Chapter 19

Nineteen

Storm's fire had done nothing to her at all. Syra was laughing as she rose to her feet, her hair floating around her head with the intensity of the magic that was leaking from her skin, her eyes two orbs of darkness when she raised her hands.

" Grey!" I shouted because he was right in front of her, and I ran to get between them, even knowing I wouldn't be fast enough.

I wasn't.

Syra's magic had already picked him up and he was flying in the air, no control over his body, before he fell to the ground a few feet from Valentine, opening a hole twice as deep.

I was screaming when I slammed onto Syra and released my magic, wanting to wrestle her to the ground, keep her there to give Grey enough time to recover.

Except I kept overestimating my strength when it came to Syra. Because I wrapped my arms around her tightly, and I tried to knock her to the ground, but she didn't budge. Instead, she put her arms around me, too, and she held me there, squeezed me to her chest like she'd fucking missed me, then whispered in my ear, " You're adorable. "

Magic everywhere.

I could hardly breathe from the intensity of it as she moved away, while I was paralyzed again. I could only watch as she pulled me up until my feet no longer touched the ground, and she moved me back to the center of that circle with such ease it should have been impossible.

Storm had gone closer to Grey, to where he was struggling to get out of that hole in the ground, and Valentine was already getting back to himself, too.

"Rise, Valentine," ordered Syra again, and he did. That same invisible force that was keeping me motionless pulled him up to his feet and fixed his body, turned his arms forward again, and his forehead wasn't dented in anymore two seconds in. He looked in pain as he rubbed his neck, looking at me like he was mad. Like he was incredulous that I'd dare to attack him.

"Syra, we're not ready," Valentine said, finally turning away from me.

"No, no, we are. I'm all out of patience," she spit, angry now. "They're lucky I can't break my oath yet. Otherwise, I'd have made an example out of both of them."

"But we're not ready for that ritual yet. We still have preparations to make," Valentine insisted. "We still don't know what to expect afterward."

And I wanted to shout, what ritual? What the hell are you going to do to me?!

But my vocal cords didn't work anymore, apparently, because I couldn't even scream at her face.

"It doesn't matter. I might need some time to recover, but I am doing this tonight. No more giving this ungrateful little maggot time." She hissed at me—literally hissed at me. "I'm ready."

"But—" Valentine started, but she wouldn't even hear it.

"You'll be fine to handle all my projects for a couple days, V. Don't annoy me. Stand in position—and where is your Ruit?"

Valentine clamped his mouth shut and looked up at the dark sky.

A second ticked by.

" Where is he?!" Syra demanded in a low growl, her eyes to the sky, too.

A second later, Shadow landed on Valentine's shoulder. "He's here," he whispered reluctantly.

What the hell?

"Good. We're ready. Stand in front of me just like I taught you."

Valentine moved. "Grey will attack again once he makes it to his feet," he said.

"No, he won't," Syra said, and she turned to Grey for just a split second.

Sure enough, he was already limping his way toward us, eyes on me, an outraged and helpless look on his dirty, bloody face.

I tried to call for him with every ounce of energy in me, but it didn't work. I tried to warn him— move! Get out of the way! Fly!

Not a sound left me, and Grey wouldn't stop coming. He jumped in the air and his wings exploded on his back once more, and he charged for Syra with his fangs extended and his jaws open—and then she blew him a kiss.

A fucking deadly kiss that wrapped around Grey and turned him off . That's the only way I could describe it—he was turned off within the second, wings folded on his back, fangs withdrawn, eyes closed, his body perfectly motionless when he fell to the ground again.

Asleep, just like that. No longer even able to hear what was happening here.

"There," Syra said and turned to me. "I shouldn't have to deal with this nonsense at this point, should I? I'm starting to think he's not well in the head— why do they insist on resisting me still?!"

This, she asked Valentine. And he opened his mouth to speak, but she wasn't interested in an answer, so she didn't let him.

"Now, turn around and connect with your Ruit. Let's get started. I've waited enough—and what did my patience get me?!" Again, she wasn't waiting for an answer, she just began to whisper senseless words under her breath the way one mutters curses.

