Page 109 of The Eighth Isle

“They won’t. I’ll be traveling in disguise—don’t you worry about me, Sunshine. They’re not looking for me, they’re looking for you. That’s why it’s important to erase you from their radar completely. Otherwise there’s nowhere you can go that they won’t find you.” He stepped closer and finally looked at me. “We really don’t have the time.”

“We do. We can stay here for now, see what the sirens do.” That was a good plan, too.

“Realistically speaking, it will take the sirens roughly two to three days to break through whatever spell Mamayka hides us under,” Grey said, making me turn to him, too. “And that’s if we’re lucky.’

“He’s right,” said Valentine. “Two days is a good bet. I can be back in two days, hide you and take you away.”

I flinched. “I don’t trust you, Valentine. Not evencloseto enough to just let you go!” Not to mention I was scared shitless that the sirens would find him and kill him, and I wouldn’t even be there to try to stop them.

I didn’t want him to die, damn it. Maybe that made me a fool, but I didn’t want Valentine to die.

“You don’t need to trust me, Sunshine. But really—what other choice do you have?” He grinned like the devil. “You want to sendthatbrute out there where everyone will recognize him? The sirens will find him before sunrise.” And he nodded his head at Grey.

Grey clenched his jaws hard but said nothing, and my God, Valentine was right. Grey was not meant to do sneaky shit—he either threatened you to your face or didn’t bother at all.

“Fuck,” I whispered because he made sense. As much as I didn’t trust Valentine, it made sense to try to find a way to hide me from the sirens before it was too late.

“Exactly,” the asshole said, grinning still because he knew he’d won.

“But…what if you get caught?” What if the sirens found him somehow, even when he disguised himself?

He shrugged, completely relaxed. “I’ll either die out there or I come back. One or the other.”

That soundedawful.

For a moment, we all paused, staring at nothing, thinking.

“You really think there’s a way to hide what she did?” I finally asked because that was the most important thing still.

“I do. Syra hid herself all the time and she was perfectly undetectable even by her sisters. She joked about how easy it was to do.”

“But we’re no sirens,” I reminded him, and he nodded.

“Which is why we’ll find ways to reinforce whatever blanket spell I find out there.” He sounded so sure of himself I envied him.

“And what about the end of the world?”

The brothers looked at one another, then at me. Neither could tell me anything.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can. You’ll be safe here. He’ll die before he lets them hurt you,” said Valentine, nodding at Grey again, but Grey didn’t comment. “If there’s a way, we’ll find it. If there isn’t, we’ll all die, anyway. What does it matter if Ennaris really ends for good?”

It mattered. Of course, it mattered. There were still people here, so many Enchanted who lived on these Isles—but I didn’t say any of it out loud.

“Storm will take you where you need to go, and he’ll stay with you,” Grey said when I stepped to his side and intertwined my fingers with his.

“There’s no need. I?—”

“Storm will take you where you need to go,” Grey repeated. “And he will stay with you all the time.”

Valentine flinched. “Everyone will know where I am if people seeyourdragon flying around, brother.”

“Don’t worry, he won’t be seen,” Grey simply said.

“I don’t need a babysitter,” said Valentine, but I was with Grey on this one. Yes, it was risky for Storm to be out there, but he would help Valentine if something happened. He couldsave his life simply by taking him up in the air and flying away, something Shadow couldn’t do.

“But you’ll take it,” I told Valentine. “That’s the deal—Storm comes with you.”

Closing his eyes, he clenched his jaws so hard we heard it. “Fine.”

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