Chapter 22

“Look what we have here…”

The first man who stepped into the dining room couldn’t have been much older than Valentine. His hair was a deep brown, curly, cut closer to his head, but his eyes were the same—wells of darkness that sucked in the light. He was smiling, never moving those unblinking eyes from me as he walked in, and the others were the same.

Well, no, not all. One of them had eyes so light I could have sworn they were white.

The realization made my stomach twist and turn a million times. It was him, the dragon rider outside the window. I hadn’t made him up at all—it was him!

In his thirties, if I had to guess. Wet dark hair standing in all directions like he’d just walked out of the shower—or inside from the rain. From riding his damn dragon. Stubble covered his square jaws, but it didn’t hide his pale lips. They looked wet, too, but the jacket he had on, and his dark wash jeans were dry. He had big shoulders, bigger than the rest of them, and the looks of him, the colors on him, the deep contrast between his hair and fair skin and light grey eyes was so damn striking I couldn’t look away for a good moment. He was holding me hostage with his attention, until a hand on my arm pulled me back.

Valentine—and he was stepping in front of me as he stared at the others.

The others who all shared the same aura about them, vicious enough to send anybody running in the other direction.

The problem was, only walls were behind me and to the sides. I had nowhere to run, and my knees were already shaking.

“It’s her first day,” Valentine said through gritted teeth, widening his shoulders, standing a bit taller than a moment ago.

“Relax, little brother,” said the last guy to walk in with his hands in his pockets. I barely saw him, but he seemed to be the eldest of the bunch. Possibly fifty, with slightly silver hair around the temples, dark eyes and fair skin, absolutely flawless features. They were all so incredibly beautiful, in the way a lion is. To call them handsome would be an insult.

And I needed to stay as far away from them as possible.

“We’re only here to see our new guest,” the man continued, coming to stand right across from us on the other side of the table, his big hands grabbing the edges of a chair. “My, my, she’s a beauty. We haven’t had redheads since I can remember, have we?”

I begged the floor to open up and swallow me whole, take me anywhere but here. Anywhere at all.

The others smiled and laughed and nodded their heads, except the one with the light eyes. His jaws were locked, and his hands fisted as he looked at me, never moving an inch.

“Indeed, she is. They say they’re feisty,” said the one with the thick beard covering half his face. He was as tall as Valentine, his eyes brilliant opals and filled with so much raw lust as he looked at me that it took me by surprise. “Step aside, Valentine. Let us look at her.”

Oh, God…

“No,” Valentine said, his voice as dark as the certain death looming over my head. Now I was shaking from head to toe. “My dragon picked her. It’s her first day. I’m sure you know the rules.”

“I certainly do,” said the first guy, the eldest. “And I’m telling you, I need to see our bride-to-be without you hiding half of her from my view.”

My eyes squeezed shut. Bride-to-be.

No, no, no, no, no.I slowly moved even farther behind Valentine and gripped the back of his shirt in my fists with all my strength. Bile rose up my throat, and I was thankful my stomach was empty because I’d have been throwing up all over his back by now.

“Leave, Romin,” Valentine said, and his voice was a goddamn growl. “You’ll see her tomorrow.”

The man laughed. “Look at you, all grown up and ready to defy your own already.”

“He makes me proud,” said another, but I didn’t see which one—I was still hiding behind Valentine, praying with all my being that these men left. That he was the only one in this room with me.

He—who was apparently these men’s brother. He—who had fangs and a dragon he’d sent to bite me and who’d told me to my face that my body belonged to him, and who’d brought me here without my consent while I was unconscious.

This guy. I was trusting this guy.

No.

I let go of his shirt and moved farther back.

“We know she’s yours, Valentine. We know it, we just want to have a look, that’s all. C’mon, Grey was desperate. Just let us take a peek,” said that first guy, and I could have sworn I felt the energy in Valentine’s body change. Become darker.

Please, please, please get me out of here…

“She’s scared,” said another. “Can you hear that little heart beating?”

“Oh, so scared. Yes, I smell her blood,” the eldest said—Romin was his name.

