Did he recall anything from Neris Island? Or was I a blurry shape in his memory? Did he believe my father found him?
It didn’t really matter. Whatever memories were left intact from his near-drowning weren’t enough for him to trust me. He’d been on Leihani long enough to have heard the rumors.
That sailors here vanished, especially those that stared too long in my direction.
Because I lure unsuspecting men into the water so I can kill them and drink their blood.
The sudden urge to shrivel into myself hit without warning.
Why had I said that?
Warmth climbed up my back and neck as a receding wave swept away from him, pulling the water line with it. Sculpted shoulders rose from under the surface, a peaked vein on his left bicep disappearing below. He pulled himself lower and glanced down at his feet, bringing one dripping hand out of the water to scratch his neck. The flash of his side, wavering under the surface, became clear.
Mihaunahelp me.
I hadn’t realized he was naked.
He raised a brow at the connection that I’m sure became blatant across my face. Eyes wide, my gaze landed on the bamboo boathouse across the inlet, and I ignored the blazing fire that crawled into my cheeks. To his credit, he didn’t balk or shrink away. He rested his hands on his hips in the water, his back straight and proud, watching as I paddled around him.
My skin radiated with heat as I passed, his eyes sharp on my back.
At the edge of the reeds, my oars slowed.
The turquoise water had gone scarlet, too thick to see the sand below the surface. The scent of rusted metal tickled my nose. Something bobbed in the water ahead, white and round.
Water splashed behind me as Kye waded to the beach, but I ignored the sound as I neared the strange shape. Stilling my oars, I stopped in the center of the inlet, leaning over the edge of myva’a.
Feathers lifted as wind dragged the lifeless body of a chicken toward me, its talons curled into each other. Tilting over my hull, I realized it was missing its head just as something bumped into the back of my canoe.
Something big.
My hands steadied on my oars as I grasped on, my body rocking with the sudden motion of my boat.
I glanced over my shoulder to see a tall, steel-gray fin slide past me.
8
Sharks didn’t normally hunt this close to Leihani Island.
They usually roamed the reefs to the north, in Luaahi waters. But as I gazed at the dark body just below the waves, there was no arguing what loomed beneath me. The shark grazed the surface on its side, close enough I could’ve reached to brush the skin of its white belly. A gash ran the length of its abdomen, a wound left by another shark.
It was sick—that’s why it had drifted so close to shore.
Unable to hunt its normal prey, it had come here in search of an easier catch. And here I sat, directly over its head.
Stay calm.
White-knuckled as I braced the edges of myva’a, I sat frozen in my seat. The beach lay only twenty feet away. So close. Pulse thrumming in my ears, I forced my hands to let go of the wooden walls and wrap around my oars instead. They shook as I pressed down, driving the paddles into the water.
I rowed through the gentle surf, smooth and slow. Bubbles and splashing would only catch a shark’s attention. I wanted it completely unconcerned about—
Theva’alurched, throwing me forward. I landed over my own feet, catching myself on the wooden stern, one hand flailing into a red-tinted wave. As I scrambled upright, the canoe began to thrash. Horror gripped me by the heart and my shriek pierced the air. I clung wherever my fingers could find purchase. The outrigger would keep myva’aupright, but only if it stayed intact, and by the sound of things, the shark was curious about the flavor of wood.
Something under my knees cracked.
I felt it—the reverberating chasm of hardened timber as it ruptured. Below, the shark was half-visible in the murky water, its powerful tail slashing the silt floor as its square head lashed back and forth, shredding apart whatever it had in its mouth.
Cool liquid tickled my shins. My pulse lit into my veins, each beat an aching throb through my fingertips and along my forehead. Water pooled around my knees as I sat back on my seat, body rigid, the oars lifeless in my hands.
