Page 223 of Mama Si's Paradise

“I know, Fall. Look at me—we’ll talk about this when the challenge is over, okay? Right now, I have to go,” he whispered.

“Grey!” Romin called, but I grabbed his wrists to keep him there a second longer.

“You believe me, right? I’m not crazy, Grey. I’m not?—”

“Of course, I believe you,” he said and gave me a kiss on the lips that sent a jolt of electricity throughout me, pulling me wide awake from this trance I was slipping into. “If you say you went through the mirror, then you did. And we’ll figure out what Valentine was planning in no time, I promise you. We’ll figure it out, but I have to complete the challenge first. We’ll talk about it as soon as it’s over, okay?”

Fuck.“Okay,” I whispered because it was. He believed me, and we’d figure out the rest. As long as he believed me, I didn’t have to panic.

“Okay?” Grey smiled but it was forced.

“Yes, okay. I’ll be?—”

Something big and heavy fell on the ground right behind him, shaking me to my core. Grey kissed my lips one more time before letting go, and over his head, I saw big white eyes and a vicious, monstrous face.

It was Storm. He’d landed right behind Grey, and he was looking at me.

I forgot to breathe.

“Don’t be afraid of Storm,” Grey said. “Stay here. I’ll be back before you know it.”

And he finally turned to his dragon.

My God, he was massive. At least fifty feet tall and wide, black and grey scales all over him, spikes as big as my entire body on his back, his tail long and full of barbs, and his claws curved at the tips—not to mention his teeth.

This dragon had actually carried me into the WhisperingWoods. I’d flown with him before, and he’d simply thrown me on trees.

“What do you say, big guy? Ready for a snack?” Grey said, and Storm growled deep in his throat, sending shivers down the length of me.

Get it together!I told myself in my head. This was Grey’s dragon. He would never hurt me. He was going to fight for him instead. He was going to fight Shadow, and everyone might think that it was an easy victory, but I knew better. I’d seen how Shadow so easily killed a giant snake within two seconds.

“M-M-Mind your neck,” I told Storm because I’d lost my fucking mind and I was taking to a dragon the size of a small house. “And your heart. He’s small. He’s fast. He can go right through you.”

Storm growled.

A damn miracle my legs hadn’t given up on me yet.

Grey grinned. “Storm saysthank you,baby.”

And together, they turned their back to me and walked way.

We couldn’t seethe sky at all from the Whispering Woods, but everyone knew that the sun had already peaked over the horizon behind those dark, angry clouds. Storm and Shadow were on the ground in the clearing, opposite one another, and Grey and Valentine stayed behind them. Romin was in the middle, shirt gone, his wings on full display—bigger and darker than Grey’s, but the same leather and the same claws at the edges.

“Grey Evernight, you have been challenged to a duel by Valentine Evernight, and you’ve accepted the honor.”

Romin’s voice echoed in my head, raising goose bumps all over me.

“You know the rules. Your dragons will duel, and the challenge will be completed if one of your dragons withdraws, if one of you wins, kills the other, or if one of you declares their surrender. The victor will be celebrated and will choose the destiny of the defeated and his dragon.”

My heart fell and fell and fell…

“May the strongest Evernight triumph.Begin.”

Beating his wings once, Romin jumped and disappeared into the dark sky instantly, so fast my eyes couldn’t even process it. I only had one second to look at Shadow, sitting on the ground on his back legs, looking as harmless as a little puppy, and Valentine was behind him, perfectly calm. Looking at me.

What the hell do you think you’re doing?!I said to him in my mind. Whatever games he was trying to play, Grey was not going to let him go through with any of it. Whatever he’d wanted to do to me, Grey believed me. I was not on my own. He should have known better than to lie through his teeth like that.

Unless…he was afraid of his brothers and knew they’d kill him if he told the truth?

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