Chapter 3

Three

Grey Evernight

So much magic hung in the air. If I'd needed to breathe to survive, I'd have choked a long time ago.

Pushing myself up was torture—my own body seemed to be working against me, trying to keep me down, but I had to get up. I had to see where Fall was, figure out how to get her out of the tomb mountain because we were all doomed. Syra was awake and Sedelis was dead, and the Seven Isles were going to disappear off the face of the Earth any second now.

Get up!

A rush of energy went through me at the memory of Fall's face, how scared she'd been, how hopeless. I had to get her out of the Seven Isles right now if I was going to make sure she was safe—and I would .

The ground groaned and shook, threatening to make me lose the little balance I'd gathered in the past few seconds, but I pushed myself up to my knees anyway.

I pushed myself up and I looked around, sure I'd find the inside of the tomb mountain exactly as I'd left it—the turquoise pool, the uneven ground and walls, the Great White frozen midair as he was about to squash Sedelis.

Instead I found something very, very different.

My mind was wiped clean as I took in my surroundings, slowly rising to my feet as the ground shook and groaned some more—but it wasn't the same as the one I'd fallen against just now, was it? The grey-colored rock was smooth, no sharp edge in sight. And the turquoise pool was nowhere to be seen.

The Great White had disappeared, too, but Syra was there still.

I could hardly believe my eyes as the magic moved around me, turning what had once been a pile of rocks made with the sole purpose of keeping her body hidden away, into a room. A fucking room, big and round and with openings on the walls, perfectly carved windows that showed me the outside.

No darkness anywhere, but a blue sky and a bright yellow sun like I'd never seen before.

The actual sun was in the sky and I could see it.

My legs threatened to give up on me again as the second wave of magic charged the air, so intense I was having trouble believing my other senses as well. But Syra was in the middle of the room, her arms spread to the sides as she did her magic, her back turned to me, her hair floating around her head like she was underwater. She didn't move a single inch, but magic spun about her fast, and I could see it as if it had color. I could see the way it was adding details to the room—two doorways behind us, two large chairs, a table, more windows—and it was impossible not to get closer, just to see outside. Just to see… green.

Large green trees. Grass. Healed land, the scent in the air what I imagined heaven would smell like. And beyond…the blue ocean like I never even imagined it could be before. All those times I'd sat in the mirror room and looked at the other Isles, and I'd never quite believed it. I never quite experienced the sky and the sun and the ocean like I was doing right now.

It was real.

And Storm was out there, too.

It was a strange connection I had with my dragon. I felt him and he felt me. When the emotions were strong enough, we experienced them in their rawest form, exactly as the other was feeling them.

Right now, Storm was angry, mad, desperate as he took off from where Syra's magic had thrown him. He was wounded but he hardly felt the pain, and I knew that if he came closer and tried to fight her, she would kill him. Easily.

So, I focused my entire being into ordering him to stand down. I focused on pushing back his anger, on getting his full attention—this was not how we got out of here. I needed him to find Fall, wherever she'd ended up on the Isle. Find her at all costs so that when I got out, I could grab her and we could all leave together.

His roar reached my ears a moment later, but he stopped. Storm flew away to the other side of wherever I was, and he would find her. Right now, it was a good thing that she wasn't here with Syra. The Isle was so much bigger than it had been, so there were plenty of places for her to hide.

I just hoped with every ounce of my will that she stayed hidden until I went for her.

Wait for me, een aeva.

Then…

"Rise, my servants."

Syra's voice rang in my ears. The intensity of the magic increased instantly, rising up from the smooth stone floor together with dust that shimmered under the sunlight. Thirty small tornados were spinning around her, and within the minute, that dust grew thicker and darker, and it moved a bit slower, and then it shaped itself into legs and torsos. Arms, hands, heads—and finally, dark clothes to cover the plastic-like skin with no shape and no genitals, and boots to cover toeless feet.

The dust settled to reveal that the faces of these humanoid creatures were empty. My skin crawled at the sight of them. Syra went closer to the first of the thirty and touched what was supposed to be its chin.

