Page 77 of The Eighth Isle

Of course not—but this idea of him that I’d created in the beginning was so damn persistent, and I still liked to think that he wasn’tallbad. He wasn’t as rotten as I knew him to be. As he’d proved to me that he was.

I guess first impressions really do last a long time.

“Then I will,” Valentine said. “What about my brother? Are you planning to see him yet?”

“He’s still asking?”

“Every day, twice a day,” Valentine said. “Romin is persistent only when hereallywants something.”

Romin wanted to come see Syra?

I gave Grey another look to see if he reacted, but he didn’t. He probably knew.

Why—had Romin finally had a change of heart and wanted to save us or something, or was he hoping to gain something from Syra and would come here to offer his services to her, too, just like Valentine had done?

Yeah, probably the latter.

“Of course, he does—they all want something. Did you not hear the dragon riders?” Syra shook her head,tsk-ing as she gathered her berries on a spoon. “Leeches, all of them, but it’s okay. I’ll be a just ruler when I do take over the Isles. Right now,I will not see any of them again.” And her eyes fell on me. “Not until I’ve finished the most important thing first.”

The most important thing.

Again, that awful feeling in my gut expanded, threatening to take me under right there. I gritted my teeth and reminded myself that I’d only be hurting Grey if I reacted right now, and by some miracle, I managed. By some miracle, I finished my plate and I excused myself, and Syra didn’t stop me. She didn’t tell me to sit down or wait for her to eat first. She just let me leave the dining room, and they all watched after me until I closed the doors and was alone in the hallway again.

I ran all the way to the room, barely breathing.

Eighteen

There really wasno point going in rounds. Whatever Syra was planning to do with me, it was bad. It was worse than I could probably even imagine, and I’d run from the thought for long enough. For ten days, I’d run from those thoughts and I’d tried to tell myself that Syra wouldn’t hurt me or the baby, that she’d have a change of heart by the time I began to notice my stomach growing.

I’d lied to myself because it had been too much to handle, but I couldn’t keep doing this any longer. I couldn’t sit and wait for her to do whatever the fuck she planned to me and not eventryto make it out.

Enough running and lying. Now it was time to act.

I didn’t really have any plan in mind, but I knew that Grey and I could never swim or fly off this Isle on our own. We couldn’t stop Syra,but maybe if we weren’t alone in this, we could do what Mama Si proposed to do when I first went to her for help—distracther.

At first, I thought the best way to do that was by awakening the Great White. He was still perfectly motionless, now part of the castle to me and I couldn’t even imagine him on his own. IfI woke him up, he’d be disoriented and he’d probably stomp all over this castle when he moved. It could give me and Grey a head start to fly out of here.

But then I remembered how Syra had frozen this dragon with a simple wave of her hand in the tomb mountain. It had taken her but a second to do it, and she hadn’t even put in any effort at all.

So, then the only obvious choice I had were the siren sisters—whom I didn’t trust at all. Not even a tiny bit, but they were apparently swimming around the Isle, hoping to gather information on Syra. I could work with them, tell them what they wanted to know, even spy on Syra if I had to—and in turn they could help me get out with Grey.

I knew it was a risk, a huge risk, but it was better than whatever Syra was going to do to me. It was better than sitting here on my ass all day, waiting for her to come find me, or waiting to find Grey on the ground again, bleeding.

The sirens were not to be trusted, but unfortunately, they were my only option. So that day, right after lunch, I walked out of the castle the same as always, and I made my way through the woods and to the nearest beach, hoping with all my heart that I’d find a siren nearby, watching.

There was nobody there.

I walked all around the Isle, went to every beach until night fell, and I didn’t see a single siren anywhere.

So, I went back the next day.

I woke up early and searched the beaches before breakfast, and I even called out to the sirens a few times, but none of them came forward. None of them even broke the surface of the water, and I couldn’t feel their energy or magic close to me at all.

By the time the day ended and night turned the sky a deep grey, I wondered if maybe Valentine had lied to me. I wondered if maybe he’d tricked me just to see what I’d do. I wondered ifmaybe he and Syra were laughing at me right now, watching me as I searched and searched but found nothing, then returned to that room more frustrated than before.

I wondered.

I couldn’t sleep that night, and I couldn’t sit still, and I couldn’t even read—my mind was too consumed by the look on Syra’s face that morning, by her words.It will hurt but not too much.

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