Crowntide by Alex Aster - 4

Isla Crown felt the force of this world in her teeth. The moment she and Lark were through the portal, she used all her abilities and every shred of power from the god-bone she had used to carve a skyre over her heart to seal it closed. Then, she hit the ground with a bone-breaking crash.

Only her father’s armor, made of unmatched metal and fashioned by the blacksmith, had kept her in one piece. Sand scraped against her lungs, and she coughed, then sucked in putrid air, her ribs rattling as she attempted to breathe steadily. Finally, she retched.

Her throat burned with acid . It took several moments to blink away the fog over her vision, like a smear of tar, but then her senses sharpened as she looked up.

The sky .

It was a glorious swirling of color, mixing like paint to form shades she hadn’t ever seen before. It was beautiful—like a sun had smeared itself across the sky. A band of silver threaded through it, sparkling like melted down stars.

She finally lowered her gaze, taking in the rest of the world before her. Her heart dropped. Panic seeped through her veins.

This world . . . It was not the one she had imagined.

There was nothing here. Nothing but ash spreading in waves in front of her as far as the eye could see. It felt almost like sand, but it was a dull silver, mixed with black, like she had landed in the middle of a shredded nighttime sky.

The last few moments slammed into her with full force.

Lark .

Isla whirled around and found her ancestor there, in the ash, convulsing and screeching. Her body had been torn open by the journey, but Isla watched as her ancestor’s skin began slowly stitching together again—although noticeably slower than she had on Lightlark. The two sides of her split chest didn’t completely meet, but she managed to finally take a shaking breath.

Lark had funneled power from this place, through the storms. Isla had assumed her ancestor’s abilities would be heightened here, but they weren’t. This was her chance to end Lark once and for all. Isla rushed at her, then nearly collapsed, her strength drained to the dregs from opening and closing that portal. But there was something else. Something strange about this place.

This world . . . it was like a vise upon her bones, a second gravity, a weight on her mind and energy.

Her powers. She reached for them and found only the thinnest shreds. Something was blocking her abilities.

On instinct, she reached for the diamond between her collarbones, but, of course, nothing happened.

How was she going to defeat Cronan without her abilities? How was she going to bring back everyone she had killed? How was she going to save her own life, and Grim’s, after he bound his to hers?

She didn’t have much time. The augur said her limited life-force would only last until the end of winter. That was just days away.

The power that once could have saved her life was clearly gone. This was a world of ashes and ruin.

“You idiot,” Lark managed to say, even with her chest still gaping open.

Then the sand beneath them began to shift, razing her bare skin as it turned into ropes and chains.