Page 169 of The Eighth Isle

A long, loud breath left me.

Slowly, my lips stretched into a smile. “Nothing at all.” Grey was alive and well—and so was Valentine.

Everything was perfectly fine.

“You looked scared just now,” he said as he came to me, and I turned back to the sky just to make sure that Valentine was really gone and to look at my wrist—healed. My skin wasn’t even red where his fangs had been.

“I was just thinking.”

Grey wrapped me in his arms and my soul rested within the second, just like that. This man was really something.

“About what?” he said, and when I leaned back on his chest, he proceeded to kiss every inch of me he could reach.

“Just…the future.”

“And?”

“And…nothing. Just thinking.”

“Have you decided what you want to do next? After we’re done with these meetings?”

“No idea,” I admitted as my eyes closed slowly. Fuck, I was still so tired, and he calmed me down so well I wanted to fall asleep right away. I felt safe in his arms.

“We can stay or we can go. We can do anything you want,” Grey said, slowly turning me around so I faced him. So he could reach my lips with his.

His kisses were magic.

“Okay,” I said with a nod. “Then we’ll figure it out.”

There was a time when I’d wanted nothing more than to explore the Isles with Grey, see every place there was to see, maybe find one we could make ours. Maybe settle.

Back then, it had only been a dream, but now?

Now, it sounded like a really goodplan,actually. After all, we were going to have a baby in a few months.

A baby. The thought still shocked me all over again.

“We will, my queen,” he said, kissing my lips gently. “But right now, I need you to eat so we can get started. All the rulers are here. They’re waiting for you.”

My eyes opened wide, and I leaned back to look at him. “Me? Why are they waiting forme?”

“To start negotiations,” he said.

“But I’m not a ruler of an Isle.” And it beat me why I had to remind him of that.

Grey laughed. He actually, genuinely laughed, and my toes curled all the way as if a button was pushed. Fuck, I loved the sound of his laughter more every time.

“You’re far more than that. You saved us. You saved the Isles. You saved Ennaris,” he said. “Now you get to be the first to decide what happens to it.”

My mouth opened and closed and opened and closed…

“No.” No way in hell. Just…no way.

“Yes, my queen.” He was still grinning, amused by my panic.

“Grey, I wouldn’t know where to even begin. I don’t know anything about anything—let alone how to run a magical continent.” He had to realize the absurdity of what he was saying.

“That’s why the other rulers are here. And I’ll be there, too,” he said, like he really saw no wrong in this. “We’ll take a look at the systems each Isle used until now, and we’ll figure out a new way to work together.”

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