Needing a breeder–”
I slap him, my hand burning with the impact. Antony halts his progress in my direction and flexes his jaw.
“How could you do this,” I whispered, backing away from him. “How could do you do this to Poppy–”
“Antony,” Poppy’s voice fills the space. I feel Maddox’s presence as well but don’t turn around. I keep my eyes on Antony, who I thought had proven to us that he is trustworthy when he has been hiding the biggest secret of all.
“The twins are somewhere safe,” Maddox says quietly. “For now.”
There is nowhere we can truly be safe here, not when the sky is already starting to darken with another unholy storm building above us.
“Why are you so unwilling to give him what he wants to the point of sacrificing your own life to keep it?” Poppy asks, her voice a soft, dismayed whisper.
“I made a vow to protect it when I took over Isla’s father’s title–”
“You’re nothing like my father. You’re just like your own,” I say, and Antony meets my eyes.
“I am,” he replies.
“Antony, I don’t even know who you are anymore,” Poppy whispers, tears streaming down her face.
“I’m sorry. I can’t give him what he wants.”
“You have to,” she says. “It’s just a–”
“It’s tied to my powers. My ability to shift. Why, I don’t know, but if I give that up I cannot protect anyone, anything. I will lose far more than my wolf.”
“And you would have rather died and left me and our son and daughter behind,” Poppy says, her voice so pained I feel tears prickling in my own eyes as she speaks. “I can’t–I can’t even begin to tell you–” She turns from him, and I feel Maddox step forward to rest his hand on her back. I wonder how much he heard. I wonder if he knows what the wizard asked of me in exchange for Antony keeping the diadem and all of us keeping our lives.
“Give it to him,” I say with force.
“I can’t–”
“You will,” Poppy whispers. “Or I will reject you, Antony, and you will never see me or the children again.”
I suck in my breath at the severity of her threat. Antony would be better off dead than rejected. I worry, especially since her words don’t seem to soften his expression or rigid stance, that he doesn’t even care.
When Antony says nothing, Poppy turns around, her eyes flaming with determination.
“Do it,” he says, and I watch as my best friend's heart shatters in her chest.
But thunder booms, and the balcony fills with that electric magic again. I suck in a heavy breath and turn to my mate, but behind him I see… I see…
“MADDOX!” I scream just as warriors rush in, their eyes nothing but black, swirling holes filled with the same magic causing the storm. Maddox spins around, a knife outstretched. I rush to Poppy as warriors fill the room, but I’m a second too late. A knife is pressed to Poppy’s neck, a trickle of blood slowly rolling down the column of her throat.
Everyone freezes. I’m panting as Alatar's voice booms with the thunder, a shrill laugh that echoes around the room.
“Your mates,” he says to me and Antony, “or what I seek. Decide.”
My heart is in my throat as I turn to Maddox, who is stuck in place with a dagger pressing into his back. His teeth are bared, the first hint of transformation in his eyes. Elijah is already in his wolf form, guarding Emery.
Antony is staring at the possessed warrior who has a knife pressed against Poppy’s throat. If he refuses to give Alatar the diadem then Poppy dies.
“You’ll leave those babies without a mother,” I sob, turning to Antony. “Please!”
“Fine,” he growls, and walks away.
I catch Poppy before she hits the ground. Maddox shifts, and soon the room is thrown into chaos as I pick Poppy up and Maddox, Emery, and Elijah unleash themselves on the warriors.
I hurry her along as we follow Antony, who is walking briskly several yards ahead of us through the remains of the castle.
“Mary is with the twins,” Poppy chokes, her hand clutching her throat.
“How badly are you hurt?”
“Just a scratch,” she whimpers, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m okay.”
I know she’s not okay. Not emotionally, at least. We follow Antony into what’s left of his office, the exterior wall missing and open to the storm outside. Paper spins in the stiff wind whipping around us as he yanks on a bookcase until it comes loose from the wall and swings, revealing a tunnel.
“Come,” he orders, his voice void of emotion. Unease ripples over my skin as I step into the dark tunnel clutching Poppy close.
The tunnel grows more and more narrow as we descend down a spiral staircase made of stone. The air is chilled down here, which only adds to my unease.
But we come to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. I gasp, peering through the darkness at a massive vault door made of iron. Antony takes a moment to open it.
“There’s a tunnel system leading out of the castle. We’ll go to the temple from there. I know… I know where it is.”
“I’ll never forgive you for this,” Poppy whispers. I can almost taste Antony’s pain as he looks over his shoulder at her.
“I know.”
We follow him into the darkness and come to a stop at an… altar. I use my powers to light the small space and gasp as I peer down at the necklace–made from the diadem–where it lies on the altar. Antony grasps it like it physically hurts him to touch, and then I realize with a start that it does, in fact, seer his skin.
“Come, we don’t have much time to finish this.” He slips it into his pocket so it’s no longer burning his hand.
He opens an old wooden door behind the altar and goes inside. I can feel the chill and taste the salt as we enter. Above us, the ocean roils in the storm.
We are deep underground, under the ocean.
I hear Poppy praying as we start to follow Antony into the dark void. I close my eyes, thinking of Maddox, thinking of our son and the girl nestled in my womb.
“Please,” I whisper as if the Goddess is standing right next to me. “Let this be enough to end this. Please.”