Page 199 of Mama Si's Paradise

He leaned closer to my face, smiling. “Why?”

“What do you mean,why?I don’t want you to get hurt!”

“Really? Is that the only reason why you’re begging me, Sunshine?” he asked. “Or are you afraid Grey will be hurt, too?”

My heart fell all the way to my heels.

I let go of his hand and moved back a little. “Both.” That was the truth—I was afraid for both.

Valentine sighed, but he was still smiling. “You will no longer be staying in my tower—you know that? You’ll be relocated to the third now.”

“Valentine,” I said, but he stood up from the bench and turned his back to me. “Please, Valentine, listen to me. Shadow is just a hatchling. He can’t match Storm in any way.” He knew this. He fucking knew exactly what Storm was capable of better than me.

“Well aware,” he said with a nod, staring out at the empty seats of the theatre.

I went to stand beside him. “So, why would you do such an absurd thing? Why would you even challenge him?Why?!”

“Because I had no other choice. It was either that or spending the rest of my life being mocked by all of them. A man’s reputation is his everything, Sunshine. I’d rather be banished than live my life labeled a coward.”

I laughed and it came out so bitter it scratched my throat. “You would ratherdiethan accept something you had absolutely no control over?! The Blood Call is tied to the curse—not you, not me, not Grey. Nobody could control it, and youknow that!” That he even needed me to point that out for him was insane.

“I do know it. And I don’t expect you to understand, Sunshine. It’s okay that you don’t. I will never be a coward. I wasn’t meant to live my life under the shadow of my brothers. This was never going to be my destiny.”

I shook my head as I looked at his profile, his eyes ahead on the seats, his hands folded behind his back.

“Valentine, please,” I whispered, even though I already knew in my heart that nothing I said here tonight was going to change his mind.

Because I understood, even if he thought I didn’t. I made a similar choice once, too, though not with such fatal consequences. I chose to work for Mama Si, chose to become a prostitute, just so I didn’t have to go back home a coward and admit defeat.

“Come dawn, I will either come out on top, or I will be gone,” he said, turning to look at me. “Exactly as it should be.”

“I don’t want to see you get hurt,” I choked, as warm tears slid from my eyes before I even realized I was crying.

He turned to me with that sad smile that was so full, catching a tear with his thumb. Then he brought that thumb to his mouth and licked it.

“Then don’t look,” he said.

“Valentine—”

“I’ll be fine, Sunshine. I’m always fine.”

“Just withdraw it! Nobody’s going to think you’re a coward. Withdraw the damn challenge!” I said gripping his arm, desperate now.

“I will do no such thing,” Valentine said, stepping closer to me, framing my face in his hands. “Thisis not my destiny.”

For a moment there, it felt like I was looking at someone else. A different person altogether. Not the Valentine I knew. Not the Valentine I considered a friend.

“I’ll do anything you want,” I whispered, feeling more hopeless by the second.

But in typical Valentine fashion, he ignored my words completely and said, “You’re the little sister people describe in books, I think.” He paused for a second. “Yes, exactly that. You could have been the little sister I’m never going to have. We would have fought so magnificently all our lives over the most trivial things.”

“I’ll take it. I wouldn’t consider you a brother right now, but you are my friend. Possibly the bestest friend I’ll ever have.” I laughed, even though tears still came out of me.

Valentine smiled—a genuine smile, too. “I like that.”

“Then stay alive.” I grabbed his shirt and tried to shake him. “Call off the challenge, Valentine. Please.”

But he wouldn’t hear it. “You will be okay. Whatever happens tomorrow, you will be just fine.” He grabbed a few strings of my hair between his fingers, looking at it like he was still infatuated by the color like that first time. “If I don’t see you again, know that I’ll miss you, Sunshine. I enjoyed your company most nights. And Grey will take care of you the best he knows how.”

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