Page 220 of Mama Si's Paradise

“One less weakens the spell. It’s a shame, really.” And she shook her head.

I looked at the other brides, still standing far away from us, watching us through the corner of their eyes.

“The spell?” I asked as I focused on calming down my heartbeat, my eyes finding Grey again instantly. The brothers were still talking.

“Haven’t you heard the story yet? The spell that keeps Syra under,” Lucinda said, and shivers ran down my back.

No, I hadn’t just heard the story. I’d seen it myself in the Storyteller in Faeries’ Aerie.

“They’re not going to die. Neither of them is going to die—their dragons will be fighting this challenge,” I said, more to myself than to her.

“They will, at first,” Lucinda said with a sigh. “But if the animals withdraw, then the Evernights fight one on one.”

The blood in my veins turned to stone. Was that what had happened with Grey’s father? Had their dragons withdrawn, so that the vampires had fought each other?

Shit, shit, shit.“But they won’t,” I said breathlessly. “Their dragons won’t withdraw.”

“They usually don’t, true,” Lucinda said. “But it has happened before—to Master Grey, you know that. And if the two of them fight each other? It will be to death.”

My hands were shaking so badly I pulled them behind my back.They won’t,I told myself in my head.They won’t withdraw. The dragons will fight.

Unless Valentine decided Shadow was too small to challenge Storm…

“The others hate your guts. I’m tempted to hate your guts, too, buteh.” Lucinda waved a hand. “We’re all the same here. It wasn’t your fault, anyway.”

“Exactly. I didn’t do any of it. The Blood Call, it didn’t?—”

“Yes, yes, we know. We’ve all gone through it. We’ve all been bitten, and we’ve all come out the other side,” Lucinda said with that tone of voice that was monotonous on purpose. She liked to guard her emotions whenever she could. You could never be too sure about what she was feeling. “Still, jealousy is a powerful feeling.”

“It’s a very unfair feeling,” I reminded her.

Lucinda raised a thin brow at me. “All our masters want you. Your blood is compatible with all of them. You’re athreat, Fall. You have more chances of carrying an heir than any of us, and to usthat’sunfair.”

I shook my head with a smile. “Well, then that sounds like ayouproblem.”

Lucinda snorted. “It’ll become ayouproblem, too, once this ends. If one of them dies or gets banished, you’ll be suffering the consequences—not just from the brides, but from Master Romin and the others as well.”

My heart fell all the way to my heels.Please, Grey…I prayed in my mind, and he turned his head to look at me for just a second as if he heard me. He even gave me a small smile, but I wasn’t reassured.

Please stop this…

But he couldn’t. Only Valentine could withdraw the challenge. Or Romin could put an end to it before it began.

“What the hell did you do to the guy?” Lucinda whispered from my side.

“What?”

“Master Grey. What did you do to him? I’ve been here three years and that’s the first time I’ve seen him smiling,” said Lucinda. “Look at them. Justlookat them.” And she nodded her head to the side, to the brides.

I recognized Amita on her knees on the ground, her hands on her face, shaking.Crying.

“Why is she…” My voice trailed off when I remembered she was one of Grey’s brides.

“I betshe’snever seen him smiling before, either,” said Lucinda with a grin, her hand to the side of her face to hide it from the other brides. “You know what? I’ve decided now I like you more. I live for drama.”

Not a single thing came to my mind to say to that.

“This is so wrong,” I repeated because it was. So fucking wrong it was making me sick.

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