Page 102 of The Evernight Court

“He’ll eat you the second he sees you.”

She turned three shades paler instantly because she believed me.Ibelieved me, too. “He’ll eat you, too.”

“No, he won’t. He knows me. I’m Grey’s.”

“He’smad, Fall. He’s a dragon without his master—he doesn’t know anything or anyone anymore,” Quinn said.

I pointed my finger up to the sky. “Shadow is a dragon without his master, too,” I reminded her. “And he looks perfectly fine to me.”

As if to confirm it, Shadow let out that snickering sound that made me smile. He could hear me, and he understood me just fine.

If only he could talk back and tell me what the hell Valentine was up to…

“Heis a freak of nature,” said Quinn. “He’s not even supposed to be here at all.”

“Exactly. Because Valentine is planning something, and if you told me what it is?—”

“I don’t know,” she cut me off again.

“Liar.”

“I swear it on my aunt’s soul—I have no fucking clue,” Quinn said, shaking her head.

“I imagine you and your aunt are close.” She’d mentioned her twice now.

She nodded, taken a bit off guard. “She raised me.”

“And she helped raise Valentine, too.”

She threw me a look. “Meaning?”

“Valentine probably told her what he’s doing, why he wanted to get banished, or why Shadow is so perfectly intact even after he got swallowed by the sky.”

Quinn rolled her eyes. “My aunt doesn’t know anything—or if she does, she didn’t tellmeabout it.”

“Liar,” I said again, though I wasn’t so sure.

Not that it mattered, anyway.

But Quinn laughed. “Whyin the world do you want to go see Storm, anyway? You know he’ll eat you. You know it—what could possibly be worth certain death for you?”

Grey.He was worth it. He was worth everything—and maybe it was because of the magic of the curse or the Blood Call or whatever else, but he was. This was my reality now, and I’d figure it all out just as soon as I took Storm into that mirror, and he brought him back here.

In fact, Grey was going to help me figure it out himself.

“Storm won’t eat me,” I muttered, though I knew there was a good chance that he would.

“Knock it off. Whatever it is you’re trying to do, just let it go. I’ll take you back, no questions asked,” Quinn said, but she already sounded defeated because she knew it wasn’t going to happen. That’s why I said nothing.

Eventually, she sighed. “Fine. Whatever. We’ll be inMercen by noon. It’s much smaller than Ivea, so we’ll only need a couple of hours to get to the other side. From there and to Mount Agva, it will depend on how fast we walk, I guess.”

Run.

I’d be fuckingrunningas soon as I had a clear view of the road to that mountain.

“Then let’s get going.”

Twenty-Four

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