Page 81 of Mama Si's Paradise

“When I die,” I whispered to the empty room, and my own voice surprised me. Terrified me.

I was doomed—that was clear to me the moment Mama Si told me the truth. I had no doubt about it when that dragon grabbed me and flew me to the Whispering Woods. Or when I woke up. When I met that man.

Yes, I was absolutely doomed, but somehow, in some fucked up way, I was still hoping. I was still prepared to fight, even if my fate was already sealed.

I could run. I could still find my way out of whatever house they’d put me in, get to the shore and swimall the way to the real world. Iwoulddo it, no matter what.

My dress was still on, my feet a bit sore, skin covered in scratches and dried blood, but when I stood up, they didn’t hurt nearly as badly as I thought they would—or maybe it was just my fear. No idea what was around me, what was outside those doors, but hopefully it was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep and I could sneak outside without anybody hearing.

What a brilliant fucking plan—sneak awayfrom a goddamn vampire.

But who was to say they were anything like what I’d read about? Normal vampires didn’t have dragon pets that hung out on their shoulders, so maybe I had a chance. That’s why I walked on my tiptoes all the way to the doors, and I pressed my ear to the strange material—it didn’t look like wood or metal, though the vines decorating the corners could have been iron.

Nothing. No sound came from the other side of the doors. Nobody was there.

My heart skipped a beat, and I actually felt really hopeful that I could pull this off. It was silent, too silent, and there was no way anybody was awake in this house. So, taking in a deepbreath, I pulled the handle down and the door open just an inch.

A hallway twice as wide as the ones at the Paradise greeted me. I slipped my head out just to see better, to see the black walls and curtains, the nearly black wooden floor. This was definitely a bigger house than I thought. Maybe even a mansion, like the Paradise, which could serve me. More places to hide and sneak out of.

But just as I was about to step outside, I heard something moving to the left.

My instincts took over and I pushed the door closed again lightning fast.

As if I wasn’t scared enough already, a tapping sound suddenly started coming from the windows to my left. My heart almost leaped right out of me.

Rain.It had just started to rain. Nobody was coming to kill me…yet.

In the time it took me to go to the windows, it was already pouring.

Darkness outside. I grabbed the handles and pulled the window up as far as I could. The sound of the downpour filled my head, and it was like I’d stepped into a different world. The front of my dress was soaked again, but the rain was warm so I didn’t mind. Holding onto the frame, I leaned out as far as I could just to catch a few drops on my tongue and to try to see where I was.

High.

I was very,veryhigh, and the building I was in was made of stone blocks.

“Oh, my God…” I whispered into the night. It was a castle. I was in a goddamn castle, standing by the window of one of its towers.

There were another four of them to my side that seemed to be just as tall as the one I was in, with windows the same asthe ones I was looking out of. No light was coming from any of them. Below, a large yard surrounded the castle, and another wall made of the same blocks circled it.

My stomach fell. That wall was almost as tall as the towers. How in the hell was I ever going to climb it to get to the other side?!

Raising my head, I looked at the sky, surprised all over again to find the black clouds that made it. Not a single hint of blue or stars or a moon. Nothing—just darkness and rain.

Andeyes.

I saw the small light eyes as if they were hiding behind a thin layer of that darkness, but they were on me. I don’t know how I recognized them right away, but it was the dragon—the first one that had been about to eat me in the ocean, the one who’d flown me into the Whispering Woods. It was him, and I barely breathed as he came a little closer, and I saw him a little better, those massive wings beating the darkness away like it was dust.

Worse yet, I could haveswornthat a man was riding him. A man was sitting on the dragon’s back.

Whiteeyes flashed in front of me—probably just my imagination, but the fear was real. He saw me, too, whoever he was, and he was fucking coming.

Pulling back inside the room, I closed the window before I allowed myself to even breathe. Wet and panicked, I went to the door again and opened it. The hallway was empty.

I gave my heart just a moment to slow down, reminded myself that dragons that size couldn’t just get into towers like the one I was in. It was okay. The dragon and his rider wereoutside,and I had no time to sit and dwell on the reasonwhythey’d been by the window, watching me through the rain. No time.

With that thought in mind, I moved, sure the hallway was empty still, so I almost had a fucking heart attack when Inoticed the silhouette standing at the far right, where there had beenno onejust three seconds ago.

Now, Valentine Evernight was leaning his shoulder against the wall, arms crossed in front of his chest, like he’d just materialized out of thin air.

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