Page 146 of Mama Si's Paradise

But then I had the good sense to keep my mouth shut.

“It isn’t fair, Sunshine. And again, this is all I can offer you until the Blood Call. Then, you’ll be stuck here forever, too, just like me,” Valentine said.

My heart kept on breaking.

“Thank you,” I choked, not sure what the hell to even say at that point—but I would not be telling him the truth. I wouldn’t tell him that if I could actually make it to Faeries’ Aerie for real, he would never see me again. My mind was busy plotting ahead already—I’d find a way off the Isle and back to the real world if the curse didn’t stop me. I’d swim all the way to land if I had to—I wouldnotbe returning to the Whispering Woods again.

“There’s no need to thank me,” Valentine said, raising my hand to kiss my knuckles as if he knew exactly what went on inside my head. “Shadow will come with you just until he makes sure you’re safe. Then, you’ll be on your own.”

Fuck, heknew.He knew exactly what I was going to do.

“What if Romin and Grey return?”

There went my heart again, skipping too many beats at the mentioning of his name. It was the fear, I knew it was. Grey looked like he could ruin this whole castle with a wave of his fucking hand, so much more dangerous than any other creature I’d ever come across. Even more so than fucking Balthazar. Of course, I was afraid—it was only natural.

So why was I suddenly hurting to think that I would never actually know what he’dmadefor me?

That’s what he’d said last night, hadn’t he? He’d said that he made me something.

Why the hell did I care to know what it was?

“I’ll handle them. You go,” Valentine said, pulling me out of my ridiculous thoughts. Then he turned me toward the mirror. “Now, Sunshine. Close your eyes and step into the mirror. It will take you where you need to go.”

My heart about broke out of my ribcage. I could hardly breathe, but my eyes were stuck on the bright blue sky above the large rock that was Faeries’ Aerie, and the promise of freedom was so powerful it got me moving, even though part of me didn’t want to. Part of me was too afraid of the unknown.

“Go,” Valentine whispered from behind me, and Shadow was already flying, moving closer to us from the ceiling before he simplyslippedinto the mirror like I’d seen him do that first time I saw this place.

I turned to Valentine once more, rose on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you,” I said again.

He gave me a small smile.

Without allowing myself another chance to overthink, I stopped in front of the mirror.

Drawing in a deep breath, I closed eye yes and I walked right into it.

Thirty-Four

Halfof me was sure that I’d slam face-first into the glass, but the other half kept me going because it was already used to the magic, had stopped being amazed and surprised at displays of it, atfeelingit growing inside of my body. So, I kept moving, not even raising my hands to stop the impact, but it never came.

Instead, warmth suddenly fell on my skin, and light—so much light around me that I had to blink several times until my eyes began to adjust to the brightness. The salty smell of the sea was already in my nostrils, and something big—hugewas right in front of me.

The rock. The giant rock in the middle of the Isle atop of which was the town of Faeries’ Aerie.

Small grey rocks under my feet. The waves crashed against them a few feet behind me, and the sun fell on the side of my face, the sky impossibly blue, just like the vast ocean underneath it.

It took me a good long moment to finally understand what the hell this meant and for the shock to take a step back.

My God, I’d made it. I’d walked into a fucking mirror, and I’d come all the way to another Isle.

I was in Faeries’ Aerie, far away from Grey and Romin and Valentine, the castle, the brides, the darkness of the Whispering Woods.

I turned around with my heart in my throat to find the mirror was right there, stuck between the rocks in the ground, the frame old, the paint of it chipped. It didn’t show my reflection, only the darkness and the infinite trees of the Whispering Woods from far away. I stepped closer to it—it was somehow five feet away, even though I could have sworn I only took a single step forward.

“Valentine?” I whispered, reaching out my fingers to touch the surface. Could he see me? Did the mirror show me to him?

Then the gemstone of my ring caught the light of the sun and reflected it in my eyes, like it was trying to wink at me, to get my attention.

I stopped when my fingers were less than an inch away from the mirror.

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