Chapter 14

Fourteen

I tried to breathe, but it was so difficult to do when I had a nose now. I had a throat and lungs and a heart that was beating everywhere, and a body that was shaking so badly.

I had a body to feel with and eyes full of tears and a voice—and I could hardly recognize it. I could hardly recognize my sharp intakes of breath and the small screams I let out involuntarily in between.

"It's okay, baby. You're okay," Grey kept saying, his arm under me, his hand on my cheek, his lips right over me. "You're okay. It's okay…"

But it wasn't. Nothing was okay, nothing at all. The images played in my head, and I wanted to throw up but couldn't and I wanted to pass out but couldn't and I wanted to forget—but instead I remembered every single detail.

The siren sisters and their blue magic slipping inside Syra's body.

The blood coming out of her.

The way she screamed.

" That's the real story for you, lovely," said Syra now, and she was close, too close. Even Grey was surprised, which was why he took me in his arms and stood up to back away, wings spread, fangs extended.

"Stay the fuck away from us!" he shouted at her, but Syra couldn't care less. She ignored him and looked at me, at my wide eyes and open mouth, smiling because she knew. She knew exactly what I'd seen, what she'd showed me.

"They took everything from me because they were jealous. Because I found a way to live without eating human flesh, and they didn't dare to try to do the same."

"Oh, God," I choked because it couldn't be. The story she told me, the one I'd heard before—all of it was starting to come together, to make a little bit of sense, and I couldn't take it.

"Fall, are you okay?" Grey whispered, backing away toward Storm slowly, but it didn't matter, did it?

"I am," I told him and touched his cheek. "Put me down."

"No, we?—"

"It's okay, Grey. Put me down." Because even if he tried to fly us away, we wouldn't make it. She would never let us leave.

My feet touched the ground, but he held me by the waist still, and I was thankful for it. My legs couldn't carry me just yet.

"You were…you were…" I couldn't say it. I couldn't fucking say the word out loud.

"Pregnant, yes," Syra said, and it was like I was seeing the entire scene all over again. That beach—that fucking beach. And those sirens. All that blood…

Even Grey who was behind me, holding me up, went perfectly still, muscles locked in place.

"What?" he said, just as shocked as I had been. As shocked as I still was.

"I was pregnant, expecting Hansil's child." Her beautiful eyes filled with tears again, but this time she didn't let them shed. Instead, she brought her hands to her stomach and hugged it, just like she had done on that beach. Her voice shook when she said, "There are other ways to give magic to Ennaris, not only by eating flesh. That was the most convenient way for sirens because flesh tastes so good to us and it's so much easier to manage. But if we fall in love and bear children, the magic grows naturally. An infant siren holds the magic of an entire land in a tiny body, which she then lets off into the world as she grows," she said. "That's what our baby was going to do."

I shook my head again and again and again…

"But falling in love is hard and risky and it requires giving up power and control—not something my sisters were interested in—or worthy of. So, naturally, they hated me for wanting to live differently. They couldn't stand to see that Hansil loved me despite who I had been and what I'd done. He loved me, and they couldn't accept it." Her hands pulled into fists and they were shaking now, but she didn't stop. "So, they killed my baby while she was only just created mere weeks before. They killed her and they killed my Hansil." Again, her voice broke. "They took everything from me."

And now her desperation, her rage made so much more sense.

"Then make them pay," Grey said because he still didn't see it.

Make them pay, as if that was going to change things now.

Tears slipped from my eyes as I looked at my body, at his hands over my stomach, where he held me on my feet.

God, the way it hurt…

"Well, I was going to kill all of them, but now I don't think I have to," Syra said. "Like I said, the universe has returned everything that was taken from me." She raised her index finger toward us and smiled and looked down at my body…

" You , Hansil. And your baby boy that is going to be mine forever."

If somebody had stabbed me through the heart it would have hurt less.

"I don't have a baby boy," Grey said, and he knew what Syra was saying, he knew very well. But he was still refusing to accept it.