Then Valentine was in front of me, and we were face-to-face the way we'd been many times before. God, I wanted to get out of my skin completely just to be away from him—him and Shadow, sitting on his shoulder like always, his thin, long tail wrapped around his neck three times.

Valentine looked terrified when our eyes locked. He looked so afraid, like he knew that something really, really bad was about to happen.

Like he knew for a fact that I was going to die.

And I couldn't even move my lips to tell him to stop. Just stop and remember the things he said to me. All those words, all the promises he made me. Where were they now? How could he be so fucking cruel?!

But it made no difference whether I spoke or not. It made no difference even if he decided to change his mind right now. Syra was standing right behind him, and Grey was still on the ground, motionless, and Storm was still pacing on the other side of him, roaring constantly, but I didn't even hear him anymore.

Then Valentine put his hands on my cheeks.

"Keep him in check. Remember what I taught you," Syra said, and I barely saw her one eye as she looked at Shadow sitting on Valentine's shoulder.

Valentine said nothing, only leaned closer to me and I still couldn't move a single inch. And when Syra began to chant under her breath, and magic rose in the air, making it thick, all I did was watch.

Look at me.

My eyes snapped on Valentine and I read the words on his lips even though he didn't make a single sound.

You will be fine, Sunshine, he told me, again, only moving his lips slowly, never speaking, or even whispering. Just keep your eyes on me.

I didn't really get to decide whether he was messing with me or whether I wanted to keep looking at him at all. The pain began the next second.

Not in me, no—in him at first.

His teeth gritted and he dug his fingers in my cheeks and then Shadow was roaring that screeching sound, too, as if something was hurting him. Something was hurting both of them from the inside.

Grey! I shouted in my mind, just as I began to feel it, too.

Crippling pain slipped inside me in waves from where Valentine's skin connected with mine. It was like invisible fire burned me and spread incredibly fast through the rest of my body, and even though my mouth was wide open, I couldn't scream. Even though my soul was thrashing, I couldn't move a single inch.

Valentine's face turned to a blur, and the last thing I saw was how Shadow was shaking on his shoulder, how he was trying to unwrap his tail from around Valentine's neck but couldn't. Ruit, Syra called him, and whatever she was doing to him right now it was painful. Painful for the little dragon, just as much as it was painful for me.

I passed out.

Darkness surrounded me on all sides, and I would have been thankful for it. I didn't want to see what more Syra had planned, how much more excruciating pain Valentine could cause me with those hands. I didn't want to know what happened next—to Grey and to Storm and to Syra—I didn't want to fucking know anything. I just wanted it to be over.

Except I still felt that pain. I still heard the words that Syra chanted in my mind as if she was whispering them right into my ear. I still felt Grey's pain and Storm's roars, and I still understood the warmth that was gathering inside me, right in my gut.

It was different from my magic. The intensity could have been the same, but the feel of it was different. Foreign magic. One that did not belong to my body at all.

For a moment, the image of those four siren sisters kneeling around Syra on the beach, hands on her stomach as they produced that blue light, took over my mind.

They'd killed her child in her womb—a she, Syra said. They'd killed her baby girl right there on that beach, while the other sisters ate Hansil.

Was Syra trying to do the same to me? Was she going to kill the baby in my womb?

The thought made me rage. It was like yet another force climbing up inside me, filling up my every cell, and it was about to explode and ruin this entire fucking Isle. I'd never felt anything like it before, and it came from deep inside me, from my very soul. It gave me voice. It gave me my movement back, and before I knew it, I was screaming.

My own voice filled my head, chasing away Syra's chanting, and my arms were moving, too. The darkness was retreating the longer I screamed, leaving way for my surroundings until I finally saw again.

Until I saw Valentine on his knees in front of me, and Shadow on the ground with his wings spread right by my feet, motionless. Until I saw Syra standing naked still behind Valentine, looking at me and smiling, blood dripping from both her nostrils, and the corner of her lips.

Until I saw Grey was being pulled to his feet by Storm's talons, even though he could barely stand.

Then Syra laughed again, and it was straight from the heart.

I could move now. No more magic held me back, and I was going to run to Grey, except the moment I tried to take a step forward, I realized my legs weren't strong enough to carry me. I fell to my knees in front of Valentine and was surprised to find I could barely keep my balance. I swayed to the sides and almost fell all the way to the ground—like Shadow, whose eyes were half open and his tail was twitching to the sides uncontrollably.

