Page 151 of The Eighth Isle

“What are you doing—stay!” I whispered, but he didn’t. Stretching his wings wide, he beat them and they took him up, all the way to the lowest branch of the tree to his side. Fromthere he continued to hop from one branch to the other until he was able to fly again.

I shook my head—he was a stubborn little dragon, I’d give him that.

And he was giving me that snickering sound again, the one that wanted my attention. He wanted us to follow him.

So, we did.

Hand in hand, we followed Shadow as he flew a little and jumped over branches, and Grey looked calm enough that I knew we were going in the right direction. The woods looked so alive, so different in daylight and with healed trees. I’d forgotten just what a forestshouldlook like in those nights I’d been out here, training with Quinn. Now, with the sun shining over us, even though the trees were dense and it was dark beneath the canopy, it felt like I was in a different world altogether.

Then I felt it—the energy coming at me in waves, so intense it was impossible to miss if I tried. Grey and I stopped at the same time, and even Shadow was no longer jumping on branches.

Grey and I looked at each other, and I heard his voice in my head clearly.They’re here.

The sirens were here, possibly less than fifty feet away from us. It was time.

Grabbing his face in my hands, I kissed his lips, and my heart broke thinking it might be the last time I did. Grey had much more faith in this whole thing than me, but he kissed me back with the same urgency.

Whatever happened today, I would always have the memory of this, at least. Nothing and nobody could take it away.

Then I raised on my tiptoes and guided his lips to my neck so he could bite me, take my blood and gather strength, gather more magic than ever before. God knew we were going to need every ounce we could get.

His fangs slipped into my skin and I closed my eyes, letting go because I knew he’d hold me to his chest. It was over fast because he didn’t take much from me. In fact, I thought he took very little, but when he let go and stepped back, his lips were stained still before he licked them, and his cheeks were flushed, his eyes wide and so light they looked completely white.

He looked…full.

“The more I feed from you, the more impactful your blood,” he whispered to me. “My body’s getting used to it. It stores it better. Uses up less.” All of this seemed to be as surprising to him as it was to me.

“Good,” I said, giving him one last peck on the lips. “Let’s go.”

Even if Shadow hadn’t showed us the way, and even if we hadn’t been here ever before, we would have found the lake in the woods just because of the heavy magic that tugged at our senses, showing us exactly where the sirens were.

We were on the other side of the lake by the looks of it, not the woods near the castle walls, and I realized it only when I caught a glimpse of the water’s surface glistening with the sunlight. Grey and I stopped again, and by the looks of it, nobody was in the small clearing surrounding the lake, yet the magic was still there. The sirens weren’t hiding—and that made me so damn uncomfortable. I knew the plan, and I knew that we were supposed toget caughtby them as we went closer, but fuck, it was so hard to go against my instincts like that. So hard to push through, take one step after the other, purposely slamming my feet against the ground a bit harder so that they heard me. So hard not to let the fear make me run or at leasttryto hide better.

Grey squeezed my hand as if he could hear the thoughts in my head, smell the fear on my skin. He squeezed my hand to tell me that he was there, that he wasn’t going anywhere, and it still took me forever to force myself to take another step, and another…

Eyes on Shadow,the voice in my head said.Just keep your eyes on Shadow…

“Oh, there they are. The happy couple has finally made it!”

Every inch of my skin rose in goose bumps at the sound of the siren’s voice—and I couldn’t even tell you who spoke. It was high-pitched and scratched my ears as much as it soothed the fear that was crushing my shoulders.

And then we saw her.

Fessa simplyappearedin front of us, barely ten feet away between the trees, wearing a see-through white dress that fell to the ground around her feet, her wet hair falling to her hips, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Welcome home, lovers. We’ve been expecting you.”

The siren turned to the side and waved for us to continue, toward the clearing and the lake—toward the other two sisters who were now standing at the edge of it with smiles on their faces and their hands folded in front of them. They, too, wore their hair wet and their dresses see-through—the same joy and mischief in their expression.

Grey gave me a look, and for a second, I thought I saw regret flashing in his eyes. He didn’t want to be here any more than I did, and he hated that he had to bring me himself—but we also knew that we had no choice. Running was not an option, not from sirens. This was the only way.

His wings exploded on his back and he grabbed me by the arms to pull me up in the air, when…

“Ah-ah-ah!” said someone behind us—Andya with her hands raised, and we hadn’t even noticed her there. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. There’s no place to go now, Grey. Please, join us by the lake. We have quite the day planned out.” And she laughed.

Her sisters joined her.

It wasn’t hard for Grey to pretend to be heartbroken and panicked and enraged—he really was all those things, notbecause he couldn’t take me away but because he’d brought me here. So far everything had gone according to plan, and even though I was scared shitless, I continued to pray with every ounce of will in me that the rest of this day continued to go exactly as planned, too.

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