"Some eyes to see with, to better serve me—you don't really need much more, do you?"

Before she finished speaking, a pair of eyes had appeared on all of them, and they looked worse than anything I'd ever seen. Fucking disturbing .

And Syra flinched. "No, this won't do. You look weird. How about a nose and a mouth—definitely eyebrows." And as she spoke, the magic in the air still heavy, all those features appeared on the faces of these creatures she was making with such little effort. "And some hair, yes?"

Hair, thick and wiry, grew out of their bald heads in an instant.

"There," Syra said, happy with how her creatures looked.

Golems.

She just made actual golems.

They were creatures made of the earth and magic, believed to be a myth among witches because the amount of magic required to create a living thing from dust was unimaginable. To alter someone the way the sirens had done to the offspring of Hansil Knight was different—they'd already existed as humans, and they simply turned them to vampires. But this was another level altogether.

The golems moved, bowed their heads deeply to Syra, and she smiled. "Go. Make yourselves familiar with the castle."

Castle, she said, and the golems all moved at the same time, half of them toward the doorway on the left of those chairs, the other half coming toward me, to the one behind me. Their eyes were dull, dark, lifeless. Their faces looked so strange, even with the mouths and noses. They looked like they shouldn't be able to move at all, yet they did.

And while I stepped back to give them space, I saw more outside the windows. I saw the castle Syra had talked about—an actual castle right where the tomb mountain had been. The Great White was at its back, frozen solid, with his wings spread to the sides like he meant to shield the structure from the outside world.

Wow.

"Don't mind him—he's practically a golem, too. Unless I awaken him, he's as cold as these rocks."

I jumped back, my instincts fired up, surprised because Syra was right next to me, and I hadn't heard her at all. I hadn't felt her, either, because the magic in the air had overwhelmed all my senses, had rendered them useless.

Syra brought her hand to her chest, her eyes wide and glossy. "What's the matter, Hansil? Are you mad at me?"

I fisted my hands, and my wings came out of me involuntarily.

"I am not Hansil Knight," I told her, even though a voice in my head insisted that it wouldn't matter.

"Of course you are— look at you. You're him, I know it."

"No, I'm not. Hansil didn't have wings. He was only human."

She looked me over slowly, unbothered. "And what are you?"

"Vampire." And my fangs were already extended as if to show her.

"There's no such thing," she said, bright blue eyes squinted. "Tell me the truth."

I shook my head. "Vampire. They made us, transformed the human children of Hansil Knight when they put you down."

Her brows shot up and she paused for only a second. "Yes, Hansil told me about his bastard sons he had with human women before we met," she said. "That was smart of my sisters, actually."

My wings were ready. I'd been wounded and every inch of me hurt, but I had more than enough energy to fly out of here. I'd drunk Fall's blood for days. That stuff was magical all on its own. I could hardly feel the blood loss from the fight, and I was feeling more like myself by the minute.

"Like I said, I am not Hansil." I took a step back, closer to the window, and I wasn't delusional enough to think I was faster, that I could escape her. No—for once, I was the weaker one in the room. For once, I knew exactly what it felt like to be completely at someone else's mercy, and it made me fucking sick because I still had no idea where Fall was. "I'm going to leave now. I?—"

"Oh, no, you're not going anywhere, my love," she cut me off.

I fisted my hands tightly. "I am not Hansil. You know this?—"

"What I know is that I've been awakened, and apparently five hundred years have passed since the last time my eyes were open, but the universe has given back what my sisters took, and all is well." She smiled, coming closer to me. "I am not mad. I know I should be. I'd have every right to be—but I am not."

"You ruined an entire continent," I said, despite my better judgment. Because I wasn't delusional, yes—but she absolutely was.

"Because my sisters took everything from me." She shrugged—actually shrugged as if to say, well, what did you expect?!

"They killed the man you loved—and in turn you killed thousands upon thousands of innocent people." That she even needed me to spell that out for her was a red flag on its own.

