Page 110 of Mama Si's Paradise

“Are you telling me you’re complaining about that heart?” Emil laughed a little, then closed his eyes and threw his head back.“Aaah,so pleasant…”

I moved.

The dragon was still there, still by the door, and as ridiculous as it sounded, I was hoping it would continue to follow me. I was hoping it would be there, just in case another fucking snake jumped for my throat again.

But before I could take the third step, Tristian was suddenly in front of me, impossibly fast.

“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. That’s awfully rude of you,” he said, not as amused as a second ago. “When someone introduces themselves to you, you tell them,It’s nice to meet you,and you give them your name in return.”

“So, what is it? What’s your name?” said Emil, and I was trying so hard to appear calm. So, so hard to move closer to those doors without them following me.

“Autumn,” I choked. “M-my name is Autumn.”

Tristian seemed disappointed. “Autumn? That’s my least favorite season.”

Emil smacked him on the back of the head. “We don’t have seasons here, dipshit.”

Tristian flinched. “Yes, I know, you ape. Go learn how to eat properly.”

Eat,he said.

Then he turned to me, and I’d already walked another couple steps closer to the doors.

“It’s-it’s-it’s nice to meet you. Both of you. But I have to go. I have to?—”

Even so, Emil was in front of me, all bloody still. “Wait a minute, Autumn. Wait, hold on. Let us see you. Let us talk to you.”

“Oh, I really can’t. I have to?—”

“After all,” Tristian said as he approached. “Either one of us could be your master soon. The man you look up to for everything. The man whose child you bear in that beautiful body.”

DON’T YOU DARE THROW UP!

“I think she’s the one,” Emil said, nodding his head. “I really think this time we got it right.”

“Me, too,” said Tristian. “I think she’s it. She’s going to give us an heir.”

I would rather cut off my own arm and eat it,I thought, and moved around Emil again. “I’m really sorry, but Imustuse the bathroom right now,” I said, and it was clear to see how terrified I was. My voice was shaking and breaking and barely a scratchy whisper, but they heard the words just fine.

That’s why they were smiling.

“Can’t you wait a second longer? Let me smell you,” Tristian said, raising his hand toward me, and?—

“Fall.”

Valentine’s voice vibrated throughout me. I had never—neverbefore in my life felt more relieved. It was completely senseless and silly and reckless of me, but in those moments, I wasn’t thinking. It was pure instinct that moved me, and before I knew it, I wasrunningthe few feet to get to him, tothe door, to fuckinghidebehind him, as if he was going to be my goddamn shield.

The look in Valentine’s eyes was murderous. The way he stared at his brothers right now, he wasnotthe same guy who sat with me on the piano bench and asked to feel my heart while I played. It was notthe same guy.

But even so, he was the lesser evil. The devil I knew. The devil that was probably going to eat me just as well as the others, but right now I was in survival mode, and all I cared about was that I got inside those doors with my head on my shoulders and my heart still beating.

“Fall? What do you mean,Fall? She said her name is Autumn,” said Tristian.

“What’s the matter, little brother? Why are you up so early?” said Emil grinning ear to ear as he licked the blood off his bottom lip, just to taunt him.

“I like Fall even less,” Tristian was saying. “And it’s incredibly disrespectful to walk away from your master like that.”

Oh, God, the way he was looking at me…

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