Shadow, who was dying .

My hand shook as I reached out to touch his small chest.

"Sh-Sh-Shadow," I choked because I couldn't stand the sight of him like that. I couldn't stand to see him shaking, unable to move properly, his eyes unblinking.

Then Valentine raised his head, and it was a miracle I didn't scream. He looked like a goddamn corpse—skin white , not pale. Eyes black, the skin around them bruised a deep purple. His fangs extended and his lips dry, like someone had sucked the life right out of him. Blood came out his nose, too, and…he smiled.

Those lifeless eyes took in my face, and the asshole smiled.

"What have you done?" I whispered, raising my hands to his face because it was still Valentine. God, whatever the fuck was wrong with me, this was Valentine, and I'd loved him once. I couldn't seem to shake that stupid feeling even now. Even after everything.

And he whispered, "Sunshine. "

That's all. That's all he said.

In the next moment, everything changed.

"Hello, Syra, sister dearest."

Valentine collapsed to the ground on his side, and Shadow was moving his wings now, too. Grey was on his feet, and Storm was no longer roaring, and Syra…

Syra was shocked as she turned to the side, toward the dark trees where the moonlight didn't reach, to see a figure slowly reveal herself as she walked so gracefully.

It was a face I knew well, even though I'd only seen her a handful of times. Raxae, one of the five remaining siren sisters—and she was not alone.

Slowly, one by one, the other sirens came into view, naked, their wet hair sticking to their skins that no longer looked grey and lifeless. No, they looked even better than that night at the Evernight castle, so much closer to how they used to be before. They were not hiding behind any magic, and they'd gained weight, and their eyes had more color, and their hair was thicker, too.

They'd been healing, just like the rest of the Seven Isles since the curse was undone.

And now they were here.

Syra moved back, smiling and shaking her head as she wiped the blood off her face with the back of her hand.

"Let me guess—you were watching, weren't you," said Syra, and I began to crawl on all fours toward Grey, who was limping his way to me.

"Guess again," said whom I thought was Andya, even though I wasn't looking at the sisters anymore.

My eyes were on Grey, and he was right there. My God, he was three feet away from me and the thought of being in his arms gave me enough energy to push myself to my feet, until finally his hand was in mine. Until finally we were face-to-face.

"You're okay," Grey whispered, looking me over.

"We have to go," I choked, urging him to move back, closer to where Storm was waiting on all fours, ready to launch at the sky with Grey's command, but…

"Oh, no!" Syra cried out before she burst out laughing, and I had no choice but to turn to her. " Him?! " she shouted. "It was him—my sweet, sweet Valentine?!"

My heart fell all the way to my heels. I looked at where Valentine was lying on his side on the ground, and Shadow was pushing himself to stand, too, holding onto Valentine's hair with his small talons.

"I should have known!" Syra continued, still laughing. "I should have known that nobody can be trusted."

I looked up at Grey—was he hearing what I was hearing?

"So, then what was the plan? You thought you could just barge in here and kill me? Really?" said Syra, not a hint of fear anywhere on her as she paraded naked in front of her sisters, ignoring us completely. Ignoring Valentine, too, who wasn't moving at all.

Was he dead?

The thought terrified me just as much as when Syra laughed again.

"Well, yes. Pretty much," said Mea, nodding. "We were hoping to make it quick, too."

"We thought we had more time, to be honest," said Andya as she stepped away from the tree line and onto the engraved stone plaque on the ground. "We prepared this grand spell for you, sister dearest."

"But you were never the patient heart. Always in a rush, our Syra," said Oreinne, shaking her head as she looked at Syra lovingly.

"Oh, I do apologize for ruining your latest plan to kill me," Syra said, bringing both her hands to her chest. "Have past events not taught you anything, though? Each time you try to kill me, more of you die."

"Doesn't mean we'll ever stop trying," Raxae said with a shrug, completely unbothered, and all the sisters came out of the tree line together, spreading to the sides.

"You deserve to die for what you've done to Ennaris. The very land we were born to protect," said Andya, and Grey pulled at my hand, telling me to move back with him.

