Page 50 of The Eighth Isle

His eyes were still bloodshot but not as dark, and his fangs had retreated, but my blood still stained his beard and chin.

“I thought…I thought you…” Fuck, I’d thought he was dead, but I couldn’t say those words out loud. “I came here and you weren’t moving, Grey. I called you.” And he wouldn’t wake up. Only now that I could see all the shades of grey in his eyes did I realize just how terrified I’d truly been.

Grey brought his lips to mine and kissed me gently, like he knew that was my lifeline.

“I’m okay, baby,” he told me, wrapping his hand around the back of my head. “I’m okay, I promise you. She just put me to sleep.”

My eyes squeezed shut. “Are you…did she hurt you?”

“No,” Grey said, pushing me back again so he could look into my eyes. “She didn’t. She just put me to sleep, but your blood woke me up. You need to tell me how you got here, baby—now.And I need to hide you.” Suddenly, he stood up with me in his arms, and his eyes turned bloodshot again within the second. “If she finds you here…” Wings exploded from his back and he suddenly thought to look around the room, at where we were, as if he was just realizing we weren’t all alone in the universe. “We have to?—”

“She’s not here,” I said, my hands on his face, smiling, though tears were still sliding down my cheeks. “She’s not here. She’s in Witches’ Wing with Reeva. She’s not here, Grey,” I kept saying as he moved us around while he looked outside, searching.

Meanwhile my eyes were stuck on his face only.

That dried blood no longer scared me. By now I was convinced. Grey was perfectly fine, and so was I.

“How do you know that, baby?” he suddenly said, looking down at me. “What did you do?”

I flinched. “Nothing. I didn’t do anything.”

But Grey wouldn’t have it. He was looking more furious by the second when he put me down on my feet but still held me tightly to his chest. “Fall, I need you to tell me exactly how you got here. If she feels you?—”

“She won’t!” I said, taking his face in my hands. “Look—Reeva saw the end of the world in the Star Reader, and then Mama Si proposed that they come to Syra and tell her about it. She was sure that Syra would want to see for herself—and she did! So, I came here to get you while she’s out there, still in Witches’ Wing. Do you understand? She’snothere. Only her golems and the dragon outside—but the Isle is empty, Grey!” And somehow, we were both still alive.

He thought about it for a second, shaking his head. “Nobody else is here? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m s—” I stopped speaking.

Fuck.

“Fall?” Grey said, pushing my hair away from my face.

“Valentine. He followed me here, but I stopped him outside. He didn’t come into the castle with me.”

Grey nodded. “We can handle Valentine.”

“We need to run before she comes back,” I whispered. “Storm is outside—do you hear him?” Storm’s roars told me that he was flying in circles around whichever part of the castle we were in. “He can take us away. We can fly back.”

Suddenly, Grey looked at me like he wasn’t even sure I was real.

Or maybe like he just realized who I was and he couldn’t quite believe his own eyes.

“Grey…” I whispered, touching his cheeks, running my fingertips over his lips. He looked bad,sick,completely spent, but it didn’t matter. He was alive and he could drink me completely dry if he had to, to get all his strength back.

“You came for me again,” he said, then crashed his lips to mine, this time violently, until he took all the air out of my lungs.

Something about Grey’s kiss had more magic than what the Enchanted were made of. Something about how he held me, how he kissed me with his whole being, how he explored my mouth with his tongue and took from me everything he needed and gave me back an entire world in return. I’d never get tired of it. I’d never get tired of the way we kissed. The more we did, the more I wanted—and Grey was the same. Maybe that’s what made it all the more addicting.

“I missed you so much,” I whispered, completely breathless and with my eyes closed, forehead against his. We were chest tochest, arms around each other, and for a moment, nothing else mattered.

“I missed you, too, my queen,” Grey said. “I can’t even begin to describe how much I love you because I don’t think I understand it yet myself.”

I smiled, my cheeks flushed. “Or maybe you’re just high on my blood,” I teased, though I wasn’t even sure how much of me he’d drunk.

“I’m high on your everything,” Grey said, kissing me again, just a peck this time. “But right now, we need to get out of here before Syra comes back.”

“We will,” I said, her name sending shivers down my back. “We will. Storm will take us.”

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