Page 91 of The Eighth Isle

So, I focused on getting myself to my knees, then grabbing Grey and pulling him up. I knew he was way too big for me to carry, but I’d just give him some blood and then he’d wake up and Storm would be in the sky, waiting, and then he’d take us away.

Drink, drink, drink,I urged him, pressing my wrist where Valentine had bitten me to Grey’s lips because no matter how many times I tried to pull him up, I failed. I was too weak to even sit him against the ruins of that fountain, and there simply wasn’t enough time to try harder or to wait for my strength to come back to me. So, I begged him to take my blood, pried his lips open the same way I’d done with Valentine, and when that didn’t work, I moved on to Plan B—get Storm to come grab Grey and take us out.

Grey didn’t need to be conscious at all, and neither did Valentine. Storm could carry all of us out, just until we reached another Isle. Just until we were away from the sirens.

So, I stood up and I turned to the trees, and?—

Syra was right in front of me, bloody and messy and eyes red with rage, and her hand wrapped around my neck tightly.

I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t move at all for a good long second, too shocked, too caught up in disbelief because she’d been on the ground just a minute ago, hadn’t she? I’d seen her! She’d been there!

Yet she was here now, and ice-cold magic slipped from her hand where it connected with the skin around my neck. It created a layer all around me, spreading so fast you’d think it was fire.

“No,”I choked out because I couldn’t die now. Grey still needed me. He was still unconscious.

“Hush, you brat,” Syra spit, and she squeezed harder. My hands closed around her forearm, but I knew it was in vain. “It’s over now, it’s all over.”

No, no, no, no—I had so much to say but the words wouldn’t leave my lips. My body was at her service now, and that ice that she covered me with was consuming me little by little.

But she couldn’t kill me, could she? She’d said it herself—she’d made an oath to Hansil, and she couldn’t kill me because I was pregnant. Hansil’s descendant was in my womb, andshe couldn’t kill me!

“It was never supposed to be like this,” Syra whispered, and blood came out of her mouth, spilling down her chin.

My God, the way she looked. What a fucking nightmare…

I tried to shake my head, tried to tell her that it didn’thaveto be like this, that she could choose not to do this. She could choose to walk away and live her life in peace.

But…

“The stars have said it,” she said, and my stomach twisted a million times. “I know it in my heart. I?—”

She screamed.

I had never before heard a more heart-wrenching, gut-turning scream in my life, and even Storm hadn’t scared me as much when he’d roared at me in that cave. Syra screamed at the top of her lungs, and her eyes never blinked and never left mine, and her magic never let go of me, either. She held onto my neck and she looked so tortured, in so much pain that I almost had the instinct tohelpher, before I even realized what was going on, why she was screaming.

The sirens.

Four sisters remained—Raxae, Andya, Oreinne and Fessa. They were all on the ground behind her, naked, bleeding, wounded. Raxae and Fessa had their hands around Syra’sankles, and Andya and Oreinne were behind them, holding onto their legs.

Connected. All five of them were connected.

Syra stopped screaming.

More blood came out of her as her skin began to lighten up from the inside again. Nowthe sistersstarted screaming, and even though I had no idea what the hell was going on, in those moments, I still had hope.

Syra was squeezing my neck, but not enough that I couldn’t breathe. Her magic was already inside me, and it was cold as fuck, but it wasn’t hurting me. In fact, it just felt like a layer of very cold fabric wrapped around my skin, and she looked so, so bad.

Then her eyes started to bleed, too.

I’d take that image of her to my grave.

The sisters screamed louder. Syra came closer and closer until our noses almost touched, and I didn’t dare move or breath or blink my eyes.

“It is complete now, human. Take…take…” Syra whispered, and more blood spilled out of her, dripping down her chin as her bodyvibrated.“…care of him. Don’t…” she choked, and I hardly heard her over those screams. “Don’t b-b-be…good.”

I exploded.

Or rather—something inside me exploded like fireworks, melting the ice that was around me, igniting a brand-new fire deep in my bones, one that couldn’t be put out. My body was paralyzed and my eyes remained open, so I saw Syra’s face still, right until the moment it turned to ashes. I saw her eyes, and in my mind, I’d see them forever, see her hopelessness, her surrender.

---