Page 142 of The Evernight Court

Grey spread his wings to the sides just as Genevieve stepped in front of the pool, turned toward us,waitingfor us to attack. Protecting Sedelis.

“Ready?” Grey whispered, and as strange as it sounded, I was.

“Ready.”

We ran.

Thirty-Four

I always knewGenevieve was powerful, but I had no idea exactly how much until her magic slammed against me and took me back a couple feet. It was maybe half of the blast Sedelis had hit us with, but Grey recovered from it quickly.

Before the minute was over, he wasfightingwith his own mother.

It took a moment for my magic to expel hers from my body, and when it did, I was moving again, trying to get to her from the other side, when Shadow popped up in front of me, and then Valentine was right there.

“Sunshine, stop!” he demanded.

I didn’t.

Maybe I wasn’t much of a fighter, but Quinn had taught me a thing or two about punching people in the face, and that’s exactly what I did. I slammed my fist onto his jaw and Shadow didn’t stop me. Valentine was caught off guard, and blood spilled out of his mouth when his head flew to the side.

“What the hell is the matter with you?!”I hissed, then kicked him in the gut, too, before he thought to push himself back and protect himself from me.

I kept on going, determined to kick him in the balls so I could knock him to the ground and then out with my magic, though I wasn’t entirely sure how to even go about it.

But I’d figure it out. Grey was still fighting Genevieve, and I needed to get to Sedelisright now. So, I charged at Valentine again, aiming to fist him in the face once more—but unfortunately for me, he was done underestimating me. Instead he moved to the side at the last second, then grabbed my wrist too fast for me to move back, pulled and spun me until my back was against his chest and his arms were pinning mine in place.

“Stop it, Fall. You can’t do anything about it—stop it,” he had the audacity to say, and it made me fucking laugh.

I moved just like Quinn had taught me, slamming my head back and my hips, and stomping on his bare toes with the heel of my boot until he let go of me. I moved away, realizing I needed to turn to my magic if I wanted to make this end quickly, but the thought of Valentine’s body twisting and turning and bending over the way Tristian’s had done made me sick to my stomach.

“This is insane!” I spit as I moved back just to give myself some space to gather courage. Valentine came for me slowly. “You have to see how wrong this is—Valentine, this is fucking nuts!” Out of all the absurdities of the world,thishad never even crossed my mind. Not ever, not for a second.

“It’s the only way, Fall,” Valentine said through gritted teeth, while Genevieve and Grey were still fighting—her throwing magic at him, he trying to get close enough to grab her. And Sedelis was still standing on top of the pool, chanting with her eyes closed.

“We’re all going to die!” I reminded him—he couldn’t really be that naive, could he?

“Maybe, but it’s for the best,” he said. “I can’t live like this, Sunshine.”

Another laugh that sounded like a scream burst out of me. “So, you’re going to doom the whole fucking world?” I shook my head, so enraged, so goddamn disappointed both in him and myself for not seeing it sooner. “How is that for the best, Valentine?How?!”

The look in his wide eyes scared me. For a second there, I’d genuinely believed that I could get through to him, that I could get him to see what he so clearlycouldn’tsee because of Genevieve or Sedelis or his own dark mind—it didn’t matter.

But that look in his eyes now said that it would be useless. That he’d made his peace with this long ago. That he really, trulywantedthis.

“Syra will not killeveryone,” he told me. “But the curse will be gone, Sunshine. We’ll be free, and whoever survives, it will be for the best. A better life. A much better future.”

I shook my head, stunned all over again. “Let me guess—Genevieve and Sedelis told you that?” He was silent. “And youbelievedthem?” He knew the story of Syra better than me. She wasn’t going to spare anyone, and she had the power to do whatever the hell she wanted.

Not to mention if that wasn’t eventhe realstory, like Sedelis claimed.

“Just come with me,” Valentine said, raising his hand toward me. “Please, Sunshine. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

At this point it wasn’t even funny anymore. And as much as I loved Valentine, and as much as I wanted to believe that there was something good in him after all, we were running out of time. Grey still hadn’t managed to get to Genevieve—the old woman was much stronger than I could have possibly imagined—and I needed to stop Sedelis.Now.

My magic was at the ready. I shook my head at Valentine. “Thank you for the book,” I said, and it caught him off guard. “I know you wrote it for me. Thank you.” It was because of him that I’d even managed to use my magic at all. “And for Quinn. And for stopping Emil that day.”

“Don’t thank me,” Valentine said. “You…you mean a lot to me, Fall.”

---