"Because the land is rotten, I believed. Because sirens and Ennaris are the same, and if one is bad, so is the other." Again, she came closer, and when she reached out her hand for my face, I moved back. "What is it, my love? Talk to me," she whispered, and I shook my head, unable to believe that she was really asking me that. I looked at her, really looked at her, her dirty face and naked body. She was so petite, possibly five foot two, wide blue eyes and an expression that would have you thinking she wouldn't hurt a fucking fly.

Just to think that she had ruined everything…

"Does my nakedness make you uncomfortable?" she then said, looking down at her body as she waved her hand toward her chest.

A blink, and her skin was clean, and her hair was clean, and a white sundress was on her, falling all the way to her feet. "Is this better?"

Again, I shook my head. "I have to leave," I repeated, even though I didn't expect her to agree to it in the least, but what other choice did I have? To attack her and try to flee would be stupid. I'd only anger her more, and since she was the type of person to ruin continents when she was pissed off, I didn't want to test my luck.

Why hadn't Storm found her yet?

"You are not going anywhere," she reminded me, but now her smile faltered. "Have I not suffered enough?" She stepped closer. "You're mine , and this time I won't let you out of my sight."

She meant every word, but before I could say anything else, Storm's roar reached my ears from far way—he'd found Fall. I couldn't tell the exact location where he saw her, but a whiff of the salty smell of the ocean filled my nostrils, coming straight from his memories.

She was in the ocean, not on the Isle. And Storm was calm about it, which meant she was safe.

That's all I really needed to know.

My body reacted on instinct. My wings spread wide and I was ready.

" Stop ," Syra spit, but I didn't. Beating my wings, I shot for the window, knowing full well that she would stop me but hoping anyway. Always fucking hoping .

Magic grabbed me by the ankles and pulled me down, slamming me onto the floor in front of her feet.

"Stand down, Hansil," Syra said, and the magic in the air was so intense it messed up my senses all over again. I pushed myself up on all fours out of sheer stubbornness and somehow made it back to my feet.

"I order you to stand down. Kneel ," Syra said, no longer smiling. No longer amused. No longer calm.

I spread my wings again and I aimed for the sky.

This time, she didn't let me even jump off the floor at all.

Magic wrapped around me like thick, invisible ropes, pushing my wings inside me. It had never been painful before to fold them since they first came out, but it cut through me like a knife now because I hadn't done it willingly. My limbs were stuck to my sides, and though she didn't squeeze and there was no pain her magic caused, it was frustrating as fuck to try to break free when I knew I could.

Until…

"You're in love."

I froze solid instantly.

Syra came closer, and this time I couldn't move away if I tried. Her hand closed over my cheek and as disgusted as I was by her touch, I didn't even think about moving away.

"You resist my compulsion magic so easily, Hansil. You're in love, aren't you," and it wasn't a fucking question. "Who's the lucky girl—won't you tell me?"

Slowly, her smile turned from sad to pure evil, right before my eyes.

"No one," I forced myself to say.

"Don't lie to me, my love," she whispered, grabbing my chin between her fingers. "Who is she?"

Fall's face was in the center of my mind. "Vampires don't fall in love, Syra."

She laughed, throwing her head back. "That's what they said about sirens, too!"

Moving back, she took her hand away from my face, but her magic remained around me, keeping me in place.

Useless, though. Useless because now I wouldn't move if she begged me. I wouldn't lift a fucking finger if it made her even a little bit suspicious about Fall. If it made her want to find Fall and hurt her— no. I would do whatever I had to do.

"It's not true, though—and not just because I fell in love with my Hansil," she said as she slowly paced around the room. "Tell me, what did they say about me? What was the story they fed you, my sisters? What did they say?" My eyes closed for a moment. " Speak ."

The order came with magic, magic that I could choose to ignore just fine because that's how compulsion magic worked with all species who possessed it—sirens, vampires, and the succubi. Once a person was in love, something happened to their mind, and it could no longer be manipulated by that magic. Almost like love created this impenetrable coat around the brain, and the spell simply didn't work anymore.

