Page 103 of The Eighth Isle

But that didn’t feel exactly right. “It…corruptedher, the pain. The helplessness she once felt. It ruined everything that made herher, and she was still discovering her new self when she woke up.”

Valentine thought about it for a long moment, and we continued to stare at the sky together.

“What really happened to her, Sunshine? You saw, didn’t you? She showed you.”

Shivers ran up and down my back and the images were in front of my mind’s eye right away. “She was happy with Hansil. They lived on a beach, all alone. They weren’t bothering anyone. Syra was pregnant. They were just…happy.” The way they’d gone swimming that morning. The way they’d made love in the water. The way they’d laid on the beach together… “Then they came and killed her baby and ate Hansil right in front of her.”

I would never dream of justifying everything Syra had done, all those innocent lives she’d taken, the land she’d ruined. Never—that had no excuse. But if she’d taken the time to kill her sisters for what they’d done—all of them, and slowly?

I would have never seen anything wrong with it. Whatever that made me, I’d have fucking helped her get it over with myself.

“That was it,” I continued. “Theotherway to supply Ennaris with magic without having to eat human flesh—through infant sirens.”

“She told me that part, yes,” Valentine said. “How insane is it that they weresupposedto fall in love when they were made? Their own sister lied to them. The first one—she lied, and she basically decided what their lives were going to look like since the beginning.”

“How?” I wondered, because I was curious, too curious.

“The eldest sister—Minel, who died in the original battle—was born knowing the truth, but apparently, she fell in love with a man once, and he did not love her back. Ran from her, until she caught him and killed him. From then on, she decided that sirens cannot be in love, that it hurt too much to not be loved back. So, she made her sisters believe that sirens cannot fall in love if they tried,” Valentine said. “She also told them that it was impossible for a siren to reproduce, that they can’t get pregnant at all. Until Syra.”

My God, I couldn’t even imagine it. To live for hundreds of years misled by your own family, your own sister. To be betrayed like that…

“Tell me, Sunshine, because I’m curious to know your mind. What was Syra? Because she both found a way to save the world from her sisters, to save innocent human lives, and she got rid of the worst of them when they fought five hundred years ago. She also ruined countless lives and continued to do so even as she was dormant—all of this against her will. And then she woke up and she had a thirst for life again, just like all living things.She developed new tastes, new purposes—she wanted tolive.” He smiled so brightly the sun paled in comparison. “So, tell me—was Syragood? Was she just a good woman who did very bad things?”

Three words whispered in my ear,don’t be good.

“I don’t know, Valentine,” I answered honestly. “Maybe shewasgood. Once, she was. At least better than the rest of them. And then…she didn’t want to be good anymore.”

“I can understand that. I never wanted to be good, either,” he said.

That made me laugh. “Oh, don’t worry—nobody will mistake you forgood. You’ve made sure of that.”

“Except you,” he said, cutting off my laughter. “You still think I’m good.”

I shook my head. “I begged you in that tomb not to do it.”

“Do you think it would have made a difference if I’d stopped? Sedelis and Genevieve wouldn’t have.”

“It would have made a differenceto me!” If he’d only stopped. If he’d changed his mind while there was still time…

“And that will forever remain my regret,” Valentine said, and he put his leg under the other until he was sitting in front of me, then took my hand between his. I thought I’d be irritated or pissed off that he touched me, and I thought I’d want to move away.

I didn’t.

“But think about it, Sunshine. Would you have rather lived the way we used to live?” he whispered, making my heart jump, which in turn made him smile again.Alwaysmade him smile. “Would you have rather lived trapped in the Whispering Woods forever, never seeing the light of day again? Would you have rather lived under that curse that took so much fromeveryone,that made what is left of Ennaris so…vile?”

I shook my head again, looking at our hands together. “I don’t know. Logic says no, but look at me now. I’mpregnant,Valentine. And something’s been done to me, and now I can see the sun, but the sun isn’t going to stop the siren sisters from coming for me. The sun isn’t going to save me from their wrath, just like all that fucking power couldn’t save Syra from them, either.” The sirens were the monsters here, I knew that. They were the reason for every misfortune Ennaris had had to endure, starting with the very first one—Minel.

I’d seen her statue in that fountain in this very building when Amber had showed it to me. Back when I knew nothing, she said those sirens hadsavedthe world, but they hadn’t. They’d doomed it.

“You will be fine. Both you and the baby—you will be just fine,” Valentine said, squeezing my hand.

“What exactly did she do to me? How could she justunloadher magic—how? Grey said it was through Shadow, but that makes little sense to me.”

“I’m not sure—she didn’t tell me much,” Valentine said, and even if a part of me was tempted to think he was lying, he wasn’t. “She planned to basically store her energy in you so that you wouldn’t be able to leave her side if you tried—that’s all I was able to gather. And yes, she did it through me and Shadow because he’s a Ruit. His body—and mine—can act like a bridge between different kinds of magic if the wielder knows what they’re doing.” He flinched. “I haven’t pieced things together yet the way I should have—there wasn’t enough time, so…I don’t know.” And the guilt showed all over his face.

“So, basically she infused me with her magic—is that it?”

“I think so,” he said, even though he wasn’t sure of it.

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