And I about pissed my fucking panties.

“I smell her fear, too. C’mon, step—” said the other, when Valentine took a step forward.

“Back. Off.” His voice was thicker still. “This is the last time I’ll ask you. Leave.”

A second of silence stretched to eternity. I had no choice but to look up. If they were going to come eat me right now, I wanted to fucking see it.

I knew it was coming. A fucking disaster was on the way, and you could tell by the way the light eyes of that man had darkened and were a bit bloodshot as he looked at me. He never moved his eyes from my face, not for a second, while the others were all focused on Valentine.

Then… “Very well,” the eldest suddenly said. “We’ll leave. Tomorrow will come soon enough.”

The three brothers moved back to the doors, except the one with the light eyes. He didn’t budge, still watching me like that, curious and impatient and pissed off—and a million other things I couldn’t name.

“Grey, come on. Let’s go,” the others called him.

Grey. His name matched those eyes perfectly. He lowered his head for a moment, then turned around and walked out without a word.

My eyes closed, but the image of him, of all of them remained with me. They had left, and I was still alive.

Hands on my shoulders. “Are you okay?” Valentine said.

I jumped back, almost slamming into a stand near the wall. “Don’t touch me,” I spit, angry, afraid, halfway surrendered to death already.

But Valentine wasn’t offended. “Sit,” he said instead, pointing at the chair he’d pulled out for me again.

The others were gone, the doors closed. Gone.

I shook my head. “No, I—” I’m leaving, I wanted to say, but he cut me off.

“Sit. Down.”

I had never felt more power in words than I did in that moment.

With my head down, I sat in the chair and stared at the empty plate while Valentine pushed me closer, then grabbed the black napkin from the table and put it on my lap.

He sat down at the head of the table, fixing his own napkin, his eyes on me, two orbs of endless black.

“We’re ready,” he then said, and he didn’t shout. He didn’t raise his voice at all.

I looked up at him for a second—what the hell did he mean? Ready for what?

But a door I hadn’t even noticed behind a large painting of a headless man opened. Someone was wheeling something toward us slowly—a man and a woman, both dressed in black, with smiles on their faces and red on their cheeks.

“Good morning, Master Valentine,” said the woman, who was older than the man, with a round face and deep brown eyes, silver hair wrapped in a bun at the base of her neck.

“Good morning, Master Valentine,” the man repeated like a robot, and he had kinder eyes, his face clean shaven, his smile genuine.

“Morning Aster, Vinny,” Valentine said, never looking away from me. “This is Autumn. Please make sure she’s well fed at all times. I’ll take some coffee.”

Silver domes on the cart. The man and woman immediately began to serve me.

“Please to meet you, Miss Autumn. I’m Aster,” said the woman. “Tell me, what kind of breakfast do you fancy? Sweet or salty? Maybe a bit sour?”

“Eggs are fine,” I muttered when I saw the scrambled eggs on one of the plates, the other full of croissants and waffles and pancakes.

“Very pleased, indeed,” said Vinny, as he came around and put a cup of coffee in front of Valentine, then turned to me. “What will it be for you, Miss? Coffee? Milk? Maybe some juice?”

“Coffee,” I whispered because it would be easier for him to get. Faster. Then they could leave, and I could be alone with Valentine again. He’d promised me answers and I was going to find out what the hell those men meant when they called me their bride-to-be even if it killed me.

It felt like hours until Aster and Vinny finally wheeled their cart away to that hidden door behind the strange portrait.

Silence.

“Wha—”

“Food first,” Valentine cut me off before I could utter a single word.

“I am not hungry,” I lied.

“Eat, Sunshine. Then, we talk.”

Leaning back in his chair, he grabbed his cup of coffee and played with it as he watched me, shamelessly, like he really did believe he owned me.

I had no choice but to sit there feeling naked under his gaze and eat with my hands still shaking until I was completely full.

His attention might bethe heaviest thing I’d ever carried on my shoulders. He just seemed so damn fascinated to watch me fucking chew.

I was sweatingby the time I finished eating, and only then did I think to push his jacket off my shoulders.

