The Edge of Darkness
Isla’s head snapped up, her silver eyes blazing with fury and anguish. “You took them,” she growled, her voice shaking. “You’re the one who abandoned them.”
Eira tilted her head, her lips curling into a cruel smile. “All I’ve done is protect them—from you. From your weakness, your sentimentality. They’ll be stronger without you.”
The words hit Isla like a physical blow, but her rage burned hotter than her grief. Silver light began to seep from her skin, the air around her crackling with energy as her power reignited.
“You don’t understand a thing about strength,” Isla said, her voice low and deadly. She pushed herself to her feet, her body trembling with effort. “You think this will break me? You think I’ll stop?” Her light flared, illuminating the room with a blinding brilliance. “I’ll find them, Eira. I’ll bring them back. And I’ll make you pay for this.”
Eira’s smirk faltered for a brief moment, her silver eyes narrowing. “Good luck,” she said, her voice dripping with condescension. “You’ll need it.”
With a sharp motion, she turned and vanished into a plume of shadows, leaving Isla alone in the ruins. The silence that followed was deafening, broken only by Isla’s shallow, ragged breathing.
The remains of the fortress were eerily quiet, the oppressive energy of Eira’s magic lingering like a suffocating fog. Isla stood amid the wreckage, her shoulders slumped under the crushing weight of loss. The twins’ absence was a gaping wound, raw and unrelenting, and the memory of their cries echoed in her mind like a haunting melody.
Behind her, the walls groaned under the strain of the earlier battle. Jamie appeared from the shadows, his gray eyes filled with grief as he took in the scene. “Isla,” he said softly, stepping closer. “The others are regrouping. We need to leave before this place collapses.”
But Isla didn’t move. Her silver eyes were fixed on the spot where the portal had disappeared, her expression hardened by resolve. “She thinks this is the end,” she said, her voice low and bitter. “But it’s not.”
Jamie hesitated, his heart aching at the sight of her pain. “We’ll find them,” he said gently. “You have my word.”
Isla turned to face him, her eyes blazing with a dangerous determination. “I’ll tear the realms apart if I have to,” she said, her voice sharp as steel. “I’ll search every shadow, every corner of this world and the next. They’re mine, Jamie. And I’ll bring them home.”