Except…my eyes went back to Valentine, and I could have sworn that his hand was moving. Just a bit, but it was moving. Shadow was already testing his wings, recovering from whatever Syra had tried to do to me through him. Through the both of them.

Had she succeeded, though? I looked down at my body, too—it had hurt. It had hurt a lot, her magic, but now I was fine. Shaken, and my limbs were weak, but I was gathering more strength by the minute.

Whatever Syra had tried to do, it must not have worked. There was no change and no blood dripping down between my legs. She hadn't killed the baby— my baby. I was still alive, and so was Grey.

"He'll be okay," he whispered in my ear as he pulled me back again. "Valentine will be okay, baby, but we need to get out while we can."

And he was right, of course he was. Syra was a mad woman, a psychopath, and she was no longer even focused on us. She wasn't our problem anymore—her sisters were here, and they were more equipped to handle her than we were, but…

Valentine was pushing himself to sit up, arms shaking, his head barely rising.

Somehow, in some fucked up way, these sirens claimed that he'd planned this. These sirens claimed that he'd spoken to them, had called them here—even when just a few days ago he was expressing his concern about them swimming around the Isle to Syra during breakfast.

Or had he been bluffing?

But then why had he signaled Syra tonight and hadn't let us leave, hadn't helped us get out of this place for good, and disappear?

Impossible to know for sure what went on in Valentine Evernight's head. Impossible to know just where his loyalties lay. But if there was a chance that he'd really arranged this, then how could we leave him behind?

"We have to take him with," I told Grey, and he flinched because he knew that's what I'd say. And he felt the same way—he would never forgive himself if he turned his back on Valentine now.

Because Syra would kill him. He wasn't strong enough to protect himself from her, or any of the other sirens. He would die.

Grey suddenly put his hand around the back of my head and kissed my lips for just a second. "Then I'll come back for him."

My heart jumped. "No—" But he wouldn't let me speak.

"Baby, there is no way in hell I'll risk your life again right now. I take you up there with Storm, and I'll come back for him." Another kiss. "That's non-negotiable."

I screamed when talons wrapped around me for the second time that night and took me up in the air. Storm was beating his wings furiously, and Grey had spread his, too, flying right below my feet as we went higher and higher until I saw all of that plaque on the ground, all the symbols in Faeish that were half hidden away by vines and grass.

And then Syra moved.

She'd been talking to her sisters, and though their voices were in my ear, I hadn't heard a word they said, too caught up on Grey and Valentine and surviving. But she moved both hands to the sky and magic spread around her with such ease and such speed it was impossible to see it coming.

Storm roared, and when he tried to push forward, he couldn't. His head slammed against an invisible barrier in the air.

"Nobody is going anywhere now," Syra said. "You will all pay."

My heart shattered into a million pieces as I watched Grey flying up with both his hands raised, but whatever shield was around us now threw him back and slammed him against the ground.

I screamed, and Storm went after him, letting me go when we were just two feet away. By then Grey was already standing, and so was Valentine. Shadow was trying to break through the magic, too, over our heads, and he kept bouncing against it, unable to do anything to it.

"Anywhere?" I asked, my voice shaking as Grey's wing wrapped halfway around me and we moved back closer to Storm, closer to the trees.

"No," Grey said. "She's created a dome around us. We can't break through."

I shook my head, eyes on Valentine, who was looking at the sisters, moving back as well as he could, trying not to fall. He could barely keep his balance.

"But you're weak," said Andya, and those words I did hear with clarity. Those words I prayed with all my heart were true.

"We can feel you, Syra. You're weak," said Mea.

"Your magic isn't infinite, even if it's more powerful than ours," said Raxae.

"All magic has its limits," Oreinne said. "And yours is about to meet them."

But Syra laughed. "With sisters like you, who needs enemies, right?" she said, shaking her head as she paced in front of them.

"Nobody in the world is worse than you, " Fessa spit, and I could have sworn her eyes were glistening, like she was holding back tears.

"Me?" said Syra, feigning surprise. "But I'm not the one who killed your unborn baby in your womb. I am not the one who ate the love of your life in front of you."

Bile rose up my throat, and the image she'd showed me came back in front of my eyes—Syra on the beach, bleeding between her legs, crying, shaking, while a half-eaten Hansil was by her side.

