Page 73 of The Eighth Isle

I jumped and wrapped my arms around his neck, cutting him off. “It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.” And I squeezed it in my hand with all my strength.

“I’ll get you a real gift when we’re free,” Grey said against my neck.

“This is real enough. I don’t want another,” I told him. “It’s perfect, Grey. Thank you.”

“I’m glad you like it, my queen,” he said, kissing my cheek as I slowly moved away to give him better access.

“When wasyourbirthday?” I wondered. We hadn’t had the chance to talk about birthdays yet.

He chuckled. “The day before you arrived in the Woods.”

Well, fuck.

I shook my head, smiling, and he continued to kiss my face. “I got the best gift in my life this year, too.”

“I had no idea,” I whispered. “You should have told me. We could have celebrated together.” At least after the Blood Call.

“We did. Every day I’ve been with you was a celebration,” Grey told me. “Talk to me, baby. Tell me how you’ve been. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” I said, and my voice shook a little. “I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. I can’t fucking stand to be away from you,” he said, and this time when he kissed me, he didn’t let go for a long time.

It was a breath of fresh air to feel him like that again, all the way to my marrow. It was freedom—real, true freedom. Slowly, I lay on the bed again, pulling him down with me. Grey’s wings spread to the sides as he settled himself on top of me, never breaking the kiss. I wrapped my arms and legs around him tightly, bursting with excitement to be able to touch him, to smell his skin.

Just like always, the world out there lost importance in a matter of minutes. Everything paled compared to him. I wanted to lay there underneath him all night and all day and all my life—but the truth was that this was dangerous. The truth was that, if Syra found us right now, she was going to hurt him, and hurt him badly.

“Grey,” I whispered between kisses because I still wanted to know. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know but they flew away. They won’t be back for at least a half hour. She won’t leave the Isle for longer than that yet,” Grey said against my lips, pressing his hips onto me as if to show me how hard he was.

My body was on fire when I moaned, meeting his next thrust halfway.

“What is she planning? What is she doing all day?”

“Learning, I think. She’s learning about the world and the other Isles. Valentine is teaching her,” Grey said, and I’d be damned if I didn’t hate that man a little bit more.

“And what about the prophecy of the stars? What is she saying about that?”

“She calls it a lie,” Grey whispered, and he looked pretty concerned even though he never stopped planting kisses everywhere on me as he spoke. “She says the only person that can ruin the Seven Isles is her, and that she has no intention of doing that when she was given back everything that was stolen from her.”

My body turned numb for a moment. “What…what’s she going to do to the baby?” I choked, the words barely leaving my mouth.

Grey stopped and leaned back his head for a moment. “Nothing. Not while I’m still alive,” he said, and there wasn’t a hint of doubt in his voice. “I’ll stop her. She won’t be touching our baby—oryou.”

Our baby, our baby, our baby—God, those words. What they did to me…

Tears in my eyes.

“What if she can’t be stopped?”

“She can,” he insisted. “She can be fooled. She won’t be able to keep us here forever.”

“And what if we leave and she decides that she does want to end the Seven Isles after all?” I’d seen it with my own eyes in that Storyteller—how she’dorderedthe ground to break and burn. An entire fucking continent, and it had obeyed.

“Then the Seven Isles will be no more,” Grey said.

I closed my eyes. “I’m serious, Grey.”

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