"But you will. He's growing in her belly— how wonderful !" She laughed. "Just like my baby was growing in mine."

My legs let go of me and Grey caught me in his arms before I hit the ground.

No, no, no, no —I said it to myself a million times until the word was all I saw and heard and knew. I lost sight of the world around me, of Syra and Grey and everything else because the more I understood, the faster the darkness pulled me under.

All that power that had been inside me since Grey.

All that magic, that chaos that slipped from my hands every time I unleashed it.

Suddenly Genevieve's face came before my eyes. You can't imagine the power that comes with bearing an Evernight.

God, it was so hard to breathe, even though I was lying down and Grey was holding me, telling me that I was going to be okay. Even though Syra was still there, talking, laughing— happy.

A baby.

A baby was growing in my belly.

All that magic she'd grabbed me with—all that fucking magic. It hadn't killed me because I was pregnant with Grey's baby.

"Look at me, Fall. Breathe. Please, breathe," Grey repeated over and over again, his face in front of mine, his hand on my cheek. It was easy to cling to his voice now that that thought had taken root in my mind, now that I'd put that feeling into words. Pregnant, pregnant, pregnant —it echoed in my head.

And now I wanted to drown it out until I heard my own thoughts again.

Grey's wide eyes were in front of mine, and he was pale as a ghost and he was terrified. My beautiful Grey—terrified, panicked, in disbelief.

"She'll be staying here for now, until she's ready," Syra said, and when Grey looked up at her, I saw her, too. I saw her hair, falling to her knees. Her dress. Her hands.

The blood that had come out of her all over the beach…

They'd killed her baby. With that blue magic, her sisters had really killed her baby.

"Ready for what?" Grey spit, and he sounded so different from normal.

But Syra smiled. "You'll see."

"You'll have to kill me before you lay a finger on her," Grey said, wings spread and Storm roaring behind him, a clear threat that Syra ignored even though the strength of the roar pushed her hair behind her shoulders.

"I won't lay a finger on her, don't you worry about it, handsome. For now, she'll need to sleep well and eat well and?—"

"Well, finally, you figure it out."

My heart stopped beating completely when Valentine's voice filled my ears, and Syra and Grey turned to the side, toward the trees where his voice had come from.

Grey pulled me to sit up because I still couldn't move as well as I needed to, and I found Valentine leaning against a trunk with his arms crossed in front of him, and Shadow sitting quietly on his shoulder.

"Oh!" Syra said, bringing her hands to her chest. "And who might this handsome young man be?"

I shook my head, eyes on Valentine, but he was looking at Syra.

"Valentine Evernight, at your service," he said with a deep bow. "I'm basically the reason you're here. I ruined the spell that kept you under. I gave my blood to awaken you. I attacked your sister Sedelis before she could complete that spell to strip you off your powers and gave you the time you needed to get yourself together again—I'm that guy."

"Ah, yes, yes," Syra said, moving toward him slowly. "I do remember you."

"I'm also the guy who signaled you at Witches' Wing to warn you about her. I actually brought her here myself." And he nodded his head toward me.

If I didn't pass out in those moments, I never would.

"You fucking?—"

" Stop ," I whispered to Grey when he growled deep in his throat, and he was about to let go of me and go pull Valentine's head off his shoulders completely.

I wanted to see it. My God, I wanted to see that happen so badly, but if Grey let me go now, I'd fall. I'd lose it and I still wanted to witness just how well Valentine Evernight dug my grave for me one last time and put me down with his own hands.

"Really…" Syra whispered, her voice trailing off, eyes squinted as she turned to look at me for a second, then at Valentine again. "But I didn't receive a signal from you—only from my golems."

Valentine raised a brow. "You didn't see my dragon?" Syra shook her head, but Valentine wasn't fazed. He shrugged. "I sent him for you, but he did say you were incredibly fast."

The way the smile widened on Syra's face terrified me, though she remained silent.

Valentine, what the hell are you doing?!

I couldn't say the words out loud if I tried.

