Isla stepped through the opening. Her breath caught at the sight of my raised dagger.

I lowered my left hand.

"Sorry."

"No, it's OK. I could have been anyone."

She gave me a shy smile, and I grimaced. It was fake—a mask for the beast barely contained. She had already shown me her true self. She was royalty, and we were her subjects—resources to be used and discarded… like weapons. At least Reed was honest in their own weird way. She told me what she wanted from the start. But this… This game was beneath her.

Isla walked into the room and came into clearer view. She had changed out of Kateen's plain white dress and into a blue dress we left behind in the wagon. Gently used brown boots poked out of the dress' hemline. Most likely scavenged from a dead cartel member. She wrapped her navy cloak around her shoulders and pulled it tight as she examined the house's run-down interior.

"I wanted to check on you, Jacob. Are you sure you don't need healing?"

"If I said no, would you heal me anyway?"

Isla furrowed her brows.

She stepped closer.

"People usually like being healed."

"People usually like it when you ask first."

Her lips twitched into a snarl. It was only for a moment, but I tightened the grip on my dagger just in case.

"What's your problem?!" Isla asked.

"You're not here to heal me. What do you really want, Isla?"

"I… I-I don't know."

She sighed, raising her right hand to stare at her palm.

"I miss it…"

She whispered.

"That feeling… That power."

She stepped closer, and the hairs on the back of my neck rose.

I raised my left hand and pointed my dagger at her chest.

"Stay. Back."

"You don't understand… I need this… I need to relive that moment-"

"The one where you almost killed me?!"

"The one where they died! Every second is like waking up on that bed and remembering the horrible things they did to me. I need to drown it out with something. I need to remind myself that they can't HURT me anymore!"

I recoiled from her barrage of words. She was leaning forward, her fingers curled like claws, and her face raw with rage and pain.

Finally, she wasn't pretending.

I lowered my weapon.

"Then get it over with."

She blinked and then stalked to the edge of my bed. I leaned back, keeping my dagger close to my chest. With gentle hands, she turned over my right forearm and wrapped her left hand around my wrist.

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Isla let out a shuddering sigh, and a tongue of fire ignited over her right palm. A sympathetic pain bloomed in my right hand. I winced at the sensation.

She closed her eyes, and warmth flooded into me.

My eyes went wide.

Isla was healing me while drawing on my land. She was using two different Landbound abilities at the same time!

Impossible!

Pain and pleasure intertwined and became inseparable. No, that was wrong. They were always inseparable. I was a fool not to realize it sooner. I squirmed under the cascade of sensations. Wounds I trained to ignore were healed. The arrow to my back. The bruises and burns from the night's battle. My breathing turned into panting, and at the edge of my awareness, I realized our breaths were in sync.

Somewhere between seconds and hours, Isla let go. The flame hovering over her hand sputtered out. She let out a satisfied sigh, sweat dripping off her chin.

"That was hard," she said with a breathy voice.

"That was incredible," I said, trying not to laugh.

I failed.

Our eyes met and we let out nervous laughter, clearing any tension left in the air.

"Can I sit down?"

"Please."

I made room for her to sit at the edge of the bed. The wooden frame creaked from the slight increase in weight.

"I'm sorry," Isla said. "I lost control in Kateen's estate."

I had almost forgotten. Her words rekindled the pain from that moment. The sense of betrayal. The feeling of being used.

I grimaced.

"You-"

I caught myself before I said something I would regret. I wasn't the victim here or, maybe, we both were.

"It hurt, Isla..."

"I know..."

She looked away, smoothing out the bottom half of her dress.

"Magic has always been… everything to me. Even before I came to the capital, I spent most of my days alone. The only thing normal about my childhood were my teachers."

"Most kids don't get teachers."

"What?! Really?"

I nodded.

"At least not the scholarly kind."

"Oh…"

The horror was plain on her face.

"I couldn't imagine my life without teachers. They taught me how to read, write and connect to the land. They were always there for me."

"What about your parents?"

She flashed a sad smile.

"My mother was always busy working as a maid. By the time I learned to walk, she didn't have much time for me. When I moved to the capital, my father and brother would visit me every month or so, but it was never enough. I don't blame them, but the only time I feel close to my family is when I use my abilities."

She closed her eyes for a moment, recalling some distant memory.

"Can I tell you a secret?"

I smirked.

"Another one?"

She smiled.

"It's kind of stupid, but… I've never felt powerful."

I gave her an incredulous look.

"You're the strongest mage I've ever seen. You're probably one of the strongest in the world."

Isla blushed.

"I told you it's stupid! For me, magic was never about power. It's who I am. Ever since I started adventuring with you and the others, I've been using my abilities in ways I didn't know were possible. All this fighting and killing..."

She shook her head.

It must have been hard for a sheltered noblewoman.

"I've been loving it."

"Oh..."

She laughed.

"Don't worry! I'm not going to turn into a serial killer or something. It just feels good to be in control. There are so many things wrong in the world that I… that someone like me can fix..."

She tried to smile, but her lips quivered. Her eyebrows knit together, and tears began to pour down her face.

"I'm sorry. I-I'm just... I'm sorry."

She wiped her tears away with the palms of her hands.

I reached out to console her and then stopped. This was about Kateen—about Clarice. Touching her felt wrong.

An idea flashed in my mind. I rolled to my side, dropping my dagger and reaching down to rummage through my pack.

"I should have done this sooner."

"Done what?"

My fingers wrapped around a warm length of gold. I grimaced as the sensation of straw poking into my skin intensified.

"This belongs to you."

I raised the golden sceptre and passed it to her tear-soaked hands.

"Without you, we couldn't have beat Nostrand Del. We couldn't have saved the Dellends and all of Luskaine. You're a conqueror, remember?"

I smiled.

Isla wrung her hands around the sceptre in a familiar motion. With her enhanced vision, her eyes traced the contours of my face.

"Thank you. I needed that."

She stood up from the edge of the bed.

"I need to go and finish fortifying the village."

"Do you have enough will?"

"More than enough. Sleep well."

"I will."

Isla walked to the doorway, pausing at the entrance.

"When I left the capital, I wanted to be strong to save my father. Now, I want to be strong for myself. What does that make me, Jacob?"

I considered her question, and then my smile widened.

"A person."

Isla wrung her hands around her new sceptre, contemplating my answer as she disappeared through the entrance.

I let out a deep sigh, leaning back into the straw bed. For some reason, the stalks of straw weren't annoying anymore. I rolled my head to the side.

"How much of that did you hear, Dugan?"

From the bed pressed against the wall behind me, his deep voice rumbled like thunder.

"Most of it."

"Do you still want to kill me?"

He paused.

"I'm still thinking it over."

I laughed and drifted off to sleep.

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