Page 109 of The Evernight Court

The farther he went, the faster his wings moved.

“Storm, stop!”I shouted at the top of my voice because we were already into the dark clouds that surrounded the Woods, and he wasn’t slowing down. That meant he was planning to flyoutsideof them.

That meant he was planning to fly off the fucking Isle.

“Stop it, Storm! Please, let me go!”I shouted over and over again, even though I couldn’t see him anymore. I could see nothing but darkness.

But no matter how much I begged and pleaded, Storm didn’t let go of me.

He kept going and his wings didn’t falter, and what felt like barely a minute later, I saw light. Warmbluelight coming from not too far ahead, and Storm was moving us toward it with all his speed.

God, he was really going to fly out of the Whispering Woods—of course he was! He was a fucking dragon, and the curse didn’t bind him to this Isle the way it did me. The curse wouldn’t kill him, shred him to pieces as soon as he went through the barrier the way it would me.

I called out his name one more time, hoping he’d become sane enough momentarily just to remember that I was a bride and that he’d be carrying the pieces of me as soon as he forced me through the barrier.

One more time…

It didn’t work. I felt the magic of the Isle hidden in those black clouds, going right over me, burning my skin. I closed my eyes, and I wanted to scream, but no more voice came out of me.

Storm pulled me outside the barrier of the Whispering Woods.

Twenty-Six

I didn’t die.

The scream that filled my ears was coming from my own mouth and I hadn’t even realized it. By the time I did, and by the time I dared to open my eyes again, the sky was a bright blue around me.

The sun was setting somewhere in the distance, beyond the deep blue ocean.

And I was flying over it.

Outside.I was outside of the Whispering Woods, and Storm was carrying me with his talons around my arms, just like he had that day Mama Si first brought me here as an offering. I held onto them on instinct and turned to look back as much as I could, to see the gigantic dark clouds over the surface of the ocean that was the Whispering Woods. It was right there still, exactly as I remembered it—and I was leaving it behind. Storm was taking me higher and higher, moving away from the Woods, and I wasn’t bleeding. My body wasn’t torn apart by magic. I was still breathing, and the magic of the curse hadn’t even scratched me.

Or maybe it had and I hadn’t noticed because of the fear and panic?

I tried to look down at my body, at the cardigan and jacket and boots I had on, the bag strapped to my shoulder still, but no fur coat. And no blood anywhere on me—which was ridiculous.

I’d gone through the Blood Call. The curse would bind me to the Whispering Woods the moment I chose my partner. And I knew what the curse did to anyone trying to get out of the Woods without being banished. I’d seen it with my own eyes when Grey had gotten too closeto the border to pick up my books that day. He’d only gonetoo close,not all the way through the barrier, and the magic had nearly ripped his arm off.

So, how in the world was I still alive?

“Storm!”I shouted at the top of my voice, but the open air carried my voice away and I barely even heard it myself. Instead, my focus shifted to the ocean below me, the Isles that I could see so clearly, both Dragons’ Den and Faeries’ Aerie, and another one I hadn’t seen before far to the right. It was smaller and darker, with nothing but ruins and rocks on the surface, not a single tree in sight. It had to be Sirens’ Lair—and that’s where Storm was taking us.

He was flying toward Sirens’ Lair, and the closer to it we got, the more of Witches’ Wing we saw, and the smaller the Whispering Woods became.

“Stop it! Put me down!”I shouted at Storm, slamming my fists on the scales of his talons, but he didn’t budge at all. He just kept on beating those large wings with impossible speed and taking us forward, never making a single sound.

The wind blew at my face constantly, and I was barely breathing. My God, he was moving so fast now that I hardly saw anything from the wind and the tears and the sunlight in my eyes.

But even so, when something moved to my side, I had no trouble recognizing what it was. And even though I knew Shadow had wings and he was small and he was always behind me somehow, I was still shocked out of my mind to see him there, flying a bit lower, just a couple of feet to my side.

Shadow was coming with us.

Where the hell are you going?!I wanted to shout at the top of my voice, but I couldn’t. We must have gone higher up still because the air became too thin, and it was almost impossible to breathe.

I’m dying, Storm. I’m dying…

Storm didn’t stop flying.

---