"I knew there was something about her that could benefit you," he then continued. "Incredibly strong much too soon after the Blood Call. Very hard to detect, not to mention her scent changed. Became"— he rubbed his fingers together as he searched for the word—" sweeter ."

I didn't know whether I wanted to laugh or fucking cry.

"I'll admit, I didn't think it was pregnancy, but I was right, wasn't I? It serves you, apparently." And he slowly walked onto the stone plaque, coming closer to Syra.

"It does, indeed," Syra said, turning to us again. I held onto Grey's hand with all my strength, and he put his arm around my shoulders because he could tell I was about to fall to the ground again.

So many things ran through my mind at the same second. So many possibilities, and despite everything I'd witnessed until today, a part of me still didn't want to believe that Valentine was this —pure evil. A part of me still wanted to believe that he was just lying to Syra, that he was bluffing. That he was trying to distract her before he told us to run, fly away. He was going to attack her any second now and he was going to let us go.

Yes, a part of me still believed Valentine to be good at heart.

He wasn't.

"I'm happy to hear it," he said with another deep bow of his head, the corner of his lips turned up in a wicked smile. His clothes were a bit dirty, but he was perfectly intact, not a sign of how his body had been twisted when I left him on the ground by the bridge earlier.

I should have killed him—and the thought made me laugh for two reasons. One, because I'd felt sorry when I attacked him. Sorry.

And two, because whatever bad thing happened in my life, I always came to the conclusion that it all could have been avoided if only Valentine Evernight had died first.

"Very well, then," Syra said, folding her hands in front of her, and the smile she had on when she looked at me would fool anyone into thinking she was a goddamn angel, the epitome of goodness—not the devil herself. "I do need a bit of help with figuring out the politics of these Isles and what my sisters have done to the people. I've been trying to use my third eye, but it's just too much bother." And she waved her hand. "You'll teach me about today's world. Yes, you'll do just fine, Valentine."

"It will be an honor," he said, and I almost screamed in frustration. I almost screamed at him to get himself together, to see what the hell he was doing—this was Syra, the same siren who'd ruined Ennaris!

But then again, he knew that better than me. Just like he said, he'd been the one to awaken her in the first place.

"I'll arrange a room for my new guest close to ours, Hansil," Syra said to Grey, who couldn't look away from his little brother at all. "I'll take her myself. You don't have to bother."

"May I?" said Valentine, and I couldn't help myself anymore.

"You're a fucking snake," I told him. "You're a coward, Valentine. You're worse than her ." Syra had had a reason for what she'd done, but him ? He was just plain bad.

And Valentine looked at me, not a hint of guilt or remorse or anything reflecting in his eyes. "I am what I need to be. I'm alive, aren't I? And you're going to die soon." He made a point of looking at my body, then at Grey, with his brows raised. He felt superior to us and he wanted us to see it.

The sad thing was, he was right to feel superior to me—I'd been the fool who'd believed him over and over again. I'd been the fool who hadn't killed him while we were still in the Whispering Woods and here on the Eighth Isle, too.

Grey squeezed me to his chest and kissed my head. "I love you, een aeva," he whispered in my ear, barely moving his lips, and I doubted even Syra could hear it.

But I knew exactly what he was going to do. He was going to attack Valentine, hopefully even manage to kill him before Syra stopped him, and as much as I wanted to tell him no , to keep him there with me, I didn't.

There was no telling how much more damage that man could do—and by Syra's side? He was way too dangerous.

So, I bit my tongue and I kept my eyes on Valentine as he looked at us like nothing at all bothered him.

"Rot in hell," I told him, and I wished it with all my heart.

Grey jumped at him with his wings spread at the same time.

Storm roared and he was flying over our heads, and Shadow was screeching that awful sound, too, when Grey slammed Valentine against the ground.

I jumped to my feet, ready to release my magic, too—at Syra, at Valentine, at Shadow, anyone at all, but…

"Oh, for fins' sake— enough! "

The siren spread her arms to the sides.

Magic burst out of her, raw and unforgiving.

The world stopped spinning, and everything went dark.