“It’s rude to watch people when they’re eating,” I said, taking a sip of the coffee, hoping it would give me some energy. Just like the food, it was absolutely delicious.

“Well, then it should be considered rude to look the way you do.”

I gave him a look. Did he read a book on the cheesiest pick-up lines ever?

“You promised me answers.”

“And I’ll give them to you,” he said, slowly putting his cup down on the table and resting his elbows on it. “I’ll give you everything you want, Sunshine. Ask for it and it’s yours.”

“Then I want to leave,” I said without missing a beat.

He flinched. “Everything except that.”

“So, not everything.” Leaning back on the chair, I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

“Everything else,” he insisted, already smiling a bit like he was back to being amused.

“Okay, Mr. Evernight. Okay, fine. How about you start by telling me what the hell this whole thing is? Because Mama Si obviously lied to me and Ennaris didn’t choose me to make me an Enchanted. So, tell me, what is this place, who are you, and what am I doing here?”

“Very well,” Valentine said. “I would rather listen to you talking, but I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

“I’m all ears.” The coffee was delicious, and the seat perfectly comfortable. I was ready to find out just how doomed I really was.

Valentine started.

“Not sure how much you know about Ennaris, but it used to be the eighth continent, one separate from the rest of the world, a land of magic and magical creatures, hidden away from humans. It was just a place like any other, a home, a safe haven for those with magical powers—until it was cursed by very dark, very powerful magic,” he said, looking at me from under his lashes, speaking slowly as if he wanted to see my reaction to each word separately. I gave him none, and I wasn’t going to. Not until I heard all of the story.

“The magic divided the continent into seven parts, known as the Seven Isles, and each kind of Enchanted who survived what we call the Fall of Ennaris made a home out of them,” he continued.

Goose bumps all over me—Fall of Ennaris. A memory flashed before my eyes, of Mama Si and Assa that day I first met them. Was thiswhy Mama Si had thought my name was fitting?

“The siren who created the curse was powerful, more powerful than her nine sisters, than any other creature in Ennaris. Nobody could kill her, but the sisters were able to stop her. They put her in a dormant state, something like an induced coma, created with a spell using the blood of a mortal man. A human.” At this point I was fifty percent sure he was fucking with me, but I said nothing. “And to keep the spell fueled with enough power to keep her under, that human’s descendants, his blood, must be in the Seven Isles at all times.”

I shook my head, closing my eyes for a moment, thankful that Valentine gave me a little pause.

“Three of the siren sisters died in battle.” Another memory flashed before my eyes—the statue of the fountain on the Paradise balcony that Amber had showed me. The story she’d told me about how they died saving the world….

Bile rose up my throat.

“The other six sisters took that man’s sons from the human world, brought them to Ennaris, and tied them to this place—to the Whispering Woods—forever.”

“Oh, my God…” I whispered, both terrified and in awe. The story was starting to actually make sense.

Valentine smiled a bit like that was exactly the reaction he’d expected. “Yes, those would be my ancestors. But in order to tie them to the Whispering Woods, the sirens had to change them. Alter their bodies. They basically played god with dark magic they didn’t fully understand, but it worked. It made us into what we are now.” Another bitter smile. “Unfortunately, it also made reproduction very, very difficult, and only possible with human women.” A lump the size of my fist had formed in my throat. Valentine looked up at me and I saw the sorry in his eyes. Not sure if it was for me or for himself, but it made no difference either way.

“So now every year the Isles offer us human women to choose from, and our dragons decide the most compatible blood with ours, so we can have offspring and continue the bloodline indefinitely because without it…”

“The siren will no longer be dormant,” I finished absentmindedly, eyes on the table though I didn’t really see anything.

“Exactly,” Valentine said. “And if she awakens again, she will destroy Ennaris completely.”

My stomach twisted and turned, and I regretted having eaten that food because it was trying to climb right out of my mouth again. I shook my head, my vision blurry—I must have had tears pooling in my eyes, though I didn’t really feel them.

“Breathe, Sunshine,” said Valentine from my side, but I barely heard him.

