Washeaccusingmeof games? I leaned into the back of the chair with a scoff. “We’ll see if you can follow your own rules, then.”
With a jerk of his arm, he slammed the knife into the wooden bedpost, crossed the floor to me in half a stride, and grasped the back of the chair behind me. I scrambled to my feet, much too slow to react. He’d already yanked the chair forward, letting it hover on its two front legs, though instead of allowing me to slide off, his opposite hand splayed across my chest, catching me in midair. I dangled, trapped, my hands grasping at his arm.
“Why are you here,” he growled.
“In your room?” I barked out, my cool façade up in smoke. “Because you made me marry you, you raving imbecile.”
“Why are you in Calder?”
“What?” I blinked at him through my hair. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, who brought you here? Where are you really from? I’ve checked the registrars, they’ve been forged. Your father isn’t a lord, and there’s no family name of Inoa with any noble blood. It’s been covered up very well, I have to admit I’m impressed at the lengths someone went to plant you. At the trouble you must have gone through to have me meet you on the island. To have me take pity on you, to want to protect you. But you’re not who you say you are, so who are you?”
I stared at him, wide-eyed and mouth gaping. “You brought me here,” I ground out.
Kye shoved the chair back on all fours hard enough to make my teeth clatter. No doubt he’d meant to intimidate me, but Icame up snarling like an angry cat, throwing my finger in his face.
“You arrested me for murder, you had my hands bound, you locked me in an iron cell aboard a ship, and you mocked me for—”
“I can’t believe this,” he cut in, laughing without humor. “Youarea temptress, aren’t you?”
My hand retracted an inch as outrage boiled within me, but my mind was ablur with confusion. Something wasn’t adding up.
“I’m a Naiad,” I said, though the last word didn’t leave my mouth. My lips moved, my tongue lilted against my palate, but my breath halted, my voice turned to ash.
I will not speak about these lessons to anyone not expressly involved in them, even my betrothed. I will not willingly admit my Naiad heritage to anyone who doesn’t know who I am. If I speak the words, my voice will be lost.
I stared at Kye. He stared back, forced patience peeling his lips from his teeth. “You’re a what?”
“I’m—”
The words I might have said fell in a panic around me.
He didn’t know what I was.
I mean, who brought you here? Where are you really from?
I swallowed, the feeling of cold ice plunging into my stomach. “You didn’t go back to Neris Island?”
“Neris Island?” he said, eyes narrowing. “Yes. I spent the night with you there.”
“After that. With Thaan.”
His jaw tensed. He said nothing else.
But I realized I didn't need an answer. Shock and agony alike sliced slowly through me, and I curled my arms around myself, my breath strangling under the squeeze of frozen ropes wringing me from the inside out.
He lowered my chair to the floor, his feet arcing a wide circle around me. “It’s funny, how my memory has lapsed since I leftyourisland. I landed in Leihani in my rowboat, and every islander was calling for your death. I watched Thaan write up the death warrant, and argued with him,threatenedhim if he signed it. And then—inexplicably—I woke up the next morning in the cabin of a ship, surrounded by turquoise water.”
He exhaled, proud of himself for finally catching me off guard.
I watched him circle me like a predator hunting its prey, dawning horror stabbing me from all sides of the room.
“I rioted against the entire crew, smashing crates, kicking barrels, trading blows with anyone who came near me, determined to turn theAspirearound and go back for you, but Thaan showed me the death warrant, signed by my own hand.” His breath hissed through his teeth. “The first of many promises I didn’t make, but somehow, people witnessed me make them. Every day at noon on that ship, I fell asleep, and didn’t wake until morning. I didn't realize until I finally woke in my own bed, here in the palace. It was you. You are the seductress they said you were.”
He waited for my answer. In my mind, I watched as Kye sat down over the open hatch of theAspire. He slapped his thigh at me in an invitation to sit on his lap.Come on, island witch.I’m not aiming to bite hard.
Selena’s voice echoed across my consciousness.
