His mouth twitched, and I thought for a moment he might laugh. In a blur of color and motion, he rolled on top of me, fingers wrapping around my wrists, pulling my arms above my head and trapping me where I lay.
43
“I’m this close to ending you and throwing your body in the water,” Kye growled, his body flat over my own. “Do not tempt me.”
I snickered, the heat of his body rousing the fight in me. “Like you did to Naheso? Before you arrested me for his murder?”
His face inches from mine, something flashed in his eyes, there and gone before I could recognize what it was. “You’re mad,” he said. “Did your uncleactuallyattack you? Or is that what you told me after you stabbed him in the back, knowing I’d do your dirty work?”
Shock parted my mouth, pooling into my chest and coalescing with outrage.
“You traitorous bastard,” I breathed. “I came looking for Akamai, for a way to help him.Youtold me to go to Neris.Youtold me to run—to leave him behind andgo. You took everything from me when you did, and you think I manipulated you into doingmydirty work?”
He pressed against me, one hand holding mine, his forearm cutting across my collarbone.
“And the six sailors. What happened to them, Leihani? Seduced by the island witch to their deaths? When we met, I thought you were untouched by a man.” He laughed darkly, an unreadable emotion igniting in his gaze. “You seemed too angry to let one get close to you. Too high-strung, yet too naïve. It was charming.Youwere charming. But the islanders were right all along, weren’t they? You lured six sailors to the beach, then had your way with them before you killed them."
Fire blazed within me as I realized what he accused me of.
He shook his head. "Is that why you killed Naheso? Did he find you with one of your victims? Did—”
He froze, his breath staggering as his body turned to stone in the wake of the knife I pointed into his abdomen.
The folding blade he’d left on my couch three weeks ago after threatening to kill me. I pressed it in, letting its sharp tip voice the rage in my silent rebuttal.
“Get off me.”
Kye slowly released my hand and rose, dark amusement dancing behind his eyes. Teeth bared, I kept the knife aimed in his direction as I stood on shaky feet.
“Thaan thinks he has a use for you. But I don’t. You know that, right?” he asked, his voice dangerously soft. “You might as well go back to Leihani. I won’t be tied to you the rest of my life. I know what you really are, and it disgusts me. We’ll get this wedding over with, and when enough time has passed, I’ll get rid of you.”
I folded the knife, throwing it over the cliff where darkness ate it whole. “I’ll already be gone.”
I should have sung to him, I realized after the fact. After I was alone in my room, safe and dry and warm, trying to usher my nerves into calm little puddles within me.
If he didn’t know what happened to the sailors, he didn’t know aboutincantation—otherwise, why would he have asked me?
But he knew just enough to realize I had the ability to claim the minds of others. Even if he didn’t understand thehow, he understood thewhat. Thaan might not have kept him fully informed about Naiad skills, but Kye obviously knew enough to gather his own ideas.
Six days. Five, now that the sun had come up.
I’d listened all night for the sound of Kye’s heart through the wall, but it never came.
Good. Maybe that meant he’d taken his own advice and thrown his own stupid self off the cliff.
Rolling upright in bed, I threw my legs over the edge. Time for training. I was due to meet Selena in an hour. Pike was taking us to the Venus Sea.
I went through my morning motions dully, dressing in deep thought.
In the carriage, Selena watched me, anxious curiosity splashed across her gaze. But I didn’t speak to her until we’d swam across the water and stopped on a remote island off the northern coast of Calder. A rocky gray landmark of barren earth and little soil, though somehow bits of green grass and small trees persevered to grow within cracks. Sitting in the heavy sun, warming our blood before plunging back in to return, I sighed. “Could I not grow my power here in Calder by gardening, as I did in Leihani?”
“You could, if we had twenty years to wait,” Selena said, lifting her tail towards the clouds, her eyes closed. “Marriage is a necessary item in Thaan’s plan. Acorda-cruorcreates more power than something like gardening.”
“CanI garden here?”
Selena gazed at me, amused. “I’ll ask the head gardener.”
I watched the sky, keeping my thoughts to myself, carefully choosing which questions to ask.
