Page 72 of The Eighth Isle

I feltmovement on the bed.

At first, I was sure I was dreaming, but then the heat of his hand on my cheek pried my eyes open, and I thought I heard my name falling from his lips in a whisper.

“Grey,” I said, trying to sit up as a rush of panic and excitement ran through me, but he didn’t let me. He was on the bed with me, lying by my side, his hands on my face, his wings half spread.

His eyes were bloodshot, too, and there was blood coming out of his nose and the corner of his lips.

My stomach turned. “What happened?!”

“Nothing,” Grey said. “It’s fine, nothing happened. Calm down, baby.”

“What did she do to you?” My hands shook as I reached for the blood on his face—almost completely dry. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, either, and his hair was all over the place.

“Nothing,” Grey insisted. “Look at me—everything is okay. Breathe, baby. Just breathe.” And he brought his lips to mine.

I closed my eyes and held onto his neck and I felt his soft lips against mine, telling myself that I wasn’t going to find out what happened if I didn’t calm down first.

Telling myself that Grey was here, in my bed, and it was nighttime outside still.

Grey wasin my bed.

My eyes opened and I touched his face, ran my fingers through his hair. “You’re here.”

“She’s gone for a little while, off the Isle,” Grey said, and my stomach about came right out of me.

“Then what are we—”waiting for,I wanted to say as I sat up, pushing him off me, but Grey stopped me again.

“We can’t leave. She’s put a spell outside. If we step out of the castle, we’ll fall unconscious.” Dragging himself closer to me, he grabbed my face in his hands again. “We can’t leave, Fall. Not tonight.”

Closing my eyes again, I swallowed back the tears and touched his arms. “What happened? Why are you bleeding?”

“I tried to get Storm to pull me out,” he said. “Didn’t work. I’m fine.”

He did sound fine. Pushing myself back for a bit, I looked into his dark eyes. “What is happening, Grey? I never see you. I never see any of you.”

“She wants us out of your way. Wants you to bepeaceful,” he said, then flinched. “She’s convinced you’re going to start liking it here. She tried to make me tell her what you like.”

“She’s fucking batshit crazy.”

“But she’s getting comfortable,” Grey said. “The more of the world out there she’s seeing, the more she’s realizing that nobody is a match for her, and the more comfortable she’s becoming.”

Fuck, that sounded awful. “So, how are we ever going to make it out of here? What the hell is she planning to do to me?” That question haunted me more than anything still.

“I don’t know yet. I’ve been trying to find out, but she always knows when I’m close. And Valentine won’t speak to me at all. I can’t hurt him—she gets angry if I try.”

“Thendon’ttry.” Just the thought of her driving forks into his wings like that again made me want to break something. Even my magic that had been almost dormant the past couple days raged.

“I won’t,” Grey said, then brought his forehead to mine. “Happy birthday, baby. I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you. I’m sorry that we couldn’t celebrate properly.”

His words took me by surprise—holy shit, I turned twenty-one!

“It’s fine,” I said, shaking my head. “Really, I don’t care.”

“But I do. We’ll celebrate the moment we’re out of here,” he said. Despite everything, I smiled. “And when we do, I’ll give you a proper gift, but right now…” He took my hand in his and placed something in my palm, something just slightly bigger than a penny. “Right now, this is all I have.”

I raised my hand and turned it to the lamp to see better. It was a round piece of wood engraved on either side. One was an eye, so detailed the lashes on it looked almost real. So perfect. And on the other side… “Een aeva,” I whispered.

“And your eye,” Grey said. “It’s just a piece of oak. I couldn’t make it bigger because she’d have smelled it. I know it’s not much, but?—”

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