But right now, I was pretending that it worked on me. Right now, and for as long as it took, I would let her magic order me, and obey silently until I figured out another way.

So, I spoke.

"They said you lost your head over Hansil, and you refused to go back to the sea. They said he called you a monster, and you had to keep him asleep for days at a time because you couldn't stand his accusations. They said he convinced you to find another way to feed Ennaris magic, to swear to never eat another man again. They said you went to search for such a way, to meet with the witches, and by the time you came back, they'd eaten him. They said they left the pieces of him on the beach?—"

"Enough! "

Her word cut me off and the magic that fell on me was so goddamn heavy it would have broken my back if more of it wasn't holding me upright. Syra had stopped pacing and had closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers.

"That's enough," she whispered, slowly raising her head again. There were tears in her eyes now. "They lied to you. That's not what happened at all." And she came closer again. "Hansil never called me a monster—he knew me. I didn't keep him asleep for days—I couldn't if I tried! Compulsion magic didn't work on him because he loved me!" she cried. "He didn't convince me to find another way—I did that by myself because it was the right thing to do. And I did find it! I found another way—the original way sirens were supposed to be sources of magic for Ennaris. The original way that the first siren was born knowing," she said in almost one breath.

Two big tears slid down her cheeks as she stepped in front of me and smiled.

"Minel was born on the first day of ten, out of waves and foam and sand. She was born knowing that a siren must fall in love, and through that love she must spread her magic onto Ennaris," Syra said. "Minel did—she fell in love with a man soon. But he did not love her back, and so she decided to keep that little detail from the rest of us. I'm sure she told herself it was to protect us from heartbreak, but it was jealousy. She couldn't stand to see one of us fall in love and be happy." She paused. "Sadly, I only learned that after she turned all of them against me when I found Hansil."

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, shaking her head. "The sea gave birth to me in day nine of the creation of Ennaris, and I never once heard the truth from her lips. I never once heard anything other than the flesh of a human man gives us power, and it is our duty to give power to our people. That's it—that's all!"

Syra burst out laughing, and it was bitter. She was laughing and crying, and I saw her pain, felt it in the flavor her magic gained as it pressed my limbs onto me, holding me still.

I felt it, but I had no sympathy for a fucking psychopath who had lived in delusion then and was living in delusion now.

"Yes, I found the solution. And I was going to see it through. I was happy with Hansil, so happy—and my sisters couldn't take it." She stopped laughing abruptly. "They ate him right in front of my eyes."

Fuck, just to imagine it…

"So, you know that I am not him ."

She came to me slowly, touching my cheek again. "But you look just like him—how can you not be him?"

"You saw him get eaten. You ate?—"

"Silence," she said, unleashing more of her magic, and I had no choice but to clamp my mouth shut. "Tell me who she is, Hansil. The woman you love—tell me her name and I will make sure nobody ever stands in the way of our happiness again."

Stabs all over my gut. "Nobody. I am not in love. Vampires cannot love. Your sisters made us like that." If it took me believing in my own lies to convince her, I would.

Syra turned her head to the side slowly, analyzing me, trying to make up her mind.

"Vampires don't fall in love," I insisted because that was exactly what my father had told me, had told all of us. That was what every Evernight was taught and what every Evernight then taught his children in turn. It was the truth as every vampire had believed it—what I'd believed, too, before Fall.

Before I saw her face and knew her heart. Before I understood the perfection that she is. The good that was never supposed to exist in the world.

"Then my sisters are crueler than I've ever given them credit for," she said, and with a wave of her hand, she let go of me. "I'll admit, I'm a bit rusty. Not that five hundred years is that long, to be honest, but still. That could be why my magic doesn't work on you. Or maybe you're just strong. Don't move. " Her hands were on my shoulders, and she ran them down my arms, up again, then down my chest. It took everything in me to stand still and let her. "Mhmm…you have wings, too—that's definitely a bonus." My wings were pushed out of me from the inside all of a sudden, and the pain made me grit my teeth. "Oh, how fabulous they are!"

