Page 98 of The Evernight Court

“She was right,” he told me as the dragon stretched his thick neck and moved his tail up to the ceiling, then pushed himself farther up still, taking in his surroundings. Taking inus.

“I can’t believe she was right!” shouted Valentine.

I shook my head at my brother. He had always been the odd one. I always thought he was cunning, sneaky, a disasterwaiting to happen, but this was beyond anything I could have imagined.

He wassmilingwhile I moved closer to the entrance, trying to get away from that dragon as if I had any hopes of escaping here alive.

“Who?!” What the hell was he talking about—and why wasn’t he running to the entrance yet?

But Valentine had other plans, apparently. He pulled something out of the chest pocket of his jacket slowly, like he had all the time in the world. The dragon was still sniffing around, still stretching his limbs, still rising, and I had another minute.

Just another minute to convince him to join me outside, but…

“Your mother,” Valentine said.

Then he raised whatever had been in his pocket—a small bottle made out of a deep green glass and a metal lid. He flipped it open with his thumb then threw it back, drinking its contents as he held my eyes.

“Genevieve was absolutely, one-hundred percent right.”

“About wha?—”

The dragon roared.

He roared and he moved so fast it should have been impossible for a creature his size. His long neck stretched and stretched down that rock and over the surface of the pool, jaws wide open, one of his teeth the size of my entire fucking body, and he roared.

It was a moment’s decision.

Logic said that I should have been by the entrance now, running down the tunnel to get out, but in those moments, I wasn’t thinking straight. In those moments, I shot forward instead, and again, I tried to grab Valentine by the arm. If he was insane enough not to fear that dragon, it didn’t matter.He would learn to be wary of it if we survived this. Just as soon as we made it out.

Because we had to. We had to make it out. Valentine knew how to get out of the Eighth Isle. That’s why he’d wanted to get banished—heknew. And he was my only chance at getting back to Fall, sothatwon over the logical part of me fairly quickly.

Unfortunately for me, I overestimated my speed, and before I reached Valentine, the dragon did. He was so massive that one slow movement and he was right there, the barbs of his chin touching the surface of the pool’s water, those large jaws opening as he came for Valentine, who refused to move a single inch.

I’d never jumped faster in my life, and I landed right behind him, ready to grab him and haul him away on my shoulder if needed.

Then my brother spoke.

“Tara een yoris verdinis.”

The entire Isle held its breath as his voice, as those words spread out through the cave. As they reached the dragon, whose jaws were barely five feet away.

And he moved again.

This time, he retreated. This time, the white dragon moved back on top of that black rock near Syra’s body, roaring so loudly that dust and small rocks fell off the cave’s ceiling because the strength of it shook the very foundation of the Isle.

Then he sat down.

He settled his head near the rock just like before.

He blew smoke out of his large nostrils, and with that deep growl that I felt in my bones, he closed his eyes again.

I’d moved back without realizing it, shaking my head, my mouth open but I couldn’t figure out what the hell I wanted to sayfirst.

“I feel it,” Valentine whispered to himself, looking down at his hand—at that small green bottle still in it.

“Valentine,” I said, no longer bothering to keep my voice down. “What…what have you done?”

Why in the world would he know how to order a dragon that size? A dragon who is the guardian of Syra?

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