Hatred filled me to the brim—not for her, but for the others. For all the sirens who'd done this, who'd given a new definition to the word monster. Who were the epitome of raw cruelty—and wasn't it comical that I was looking at them to save us today? Wasn't it absolutely absurd that they were the only ones who could stop Syra now before she killed all of us?

"Whatever happens, stay by Storm," Grey whispered, wrapping his arm around my waist. "He'll know when the magic disappears and he'll take you out."

"No, Grey—I can't leave without you." I wouldn't leave without him. Never.

"Baby, I need to know you're safe. She's too powerful. I can't stop her from getting to you, but if Storm takes you away?—"

"Storm will take us both away," I told him, squeezing his arm. "Let's wait. We'll wait—the sisters could kill her."

"Unlikely," Grey whispered.

"But they said she's weak. Maybe she really is."

Grey gritted his teeth. "What did she do to you?"

"I don't know—nothing. It hurt for a while and then nothing. I'm fine, I don't feel any different." And there was definitely no blood coming out between my legs, so…

"Good," Grey said with a nod. "We'll figure out the rest. Just promise me you'll stay close to Storm."

But how could I promise him that when I knew that I wouldn't? "I promise I'll be the first to get on his back the moment we're free to go." And that I would do without hesitation. "I love you, Grey. Please don't die." If he did, all of it would have been for nothing. If he did, what the hell was I going to do with myself, even if I somehow survived?

Grey pulled me to his chest hard and whispered against my lips, "I won't. I'm not going anywhere." And he kissed me again. "I love you, my queen. And when this is over, I will spend every second of my life showing you just how much."

"Then I'll hold you to it." Grey had yet to make a promise he didn't keep, so I trusted that he'd keep this, too, with all my heart.

The next second, blinding blue light took my vision away completely, and the ground groaned and shook so violently, I'd have fallen if Grey's hand wasn't around mine.

I knew that it had already begun, but part of me didn't want to accept it. How absurd was it that I was locked in a dome with the siren sisters and Syra herself—and they were fighting one another barely twenty feet away from me?

Impossible, yet I was here, choking on air that was so full of magic it refused to go down my throat.

Then the light dimmed and faded away, leaving stars in my vision that took me more than a few tries to blink away. It took me more than a minute to be able to see again—to see five sirens surrounding Syra, attacking her with their magic from all sides, and her attacking them back as she defended herself with ease.

"I'm going to help them," Grey said. "Stand back, Fall."

My instinct was to tell him no, to grab his arm and keep him right there by my side. No way was he going close to Syra—she was insane.

But I also knew that this was the best chance we were going to get. I'd been praying for this very thing—for the sirens to come and at least try to stop their sister before it was too late, and now it was happening right in front of my eyes.

So, I swallowed hard and I told Grey," Please be careful."

Then I watched him spread his wings and fly closer to the sirens, his hands raised, his magic in the air slamming against Syra, too.

My own magic was firing up inside me, the need to do something taking my breath away. The smart thing would probably be to stand back and wait—I could do nothing against that siren anyway. And maybe I would have if I hadn't turned to look for Valentine, only to find that he had fallen to the ground again on his stomach, and he wasn't moving.

Stay away! said a voice in my head, but I ran forward anyway. Shadow was close to him, jumping and clawing at his hair, trying to get him to wake up, but he still wasn't moving.

"Valentine," I said, not bothering to keep it down because they weren't going to hear me anyway. The sound of their magic as it clashed against one another was enough to render anyone deaf if we stayed here long enough.

"Valentine, wake up!"

He didn't move still.

I fell on all fours and dragged myself closer until I reached his arm, grabbed him, and began to pull him back. "Help me, Shadow. Help me!" I said, but the dragon was way too small, and he was trying. Whatever Syra had done to him and Valentine, he'd recovered from it, but he still had no strength to pull Valentine up.

Then they began to fall.

A scream built up in me, and maybe I let it out, but I couldn't even hear it. The sirens began to fall all around Syra, some on the spot like someone had cut the strings on them, and some were thrown back into the air a few feet, then hit the ground violently. I looked for Grey, but he had his wings spread and he wasn't standing in one place but moving around Syra—who was enraged . I only caught a glimpse of her face, eyes red, blood coming out her nose and mouth still, her hair floating around her like a million snakes slithering in the air. She was spinning around and slamming her magic onto everyone on all sides, throwing her sisters off, chasing Grey with her hands, trying to catch him, too.

