Page 16 of Hopelessly Wild


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“There’s a story about the young couple, isn’t there?” she asks, changing the subject.

“There is.” He takes the palm leaves from her and springs from the hammock.

“Wait.” Eden pushes up onto her elbows, and the hammock wobbles. “I want to know.”

Samuel chuckles and throws the palms outside. He seals the netting and takes his place beside her, curling in so he can take her in his arms.

Eden lifts her head to get comfortable and sighs. “I thought you were going to leave and not tell me.”

He kisses her cheek and smiles. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

“Ha.” She slaps his chest. “Tell me about the secret lovers.”

“It’s not so much a secret. Everyone simply turns a blind eye.”

“I knew it.”

“Okay, Detective Monteford, let me know when you’re ready to hear the story.”

Eden rolls her eyes. “Go ahead.”

Samuel can’t hide his smirk. “Her lover, Mari' Iwoi, was from the Watache tribe.”

“Wait. Isn’t that the bad tribe? The cannibals everyone fears?”

“Yes, and yet the real power is here. In the parameters of the village, you have nothing to fear, and you’ll most likely never see a Watache warrior.”

“Warrior? Are they the only ones who venture out?”

“Yes, usually to hunt.”

“How did he come to be in Ulara?”

“By circumstance after a sacrifice. He was brought here by one of the women when he was left in the rainforest as a newborn. A sacrifice to their god, but our shaman and chief debated on what should happen to him.”

“Really?”

He pulls her close to his side and kisses the crown of her head. “Mari' Iwoi translates to ‘dancing snake,’ a name the women gave him. At first, he wasn’t to be trusted, and yet he was a content baby. Kaikare told me he moved his limbs a lot and giggled at the sound of their voices.”

“Such weird names.”

“Says the tortoise.”

She punches him in the arm, and he chuckles. “What about the girl?”

“Kapeá Tapire was born on a red moon. It’s what her name translates to.”

“It doesn’t explain the secrecy.”

“Kapeá Tapire was promised to someone else. A jaguar attacked and killed the young man a few years back.”

“A jaguar,” she croaks.

“Again, it’s something we rarely see, yet they do venture close. Everyone turns a blind eye, so to speak, as they believe their physical attraction is the spirits’ doing. A Kanaima messing with the Ularans. Kapeá and Mari' are… cursed in their minds, and many believe what happens between them is the business of the gods.”

“They hide their affair, and yet they probably don’t need to?”

“They need to out of respect until the shaman gives his blessing, and then Mari' Iwoi moves his hammock into Kapeá Tapire’s family hut.”

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