Page 21 of The Eighth Isle

“Liar,” I spit, and so what if she killed me? I was going to die soon anyway.

But Andya threw her head back and laughed. “Makes no difference, does it? Whether I lie or not.” She smiled like a fucking snake. “We’re safe as long as Grey is on the Eighth Isle and Syra is content.”

“And…when she’snotcontentanymore?” Romin asked, as if he’d read the question right inside my mind.

The sisters looked at one another again.

Neither said a single word, not even Fessa—who was smiling at herself with her eyes half closed, swinging slightly to the sides to a melody only she could hear.

The next moment, they stood up at the same time.

My heart continued to fall. A part of me still wanted to beg them—please, don’t just leave him there. Please, do something! Help me!because they were sirens, and iftheywalked away from this, how could I ever hope to find Grey and free him?

But I didn’t let myself beg because, again—what the hell would be the point?

“For now, we remain vigilant,” said Andya. “We wait and see how things settle. We gather strength.”

“If you hear something—” Romin started.

“You will be the first to know,” Raxae told him.

“And be sure to speak to the other Isles. The people are already growing restless now that the spell has unraveled,” said Oreinne in that velvety voice. “The unknown can be quite scary, and nobody knows what to expect yet.”

“I will,” Romin said with a deep nod as they moved around the table and to the door on the other side of the room.

“So long, Romin. We’ll meet again,” Andya solemnly said.

“Hopefully not too soon,” Emil muttered under his breath, and though they heard him, they didn’t react.

But as I watched them walking way, their sheer dresses revealing their slender bodies and long legs, I thought of something else, too.

“What’s the real story?”

All the siren sisters stopped walking two feet away from the door. They turned to me, their eyes wide, their lips parted.

“Excuse me?” Raxae said, her eyes boring into me.

“The real story of how you ate Hansil and Syra ruined Ennaris. What is it?”

For a second, nobody moved a single inch.

“Read a book,” Andya said.

“I have, but Syra asked Sedelis if the people knewthe real storybefore she killed her, not the one we know from books,” I said, even if I hated to even mention those names.

And I saw it.

My God, they didn’t need to speak at all because I saw the lie in their eyes even before Oreinne said, “That isthe real story. The only story.”

The siren sisters turned around and walked out the door, their bare feet soundless as they went.

The brothers all looked at me, the question, the accusation at the tip of their tongues. If I gave them the chance, they’d feel entitled to tell me to watch how I spoke to the sirens, I thought, so I didn’t. With my head up, I walked out of the room without a glance their way, begging myself not to throw up.

Six

The beach was beautiful,the sand soft underneath my bare feet. I stood there alone, my sneakers discarded to the side because I’d wanted to justfeel somethingwhen I came out here. I’d wanted to try to connect with nature, with the Isle, to get guidance. To gather courage.

I got neither, but the sand did feel soft. It was golden and smooth and so unlike anything I thought I’d find here in the Whispering Woods, but now that the curse was gone, everything had changed.

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