My God, she still hadn't even fallen to her knees. All that magic, all that light thrown at her, all that energy that had made the air so damn thick again, and she was still standing.

No matter, I told myself, and continued to drag Valentine, but he was so damn heavy. And I could hardly breathe through all that magic, too.

"Valentine!" I called again, shaking his shoulders, but he didn't even budge. Unconscious still— unconscious because he couldn't possibly be dead. Not after everything. I still had so much to talk to him about, to scream my guts out at his face for being so damn stupid and stubborn and just the most frustrating being I'd ever come across in my life. I had so much to tell him, and he couldn't die yet. Just…not yet.

But I couldn't carry him away right now, either.

"Goddamn it, you prick. You fucking prick!" I cried, eyes on Syra, on the way she kept throwing her sisters off—and Grey, too. He hit the invisible dome with his back near the trees when Syra's magic caught him. His skin was torn and blood was coming out of him, but he was wide awake and he was moving. He didn't even touch the ground at all before he shot for Syra again, wings spread and strong as they took him in the air.

For now, he was okay.

"Cut me," I told Shadow and tapped my wrist on my outstretched arm. "Cut me right there, Shadow."

He did.

The tip of his thin tail was like a blade made out of metal, and he moved it so fast I didn't even see it. I only felt the sting when it cut a horizontal line across my wrist, then saw the blood coming out rapidly.

"Thanks, asshole," I said through gritted teeth because it hurt like hell. Then I grabbed Valentine's hair with the other hand and turn his head as far as I could without breaking his neck. I pressed my bleeding wrist to his lips.

"Drink, Valentine. Take my blood. Drink !"

I had to pry his lips open with my fingers because he refused to move still. I had to push his jaw down and basically shove my entire wrist in his mouth. Then I held very still and prayed and hoped that he felt the taste of it and drank. That a drop slipped down his throat by itself, maybe. That he woke up.

Meanwhile, the sirens were still fighting Syra, and so was Grey.

They were losing.

It was easy to see that Syra was wounded. She was tired. She was weaker.

Except the others were more wounded, more tired, not nearly as strong as she was to begin with. The sirens were relentless, I'd give them that. No matter how many times she threw them against the ground, they stood up and they tried again, with their magic because they still couldn't get close enough to touch her physically, though Grey was trying. With his wings, he was trying to get closer, but every time he reached out to grab Syra, another burst of light would push him back a few feet, and then he'd use his wings to stop, to get closer again, and?—

Pain.

Red-hot pain shot up my arm so fast it took away the view of the world instantly. A cry escaped me even though I knew it was Valentine biting into my wrist. Even though I'd begged him to do just that until now, had practically shoved my wrist in his mouth hoping he'd take my blood—but I'd been so distracted by the fight. He'd taken me by surprise when he sank those fangs in me, but he was alive.

Fuck, Valentine was alive, and he was holding my wrist in his hand, and he was sucking blood out of me fast.

I resisted my instinct to move my arm away and gritted my teeth, giving him as much as he needed. But Valentine didn't stop, even when I began to feel a bit lightheaded. I had no idea how much he'd taken, and how much he needed, but I also knew that I couldn't pass out, not now. Storm was still waiting, pacing in a circle, frustrated to watch the fight but not engaging because Grey forbade him. He was to wait for the dome to give and take me out of here, and I might miss my opportunity if I wasn't conscious.

"Valentine, stop!"

I moved, fell back on my ass, and it was harder than I thought it would be to pry my wrist away from his mouth and hand. My skin tore from his fangs, but at that point my entire arm was numb, so I hardly felt it. Blood dripped down my palm and I pushed myself farther back, not really sure what to expect of Valentine when he woke up.

It was Valentine— anything was possible with him.

Finally, he stood up.

Blood smeared his lips and chin and fangs, and he looked me right in the eye as his tongue came out and licked them clean. His hair was all over the place and the right side of his face had been torn open, his cheek a bloody mess, but it was healing. At an incredible rate, it was healing right in front of my eyes, his skin knitting together, turning pink, and then paler and paler until only blood remained on him.