She walked around me and touched my wings, too, and the idea of Fall hurting in any way was the only thing keeping me in place right now. The only thing.

"You'll come around, Hansil. I know you will. By the time I'm done exploring this new world, you will come around." She said it like she knew it for a fact as she stepped in front of me again.

"For now, sit back and watch. Right over there, on my left." She waved her hand toward the throne-like chairs in the middle of the room. "Because I've called for my sisters, and they're finally here." She stepped back, touching her dress. "What do you think—do I look presentable enough? After all, it's been a long time."

She actually waited for my answer.

"Yes," I choked out.

"Yes, what?"

Fuck me. "Yes, you look presentable."

" Just presentable?"

I wanted to murder her with every fiber in my body. "You look beautiful."

" There! Wasn't so difficult, was it?" She laughed. "Go on, sit down now."

Her magic pushed me to the side, and I had no choice but to go and sit in that chair without another word.

The sirens were afraid.

Since I saw them for the first time, at my fourth birthday party my father liked to throw—for himself, of course—they'd always been… unhinged . On the verge of lunacy. Completely insane, but powerful. I was always able to see the true faces they wore behind their illusion magic, but they weren't making an effort now.

In fact, as I watched them from the chair where Syra sat me, I could have sworn they looked better, even without an illusion wrapped around them. Their skin looked more lively, their eyes open wide.

So afraid it was almost comical.

"Hello, my dear sisters. Welcome to the Eighth Isle," Syra said as she stood a few feet in front of the chairs, back turned to me. The sirens faced her, naked, their hands to their sides, the energy about them nervous as hell.

"Good to see you again, Syra," Andya said. Out of the five of them that remained, she had always seemed to be the more mature one. Raxae tried, too. Oreinne barely spoke, and Mea seemed to always try to care because she didn't naturally, and Fessa was in love with her own voice. She could talk your ear off and complain about her life all day if you let her. She'd done it with me when I was a boy and didn't know how to escape her, every time they came to the Evernight castle.

And Sedelis—she had been the most cunning of all, the one that had always scared me the most. It didn't surprise me that she had been planning and going behind everyone's back all along.

"Oh, I'm sure it isn't," Syra said to Andya. "For five hundred years you kept me under—I commend you. Really." She clapped her hands. "That all of you were able to do one thing together for this long is worthy of fucking applause."

"We had no choice," Raxae told her. "You ruined Ennaris?—"

"You took everything from me! "

Syra's shout was so sudden, so loud that it made the walls of the castle she'd built groan and shake. The entire Isle heard it, and birds flew off trees, and Storm roared in the distance.

Stand down, I thought, and forced that thought his way with all my strength. Fall was away from this Isle, safe, and he needed to stand down for now. It was too soon to act.

"You took them from me," Syra was saying, her shoulders shaking. "You killed them. You…you killed them both."

And I wanted to ask, who's both ? The sisters had eaten Hansil. Who were the they Syra talked about?

I bit my tongue instead.

"We had no choice ," Raxae repeated. "You were going to kill Ennaris—you refused to come into the water with us!"

"And I will never swim the seas again," Syra spit, shaking still. "After all the centuries we've been together, you betrayed me. Your own sand. Your own water."

"You killed your own, too," Fessa said from Raxae's side. "Osera and Minel and Gargannea—you killed them."

"And Sedelis, too," said Andya. "We felt it."

"Yes, well, as much as I wanted to thank her for awakening me, she had plans of her own," Syra said. "To take my power from me. Rule the world."

"She wouldn't. She knew your power has to be willingly given," Andya said. "You killed her out of spite."

Syra stopped shaking, and slowly raised her head. "Oh, but she was prepared. She had a spell and everything—what a shame," said Syra. "But if it was spite that drove me, sisters, you would all be dead by now."

I could feel in the air how every muscle in their bodies clenched at the same time. Even though Andya and Raxae were trying to seem fearless, they were shaking.

