Page 121 of Mama Si's Paradise

“She gave birth to an heir, and once a bride does that, she’s considered sacred. About half don’t survive giving birth, but those who do become incredibly powerful, too,” he continued when we were almost at the top and I couldn’t even look down anymore without getting vertigo. So damn high.

I looked at Valentine. “Is she your mother?” He’d talked about his mother before, but I hadn’t asked him if she was alive then.

“No, my mother died a long time ago,” he said, and finally we were at the top of the stairs. “Genevieve is Grey’s mother, and she’s been wanting to meet you since you arrived.”

“Wow,” I breathed when I took in the room in front of me, so much of that chrome material on everything—window frames and tables and edges of furniture, and the ceiling was made out of it completely. It looked like daylight in here.

My God, the way the ceiling, basically a large mirror, selected the blue light of the lamps strategically placed all over the room made it look like the sky on a warm February day. A bit of blue and grey and white meshed together, and the way the lights twinkled when their reflection hit right gave it an even more natural feel.

“She designed it herself,” Valentine said. “Go ahead, Sunshine. I’ll wait for you by the stairs.”

I turned to him. His eyes looked almost blue.Fuck me,Ithought,daylight looks good on him.“Aren’t you coming with?”

“No, she wants to see only you. Don’t worry, you’ll be safe.”

“I can take care of myself,” I reminded him, though that was an absolute lie in this place.

Valentine knew it, too. That’s why he only chuckled before he turned for the stairs.

I walked ahead, mesmerized by my surroundings again, so curious already to see who it was that had designed this. The floor wasn’t exactly made out of wood. It wasn’t metal or marble or anything I could name, but it was grey and it was slightly reflective, too. It reflected the ceiling and it almost gave you the illusion that you were walking on clouds.

Again, wow…

“Does the sky still look like this out there?”

I stopped walking, turning to look around me, sure nobody else had been here with me two seconds ago. But I must have been more distracted than I’d realized because there was someone in the far-right corner by the window that reflected the ceiling, too. Everything here reflected everything, and I don’t know why I loved it so much.

The woman was sitting in the recliner, feet up, a book in her hand and a soft smile on her lips.

My God, she was beautiful. Her hair was silver and curly, and she’d pulled half of it behind her head, but the shorter curls framed her face perfectly. Her eyes were blue, too, a light blue, and her pale skin had wrinkled with such grace. Her lips were long and full, painted a blush-pink, and she wore pants. Not a dress—pants that reached her ankles and a white shawl around her shoulders, covering her grey shirt almost completely.

“Yes,” I said, nodding my head. “Yes, it does, actually. In February, it looks exactly like this.”

Her smile grew, and I felt like I’d accomplished the biggest mission in the world. “I’m glad. Please forgive me for having Valentine bring you up here like this. I just like to ask every new bride about the sky. I miss it terribly, and I want to make sure it hasn’t changed color.” Her voice was soft and sweet, just like the image of her.

“It hasn’t. It’s still blue,” I assured her, knowing she probably knew that the sky hadn’t changed color, obviously, but she wanted to know me. She was curious, I guessed. And I was curious about her, too.

“That is certainly good news,” she said and waved her hand to the side. By the time I looked, a small round table made out of that same reflective material had appeared right next to another recliner, the same color and the same size as the one she sat on.

“Care to join me for some tea, Fall?” She put the book down, and by the time she did, a kettle and two cups had appeared on the tabletop.

I don’t know why the hell I wanted to giggle like a little girl.

I’d seen magic—all the brides used it. They’d showed it to me so many times, but this was different. It was so…in syncwith her —like she put her book down, and I saw it, but the book disappeared as if the tabletop had swallowed it slowly,gracefully, not flashy at all. Her magic had taste. It had finesse.

“Thank you,” I said and went to sit across from her. “I had no idea you even existed. The other brides never told me about you.”

She nodded. “As it should be. When you leave here today, I will ask you to never speak about me to the new bride next year, too. I prefer it that way.”

My brows raised. “Then I won’t.”

Genevieve smiled. “Thank you, Fall. Now tell me, how are you getting used to the Whispering Woods? To theEvernights? They can be a handful and I know you’ve had a rough start.”

“You do?” Could she really see outside those windows when they were that reflective?

“Yes, Valentine told me about Mamayka Sionne and how you came to offer yourself to the ritual. I’m terribly sorry about that,” she said.

Valentine toldher—Grey’s mother, whom he obviously had no love for.

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