Valentine took a look back at the sirens and Grey fighting, at Storm growling deep in his throat as he waited and watched but couldn't participate, at Shadow, who climbed up to his shoulder and wrapped his tail around his neck…then me again.

His smile sent shivers down my back. "Your blood is something else, Sunshine," he said, pushing his hair back slowly.

I took another step back, closer to Storm, not really sure what the hell to say, when…

Valentine smiled brighter. "Are you afraid of me, Fall?"

Of course, I'm afraid of you! "No," I spit, and I was already feeling better the closer to Storm I was, even though the dragon was still focused on the fight.

"Sunshine," Valentine said, shaking his head as if to say, oh, no, you poor girl. And the next second, he moved so fast he basically materialized in front of me.

A miracle I didn't scream.

"You are not allowed to ever be afraid of me," the asshole said. "Do you understand that? Not allowed ."

And just like that, he irritated me enough that I really wasn't afraid of him anymore. "You're a goddamn bastard, you know that? Don't tell me what I'm allowed to do!"

He grinned. "That's better." I rolled my eyes, but he didn't let me speak. "Hush, Sunshine. I genuinely thought you were going to let me die—and just so we're clear, I wouldn't have held it against you."

"And you think I care if you would hold something against me?!" God, he was so damn frustrating I was starting to regret waking him up.

Not really, though.

"I wouldn't dare assume that, no," said Valentine, and even now, he was grinning.

"Valentine, they are?—"

"I know, I know," he said, raising his hands. "I'm getting to that. Your blood makes me incredibly strong, as I'm sure you realized, and I'm about to join the little fight going on there in a minute." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder just as Syra threw three of her sisters to the ground at the same time. Little wasn't the word I'd use to describe this at all.

"But there's something my brother will want to kill me extra slowly for—and so will you."

"I—wait, what?"

"Your magic," Valentine said, turning toward the fight. "I've been researching it. Your magic induces chaos. Not unheard of—witches used to have it in abundance back in the day. And if we have a chance against Syra, it will be through it." He looked at me again.

"I tried. It doesn't work against her," I said, even though what he said made sense. Induces chaos. That's exactly what my magic felt like.

"Not on its own, but she's weakened right now. And if you hit her when she's not paying attention…"

For a moment there, I saw it. I saw Syra surrounded by all of us, all that magic coming at her from all sides at the same time, and she couldn't really hold us all back forever, could she? Eventually, she was going to slip. She wasn't going to be careful—or she would just be too tired to act fast enough.

And I could hit her. If her body turned on itself the way Valentine's did when exposed to my magic, we actually had a chance to stab her in the heart. Cut her head off— no , cut her into a million pieces.

My God, it could actually really work .

"Sunshine, wait!"

I was running. Call me crazy but I was running toward the fight, moving to the right where Grey was still trying to get closer, and Storm roared at the top of his voice in frustration because he knew I was supposed to stay with him. To wait for the dome to disappear.

But I couldn't. Not when there was a chance I could help.

Grey's eyes fell on me for only a split second before Syra's magic hit him. It didn't take him to the ground because his wings helped him keep his balance. He was still standing, and so I turned to Syra again, and her body was glowing. So much light and magic, white magic, was coming out of her constantly that her skin was glowing with it now, and to see her face from closer up made my heart fall all the way to my heels.

I was less than ten feet away, and I had no choice but to stop for a second. In my mind, I saw the Syra she had been that day when she first ruined Ennaris, when she slammed her fist to the ground and unleashed her magic into it and ordered the entire continent to destroy itself.

She looked exactly like she had that day, and though there was more blood on her now than there had been then, her eyes were just as alive. Just as hateful.

For a moment, they locked on me.

She took the air out of my lungs with that look, held my heart prisoner and my thoughts at bay. I saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing but her—her pain, her rage, her power.

I had no idea how I knew or how I was able to separate her magic from that of the rest of the sirens—maybe because I'd gotten used to it without realizing it in the time I'd been trapped here? I don't know how I knew, but her magic was not what it used to be. It had weakened, indeed, just like her sisters claimed, and I felt it. I felt it fading more by the minute, even though her light shone just as bright still.