"Go ahead, then. Do what you must. We came because we will not cower from you any longer," Raxae said, and her voice broke.

"We will not run," Andya confirmed with a nod.

"Silly, silly sirens," Syra said, raising her hands to her face—possibly to wipe her tears. She was most definitely not crying anymore. "If I wanted you dead there would be nowhere to run. I wouldn't have given you the chance to cower."

"Why are we here then?" said Oreinne, pale as Syra's dress.

"Because I wanted to talk to you," Syra said, moving closer, and the sirens instantly stepped back. Syra giggled. "Don't fear, my sisters. I will not hurt you today or any other day. I will not hurt anyone at all— if you stay out of my way."

The sirens looked at one another, as full of doubt as I was.

"Is this…is this some kind of joke?" Andya said.

"Not at all," said Syra without missing a beat. "You see, sisters, the universe has decided to pay me back. You took my everything, but I have the chance to get it back now. I want to live—as does every other creature to have ever existed. That is our most primal instinct." Syra turned to me. "And I will live now."

Every inch of me was frozen in place. I held onto the armrests as I looked at her.

I am not Hansil! I wanted to shout, but I didn't. Couldn't.

Anything it takes.

"He will be staying with me, and I will remain here on this Isle, and I will not threaten anyone at all if nobody threatens me." Syra smiled like she wanted to convince me that she really was in love with me, then turned to her sisters, who watched me still.

"I was given back what I once had, and I've decided to make use of it. Explore this new world I have created—together with my Hansil."

The sisters raised their brows.

"I always said he reminded me of someone, didn't I?!" Fessa suddenly said, her voice high-pitched, and she was smiling like she'd forgotten where she was. "I always said Grey reminded me of?—"

"Shut up, Fess," Raxae spit.

"So, that's it? We're just…going to leave now?" Andya asked.

"Exactly," said Syra with a nod.

"And you're going to stay here," said Raxae.

"I will. Right here. I'll make a home out of this island soon." My insides twisted uncomfortably.

"And you won't destroy what's left of Ennaris," Andya again.

"No."

"You won't kill anyone else." Raxae.

"If they stay away from me." Syra nodded. "At least until I've figured out what the world looks like now and what role I want to play in it. All in due time, though," she said, laughing. "This is rather overwhelming to take in all at once."

Again, the sisters looked at one another, speechless, and turned to me, too.

They could tell I was barely sitting there, but none of them made a single sound. All they did was smile at me.

Sneakily—like fucking snakes.

"So, go now, sisters, and spread the word. Stay out of my way, and I will stay out of yours," Syra said. "For now."

"Very well," said Andya. "Nobody shall approach the Eighth Isle."

Another giggle. "Oh, you're free to swim around if you want. I don't mind."

The sisters nodded.

"Move! " Raxae said, pushing Fessa toward the doorway to the right of the room through which they'd come in.

" The Eighth Isle— it does have a nice ring to it," Syra said as the sirens left, but she wasn't asking them. She was in front of one of the windows, looking outside, talking to herself. "Yes, yes, I like it. I like this name very much…"

The sirens all looked at me as they went, naked and ugly and smiling. Mea even blew me a kiss before she disappeared behind the doorway.

I counted their footsteps in my head until I couldn't hear them anymore, and the wood of the armrests of that chair groaned from how hard I was gripping them.

Syra turned to me, her dress and her hair floating around her as she raised her arms. "See? I told you I'm not mad—on the contrary. I'm just happy to be here after all this time." She grinned. "So, what do you say, my love? Now that that's out of the way, shall we continue with the castle?"

Fall's face was in the center of my mind, and I clung to the memory of her with all my being.

By now I knew that I was stuck in this place for a while, and that was okay. I would keep her safe from this mad siren even if she kept me here for a hundred years.

Because eventually, I'd be free. Eventually, I'd find her again.

Wait for me, een aeva, I repeated in my mind, over and over. And when Syra ordered me to stand, I did.