Page 97 of Mama Si's Paradise

His words barely reached me while I studied the view in the mirror, the large cliff, bigger than the one I thought Mama Si’s Paradise was on in the beginning. An entire city was built upon it, but it was the strangest city I had ever seen because the buildings were trees.

Large trees grew on rock somehow, and the trunks had doors and windows. The thicker branches as well. They had grass and flowers and smaller structures made out of wood, animals wheeling carriages and even children running around, playing ball. The view of this place was from much farther away, so I didn’t see details, but I saw the hair color of most, and how it matched their wings.

They were enlarged butterfly wings, completely torn—exactly like someone had run claws all over them.

“What happened to their wings?” I asked, and I had no idea why I found it sopainfulto be watching this when the people were going about their business and they seemed okay. None was grieving—on the contrary, they seemed pretty energetic.

“The Fall,” Valentine said, and my stomach twisted and turned once more. I looked up at him to find him grinning. “Of Ennaris, I mean.”

Again, I rolled my eyes. “Shouldn’t you be above teasing?”

“I should,” he said without missing a beat.

“So, stop teasing me.”

“Never.”

“You just said?—”

“I am not above anything with you. You’re different.”

I groaned—howcould I not?

“I’m starting to think youwrotethe book on the worst pickup lines ever.You’re different from other girls—that’s such a lame line, Mr. Evernight.”

His eyes fucking glistened like he’d never experienced satisfaction like he did when I talked. Which made me feel all kinds of weird. And self-aware.

“I don’t dopickup lines, Sunshine. I’ve tasted your blood. Youaredifferent from other girls.”

“That’s all kinds of scary rolled in together,” I muttered.I’ve tasted your blood.Definitely not a pickup line.

“You never have to be scared of me,” Valentine said, reaching up his hand to touch my face. This time he did it slowly, so I had time to lean away—a clear indicator, but it didn’t wipe the smile off his face.

“Yet you won’t let me go home.”

“Sit with me,” he simply said.

We sat on the round couch, and my eyes were on the next mirror, the one that showed a forest. A lush deep-green forest and a large building with crisp white walls to the side. Animals went from one side to the other, and people in the building—so many people—were dancing and laughing and drinking like there was no tomorrow. I could imagine their faces just fine, even though the view of them was from too far away to see clearly.

“The Blood Burrow,” I whispered, and right now it was so hard to imagine that I’d been right there, on that Isle, in that very building just two days ago.

“Yes. The Paradise,” Valentine said, shaking his head. “Out of all the Enchanted I’ve ever heard of, Mamayka Sionne always stands out.”

“Well, I’m not going to assume I understand any of this yet, to be honest, but she wanted power. She said she wanted power for her land and for her people.” That much she’d made very clear to me in our little talks.

So easy to see how she’d tricked me. How masterfully she’d ensnared me. So easy to see now, but it had been impossible then.

“Oh, she has more power than all the other Isles already. She doesn’t want anything for her land or her people, but I assume that’s what she tells herself to make herself feel better,” Valentine said. “Mama Si is a very smart woman. Very powerful because of the type of Enchanted she is. A succubi is able to gather energy from sexual pleasure and is able to stimulate it as well. It’s so easy to stimulate lust. One of the strongest emotions and the easiest to manipulate—which is why she’s created the Paradise. She feeds off the energy of humans and gives them incredible pleasure in return, so the power flows constantly. She knows how to use it to keep herself young even after five hundred years of life, and to keep her land flourishing. The Blood Burrow is one of the most Isles because of that.”

“I’m sorry—did you sayfive hundred years of life?” He’d surely made a mistake.

But Valentine shook his head, and he wasn’t amused. “Yes, that’s how old she is, approximately.”

“Wow.” Five hundred years old! Annabelle hadn’t been kidding that day at her bar. “So, she’s immortal?”

“No, only sirens are immortal,” Valentine said. “But she knows how to harness her power to keep her body from aging. She still doesn’t have pure, raw magic she hasn’t harnessed herself, which is what I imagine she wants.” He flinched. “Well, shewillhave it now that you’re here.” And that didn’t make him very happy.

“How? How does that work?”

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