Then the world continued to spin, and raw magic hit her like an invisible fist to the face, throwing her head back. Breaking our eye contact.

"Fall, get back!" Grey shouted, just like I knew he would, and it was okay. He'd understand once it was over. He'd understand that it was worth risking everything to defeat her before it was too late for all of us.

So, I raised my hands, and I unleashed all the magic that was burning inside me at Syra.

It didn't work.

Whatever magic she was releasing at one of her sisters, it blocked mine and threw it off like it wasn't even there. Then we all watched as she, with both hands raised, took the siren off the ground—it was Mea, though her face was so torn and bloody I could hardly tell—and began to break her.

Mea's screams would remain in my mind forever. The bones in her body broke and we somehow heard it echoing all around us, and then she began to burn with that invisible fire, just like Sedelis had in the tomb mountain.

She turned to ashes right before our eyes as the others all screamed, too, as if they felt Mea's pain until she was no more. They screamed and they attacked Syra, and Grey was already coming closer to us, and Valentine shouted, " Now, Sunshine! " before he unleashed his own magic, too.

I obeyed.

No hope was left in me, but I raised my hands once more and I let out my magic the same as always, aimed at the light that was Syra's body. I could hardly see her face from the brightness of it, from the way it enveloped her, like her skin itself was the light. And I knew that my magic wasn't going to harm her, but I kept on releasing it, not a single burst but a constant stream, something I'd never even tried before. I was doing something, at least, not standing back and watching.

And the siren sisters were talking, screaming. Though it was a language I didn't understand—probably Faeish—it felt like they were giving one another instructions. They were telling one another how to attack and when, and then Grey was next to me, his wing wrapped around my side.

"We had a deal!" he told me, and he was pissed as all hell.

"We're all going to die if she doesn't!" I shouted back, then gritted my teeth when my arms began to shake.

Fuck, I wasn't made to release all that magic. Regardless of whether I had it or not—my body had been human only last year. This was stretching it, I knew, but I wouldn't stop. Because I meant what I said, and Grey knew it was the truth, too. That's why he said nothing else, only did something stupid—the moment Syra turned her head to the side to attack the two sirens coming for her at the same time, he jumped forward.

He wrapped his arms and his wings around Syra's body, and the scream that tore from my throat came from my very soul.

For a moment, everything was suspended on air. For a moment, the night was dark again because the light that had been coming from Syra was blocked by Grey's wings.

Then she exploded.

Grey was thrown back violently all the way to the other side of the dome and landed near a roaring Storm. The two sisters who'd been coming for Syra attacked her from the other side, and I only saw them until the light coming from her skin enveloped them completely.

Then Valentine said, "Take care of yourself, Sunshine."

My heart jumped as I turned to him, and I could have sworn he was moving in slow motion. I could have sworn it took him a long, long time to smile and wink at me and then add, "You know—just in case I don't make it."

He jumped forward, too, straight into that blinding light.

Thinking back to that moment now, it really was a miracle I hadn't passed out yet. A miracle that I somehow got my body to move, to turn around and run all the way to Grey, to grab him by the arm and pull him up because he was awake, too. A goddamn miracle that we were both still alive.

"The dome," Grey said, leaning half his weight on me as he struggled to stand up and almost knocking me down—he was big, too big for me to carry.

"We're okay, we're okay, we're okay," I kept chanting, pulling him with all my strength anyway, and Storm spit fire at the sky, and beat his wings so hard they almost knocked us both down as he flew up.

"Listen to me, Fall—the dome is gone," Grey said. "I need you to?—"

That's as far as he made it.

A scream coming from the other side cut him off. The way the ground suddenly shook, it was like someone had grabbed the entire Isle in their hands and was pushing and pulling it back with all their strength. The raw magic that burst everywhere at once, together with the light, picked us up and suspended us on air for what felt like a long time.

My eyes were on Grey and his were on me, and we both knew we were going to die. We both reached out our hands for one another as the magic kept us back, the warmth of it slipping under our skin, burning us slowly…

I love you .

The world continued to move at normal speed again.

The magic pushed us back and slammed us against the ground, breaking us apart the same way Syra had done with her sister.

Everything went dark.