Page 121 of The Eighth Isle

“Allowme?” Suddenly, Mama Si looked terrified, and she put her hand over mine on the table. “You’ll surelyallowme to do more than visit, Fall Doll. I’m going to be that boy’s grandmother—that’s everything I’ve ever wanted.”

My mouth opened and closed a million times and I really, genuinely didn’t know what the hell to say. Or think. I said I’d let him call herNana,and she thought she was going to be agrandmother?!

Meanwhile Grey waslaughingin his chair, covering his face with his hand as his shoulders shook.

“Well?” Mama Si insisted, and my God, she still looked serious. “You’re going to live here, aren’t you? The Paradise is huge. We have space. You can give birth here as well—I’ll have the best doctors in the world in the room. You can live here forever.”

That’s the first time it occurred to me that Mama Si had lost her mind.

“Stop,” I said, because as much as I didn’t want to be rude, I also didn’t want to keep talking about this at all. “I will not be living in the Paradise, Mama Si. Thanks for the offer. And I will not be giving birth here, either.”

And that thought—the thought of actually giving birth to a baby…fuck.If the waffles hadn’t been so delicious, I would have stopped eating for the whole day.

“But—”

“Stop,” I insisted because, again, she really did look like she was serious, and I had no clue what the hell to make of it yet. “This is not the time to talk about giving birth when there’s so much on our plate. So much we still need to figure out.”

“Like what?” she asked, but at least that hopeless, confused look in her eyes had faded.

I realized I had no idea what the hell to make of Mama Si when she wasn’t…you know,Mama Si.

“Like Grey said—the end of the world is near. And also Syra basically put her magic inside me and I have no clue what the hell that means or what it’s doing to me. And also it might be the stupidest idea in the world to trust Valentine, who is out there and could be making deals with the sirens again. And also the sirens could find us at any given moment and kill us—things likethat.”

My appetite was really gone now, despite the taste of my breakfast, and that was a shame. But the more I spoke, the more I was reminded of just how doomed we really were. The more I spoke, the more I was reminded just how much I’d hidden from myself, how much I hadn’t dared to think about at all until now, for fear I’d lose my mind. For fear I’d explode or something.

“Then we’ll figure it out,” Mama Si said after a loaded moment of silence, and she waved her hand. The girls that hadbeen standing by the wall moved inside the mansion and closed the doors behind them. “But promise me one thing first: if we do, and your son is born, I will be his godmother.”

I shook my head. “Are you serious? What does it matter if we can’t?—”

“Your word, Fall Doll. I’ll take your word,” she cut me off, leaning closer on the table.

“I already promised to let him call youNana.” And did nobody else find itludicrousthat we were even having this conversation right now?

Who the hell was this woman and what had she done to the real Mama Si?!

“Yes, and I will also be his godmother—say it.”

I doubted I had ever been in a more uncomfortable situation, not even the first time I spoke to her. Not even that day she made me her offer, and I accepted.

I turned to look at Grey—was he seeing this? Was he seeing howseriousshe was?

But all Grey did was shrug, completely calm. Not at all freaked out. “It’s your call, my queen,” he told me. “Whether you want her to be our son’s godmother, or you want her head right now for what she did to you—it’s your call. Say the word and it will be done.”

“Thanks. That’s very helpful,” I muttered because right now I wished he’d just tell me what the hell to do.

And,no,I didn’t want Mama Si’s head. God knows I’d hated her and I’d blamed her and I’d cursed her name probably a thousand times, but I didn’t want her dead. She’d helped me when nobody else had. And she’d taken me in now when nobody else would have, either.

“It’s your call,” Grey repeated in a whisper, and I looked at Mama Si again. Her chin was raised, no hint of fear anywhereon her even though she’d heard Grey offering me her head. She knew Grey could kill her, too, but she held her ground anyway.

“Your word,” she said again—demandedit.

“You have it,” I said, surprised at my own self. “If I give birth to this baby, you will be the godmother.”

I must have lost my fucking mind.

Closing her eyes, Mama Si took in a deep breath and fell back on her chair for a moment.

Then she told me, “And I will protect him with my life.”

---