Page 162 of Mama Si's Paradise

“…the hair and the eyes—and most importantly, the ring. She had the ring on her finger. It washer.”

My eyes closed. I took in a deep breath slowly, trying to shut down the voice inside my head that insisted Emerald was talking about me.

“Very well. I’ll believe it,” said the same man. “The new bride is no longer in the Isles. She’s gone.”

Yep. Definitely me.

My eyes popped open. I wanted to see their faces so badly, so I moved. Just slightly, I moved deeper into the room to see around the corner of the shelf better, and I saw.

Emerald was standing next to the Storyteller, her back turned to me, her hair, silver and red, her wings torn, impossible to mistake for somebody else’s. And in front of her were two men, one wearing fur on his shoulders, the other a plain black fabric with a round silver brooch over his heart. Neither were faeries that I could tell—ordinary dark hair on both of them, and there were no wings on their backs.

“She is, indeed,” said Emerald. I could hear the smile in her voice just fine. “We’ve been blessed, gentlemen. It has finally begun. The Evernights will never see it coming.”

Oh, my God…

My hand closed around my mouth.

“I hope we’re all prepared for what comes next,” said the guy with the grey and brown fur on his shoulders.

“I pray so,” said the other with a nod, and when he raised his head again, so suddenly, his eyes found mine.

Stuck.

I couldn’t fucking move, too shocked still to step behind the corner and keep myself shielded in time.

Now it was too late.

“What the…” the man whispered, terrified at the sight of me, and Emerald turned.

Her red eyes zeroed in on me.

Whatever spell the shock had put on me broke. I turned around and I ran back where I came from as fast as my legs could carry me.

“Stop!”the men and Emerald called after me, and they were coming.

My God, they were all running after me through the rooms and the hallways and the library at the end. I didn’t dare turn to look at them, to see how close they really were. Were they faster than me? Could the guy with the fur actuallyshiftinto a wolf and catch me between his jaws?

What the hell were they going to do to me if they caught me?

Run, run, run!I chanted in my mind as they called for me to stop again and again. I’d never run faster in my life.

Down the maze of corridors and past faeries who looked at me like they were afraid of me now, I made it all the way back to that hole in the wall, the one that led to the human world, as well as up to the surface of the cliff.

I wasn’t thinking, could hardly breathe, and my shirt stuck to my back uncomfortably, but Emerald and the other men were coming, and there was no time to rest. I climbed the ladder like a monster was right behind me, and I breathed in the open air what felt like a blink later.

The Bazaar. I was still in the Bazaar, though in a different part of it—and the others were coming up the rope ladder after me, screaming their guts out.

No time to appreciate the pretty lights and the glitter and how beautiful the Bazaar looked under the night sky. No time to breathe in the scents or to marvel over the half-moon decorating the dark sky that I hadn’t seen in such a long time. All Iknew how to do was run, try not to slam onto the people I passed by too hard, and make it all the way to the edge. To those stairs.

I’ll make it even if it kills me,I told myself, even though everything looked the same and I had no clue if I was even moving in the right direction.

By some miracle, what felt like hours later, I heard the voice of the faerie-bee guy.

“The sweetest faerie-bee honey you’ll ever try!”

I could have fucking cried.

While the tall, skinny fairy shoved his spoon full of honey in people’s mouths, I ran and ran in his direction, clinging to the sound of his voice like it was my lifeline.

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