Page 140 of The Evernight Court

But then Grey whispered, “Mother.”

He saw her, too.

The bad feeling in my gut that had started ever since we didn’t find Valentine under those rocks reached its peak. My gut was churning, and my heart was hammering. I couldn’t stop looking at Valentine every few seconds. He kept his eyes on me, too, thesorryin them like a knife straight to my heart.

It couldn’t be. Valentine might have been dark and mysterious and have little regard for other people at the castle, but he wasn’tthisman. He would never do this. He would never plan to kill people—he justwouldn’t.

Except…he’d been okay with killingmeonce, hadn’t he?

“Since the day you were born, I hoped and prayed thatyouwould be the one to bring us to this point today, my son. Pity, for you had the power. You had everything you needed, if you’d just trusted your mother,” Genevieve said, going to stand with Valentine and Sedelis, arms around herself, that loving smile on her pale face. As if she really thought that anyone here would believe it.

“You’re worse than any Evernight ever born,” Grey said though gritted teeth. “You’re a goddamn snake.”

But Genevieve smiled wider. “You’ve always seen the world in black and white, my Grey—which is funny, don’t you think?” she said with a sigh. “I am what I need to be—and I’m still proud of you for surviving this place. It shows how strong you can really be when you want to. And, of course, with Fall’s blood in your veins…” Her ice-cold eyes turned to me, raising every inch of my flesh in goose bumps.

God, how could she be so cruel? How could she look her son in the eyes and say things like that?

Sedelis’s laughter echoed against the high ceiling of the mountain—she really seemed to be in a great mood.

“Ah, young love,” she whispered, bringing her hands to her chest. “I honestly didn’t think a vampire had the capacity, but I’m glad you do.” She put her hand over Valentine’s nakedshoulder, but he jerked it off, looking at her like he was disgusted.

I wanted to call out to him with all my strength, beg him to stop this—beg him to stopthem.

Except a voice in my head said that it would be useless to try. Because it was already too late.

“I won’t let you go through with this,” Grey said, and his voice had calmed down somewhat. His fists weren’t as tight. He’d managed to get himself under control, and I wished I could do the same. I wished I could stop shaking, so that this magic inside me didn’t burn me alive. It was so intense, so fucking powerful that it was making it hard to breathe.

“How sweet,” Sedelis said, batting her lashes at Grey. “And I admire the courage, but I’m afraid there really isn’t anything you can do about it at this point. It’s already done. The spell that keeps my sister under has been broken. The layers of it are burning down as we speak.” She turned to Valentine again. “You did a good job, little pup. None of this would have been possible without you.”

Valentine clenched his jaws hard but said nothing, and he wouldn’t look at me anymore, either. He just stared ahead, the muscles of his torso clenched.

“She’ll kill you, too,” I said, and my voice came out strong when I expected but a whisper. “You realize that? If you wake her up, she’ll kill youfirst.” Sedelis had to know this. Syra only did what she did to Ennaris because her sisters betrayed her by eating the man she loved. Did Sedelis really think that when Syra woke up, she wasn’t going to finish what she started by going for her sisters first?

Sedelis shrugged, like the thought didn’t scare her at all. “And she’ll be right to do it, don’t you think? After what me and my sisters did…” She suddenly grinned like the devil. I saw right through her magic and to the horror of her face. “And you don’t even know the realstory!”

Therealstory? What the hell was the real story?!

“Alas, it’s a fate I’ve accepted. I’ve tried for centuries to get my sisters to see that it’s better that we perish, but they’re still blind. They still cling to survival,” Sedelis continued, moving closer to the pool, looking up at the Great White, still sleeping, at the rock upon which lay Syra. “Ennaris was meant to fall then. We should have never stood in her way.”

I shook my head because something felt off here.

Sedeliswantedto die? She wanted to see the end of Ennaris—and her sisters didn’t even know she was here?

I squeezed Grey’s hand and whispered, “We have to find them.” We had to find the other sisters because they could surely put a stop to Sedelis. They would know how.

And Grey said, “We will.” Except we’d have to get out of this mountain and off the Eighth Isle first—but how could we do that when the three of them were still here?

“Make a choice, my son,” Genevieve said. “We will be going through with this one way or the other.”

“Why?” I said before I could help myself. “Why would you want todie? You have power! You have everything, you?—”

“Don’t tell me what I do or do not have,” Genevieve said, a smile on her face but her voice ice-cold suddenly. “You of all people should know, when you were brought to the Whispering Woods without your consent.Tricked—just like I was.” My mouth opened and closed, but I found nothing to say, and she continued. “They took my freedom from me. They took my life from me and they expected me to sit and smile and take it because it’s the way of their world.” She gave a quick look at Sedelis, who smiled lovingly at Genevieve like they were fuckingfriends.

“But I wasn’t as strong as you were in the beginning, I’ll admit. After the Blood Call, the very night of that party they claimed to throw inmyhonor, I was going to end my life. I’d decided it,” Genevieve whispered, moving closer to Sedelis,taking her hand between hers. “But Sedelis convinced me to work with her instead. She promised me freedom.”

Sedelis raised her other hand to Genevieve’s cheek. “And you are about to have it, darling.”

Goose bumps washed down my arms. “It’s not freedom—it’sdeath.It’s the same thing as if you’d have killed yourself,” I spit—-how did she not see?

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