Because sense. This whole fucking thing was starting to make sense, and now I didn’t want it to. I didn’t want to understand. I wanted everything to be confusing and senseless again. Mysterious. Scary—anything but this.

“So that means I’m…I…I’m…” I couldn’t fucking speak.

“That means my dragon tasted your blood when he bit you, and it is most likely to be compatible with us,” Valentine said, and it was so, so hard to breathe. “That means you, out of the five offerings brought to us this year, are most likely to be able to carry the child of one of us.”

I’d have been running by now if my legs could carry me. “One of you?” He meant him and the other men who’d looked at me like they were going to eat me?!

“We won’t know for sure which until the Blood Call, but it’s me. You’re mine—I know it.” And he leaned toward me, touching my cheek with the back of his fingers. I was too numb to even feel it. “You belong to me, Sunshine.”

“No.” I could see it in his eyes—he meant it. My God, he actually believed his own words.

“I will take care of you, I promise. I’ll keep you safe. Even before the Blood Call?—”

“Whatthe hell is the Blood Call?!” I shouted, but I couldn’t really produce much voice if I tried in those moments.

Valentine took his hand back, and he had the audacity to look disappointed.

“From the moment you step into the Whispering Woods, the second part of the spell is activated. The magic prepares your body for us, in a way. You start to really become Enchanted, and when your blood is ready, it calls for us. It calls for all of us, me and my brothers, and then it chooses one of us.”

Bride-to-be. Those guys hadn’t been kidding at all—they really believed that I was going to be theirs. I was going to be the bride of one of them. I was going to be used to bear their fucking children—you’ve got to be fucking shitting me! I shouted in my mind.

“Sunshine, look at me,” Valentine said, but even when I did, I couldn’t really see him.

“They…they’re gonna…they’re gonna fucking kill me.” I saw it in their eyes—his brothers looked hungry. I saw it myself. I felt it—especially the one they’d called Grey.

“No, they won’t. Nobody’s going to kill you,” he insisted. “Nobody’s going to hurt you, I promise you. Your blood will choose me, I know it. You’re mine.”

You’re mine, you’re mine, you’re mine—he said it like it was a good thing. Like I should be glad for it. Like I should be relieved!

I shook my head and blinked the tears away until I actually saw his face, those wide eyes, the desperation reflecting in them. “But you’re just like them.” He was their little brother, wasn’t he? They were brothers.

When my words made sense to him, he paused, and after a second, he leaned back in his chair like it just occurred to him. Like he’d just remembered that those men were indeed his family.

Suddenly, he looked just as torn as I was. Suddenly, he looked like he hated the skin he wore just as much as I did.

I was tempted to laugh. How dare he sit here with me and claim me and call me his when he knew exactly what I was?

Nothing but a piece of meat. Someone he or his brothers were going to try to get fucking pregnant.

Oh, God…

“Are you…are you a vampire?” I choked. I’d seen those fangs, and I needed to know. I needed to confirm it before I lost my mind for real.

Valentine didn’t look at me, only said, “Yes, that’s what they call us. That’s what the magic of the sirens made us.”

I laughed.

I laughed and it came out like a scream. “So, what, you’re going to be biting me now? You’re going to be taking my blood whenever you please, is that it? I’ll be like your own personal blood vending machine?!”

Somehow, I was on my feet. Somehow my legs were holding me, and I was walking. No idea where I was going, but I was moving.

“Sunshine,” Valentine said, and I snapped.

“Don’t call me that! Don’t call me that—it’s not my name!”

Doors in front of me and I pushed them open. I waked out into the hallway and I hardly saw anything, but again, I was moving.

If someone followed me, I had no clue, but Valentine didn’t call me Sunshine again. He wasn’t there at all when I turned around to look, and then a wall was suddenly in front of me, and I bumped my shoulder on the corner, and it hurt so much. It hurt—everything hurt.

Now knowing where I was or where to go, I found the darkest corner around me and sat in it, wrapped my arms around my head and willed myself to disappear. To just not be anymore.

It didn’t work.