Page 237 of A Warrior's Fate

Reaching out, Isla touched Dhalia’s shoulders, hoping she could carefully jostle her awake. “Dha—”

Isla gasped.

Dhalia’s head whipped around, and her eyes snapped open. Dark. Not the ones Isla remembered.

She tried to recoil, but Dhalia took hold of her arm, the grip so tight Isla couldn’t wrench away. There was a sharp pain in her head, a sudden ringing in her ears.

“Murderess child.”

A chill took over Isla’s body, starting from that place on her skin. It burrowed so deep that it imprinted on her bones, stilled her wolf.

The words had come from Dhalia’s lips, but it wasn’t her voice. Not the sweet, innocent one Isla remembered asking the Imperial Heir for a dance. This one was ancient and edged with lethality in its ease. Female. Still female.

Isla tried to move again, but Dhalia’s grip tightened. Why wasn’t anyone helping her? She opened her mouth to call for Kai.

“Warrior heart,” Dhalia cut in, taunting. Chastising. “You should’ve fought harder. You will lose everything in this war, and he is the reason. He is always the reason.”

Icy spiders crawled underneath Isla’s skin, cast webs over her mind, and skittered along mental walls. But they avoided one thing, one dark and forbidding thing.

“Kai!”

No response. Nothing.

Isla shifted to turn to him, to anyone, when Dhalia’s nails dug into her skin, keeping her still.

She bit down on her cry. What was happening? “What do you want?”

A cruel smile slid across Dhalia’s pretty mouth. “I’ve wanted to talk to you for a very long time, little thief.”

“What?” Isla trailed her gaze over Dhalia’s form, fully aware she’d never met her before in her life. But when she returned to her eyes. Those eyes. Dark. Violet. Not hers, but…familiar, still.

This couldn’t have been her, the same glittery-eyed girl that had approached them in the tavern. Was this some kind of waking nightmare? Magic? A curse? The witch?

Isla shuddered.

“Who are you?” she asked, reaching for the bond but hitting what felt like a wall.

A labored but even breath passed Dhalia’s lips. As if she’d been straining. As if she were working against Isla to make sure she couldn’t get to Kai, to that tether. She gave no answer.

Isla didn’t care. She needed this to stop. Whatever this was.

Why wasn’t anyone helping?

“Kai!” Isla pushed and clawed and dug through ice and shadow to find that familiar darkness. She tried to calm her racing heart, warm herself. “What do you want?”

There was a pull at the bond, and an overwhelming sensation she’d felt once before. When she and Kai had first used their connection to communicate. She winced at the strangest feeling of breaking she didn’t understand before trying to turn.

But Dhalia snarled and dug her nails deeper.

“They’ll try to stop him,” she warned. “They’re trying to, and they’ll fail. They always fail.”

“Stop who?” Isla pressed, trying to reach her other arm back to find Kai, but she was stiff.

“It’s the fate we’ve been dealt. A burden we must carry. It can only be us,” Dhalia said. “It’s only ever been us.”

Her hold eased, but now, Isla was curious amidst the terror. “What do you—”

Isla gasped, collapsing forward and narrowly missing falling onto Dhalia’s frame.

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