Chapter 61
“Aalto, Kye,” Hadrian muttered.
Shock hit me in waves. Air became scarce. A strangled sound escaped from the back of my throat as my eyes roamed over him, hunting for every detail—proof he was safe. Proof he was standing in front of me. Proof I wasn’t simply imagining or dreaming.
Kye. Here. In the woods. Alive. Whole and heavy and strong. Very tan from training outside in the sun. And grinding my moon-forsaken tailbone hard into the tree trunk, driving the backs of my hands into sharp bark as he forced me into submission.
Rage leapt into my throat as I shook against him, demanding to be freed. He didn’t budge, though he raised a brow at my effort.
I bared my teeth. “Let go.”
“In a minute,” he said.
I rocked my hip against the tree, driving my shoulder forward under his weight. He chuckled as he lost his footing, but his grip tightened smoothly around my arms. “Answer us honestly—”
Ripe fury boiled inside me, and I screamed in his face. I attempted to kick him, but my own stupid skirt obstructed my leg. Behind him, Hadrian clenched his jaw, waiting for me to still as Kye’s face grew red, either from the physical struggle of holding me down or his own irritation. Lungs emptied of air, ears ringing and chest heaving, I glared up at him through my lashes.
“Someone is trying to kill me,” Hadrian said evenly. I slowly froze.
No no no no no.
Here it was. They’d ask. I’d answer. They’d kill me.
I gazed up at Hadrian over Kye’s shoulder, waiting for the question that would likely end my life. The crown prince stared hard, his gaze flitting back and forth across my face. Reading me.
Gauging me.
“Who?” I asked, my mouth dry.
Jaw tight, his eyes narrowed. “I think you know who.”
None of us moved. Kye’s heart pounded softly against my chest.
I licked my lips. “How—how do you know?”
Kye ”s mouth worked. “As though we’d tell you. I do not trust Thaan.”
“I understand,” I breathed. “I don’t trust him either.”
My husband took an eternity gazing at me, collecting the lines and pores of my skin, the shape of my eyes and slant of my brows, as if recording the evidence of a crime. “Tell me who you really are,” he said quietly.
I shook my head absently, words lifting and sinking through my mind. I couldn’t tell him I was a Naiad. “Maren is my name,” I said, hoping he believed me. “Just Maren. They added Inoa, the name of an ancestor, to give me a surname. We don’t use surnames in Leihani. I was born to my mother and father in the dry season. I spent my childhood digging clams and gardening. Paddling in my canoe, exploring the island. I like to sing to trees.” I chuckled nervously. Kye didn”t bat an eye. Hadrian crossed his arms, cocking his head with patience. I swallowed. “They—the other islanders—used to call me a witch. They hated my mother. She wasn”t born in Leihani, and none of the islanders trusted her. Except my father.”
Face and neck flushed with tension, hands firmly gripping my own, Kye never wavered from my face, reading my eyes for hidden truth or deceit. “Why did you avoid my question on the island when I asked how she died?”
”Why did you avoid my question when I asked what you came looking for?” I shot back. Hadrian”s gaze shifted to Kye in sudden interest, but the golden eyes before me remained locked on mine, cavernously deep.
“I don’t like to talk about my mother,” I confessed. “I grew up on an island where she was hated, and I was hated for being her daughter.”
“How did she die?”
“In a kai e?e. A monster wave that hit the beach. I was with her when it happened. She’d been sick, and had taken me for a walk. She was able to get me to safety, but the wave took her away.”
Hadrian cleared his throat. “And Thaan?”
“I met Thaan when the ship came to take you back to Calder.” I said, staring into Kye’s gaze as I answered him. I hesitated, wondering which parts of my story I could tell him. “He had me arrested for murdering my uncle. I came to Calder in the prisoner stockade of the Aspire.”
For a moment, I thought Kye’s hold faltered.
Hadrian”s frown deepened. “And did you? Murder him?”
“I—yes. I killed him.” My mouth went dry, my voice fractured, but I raised my chin, meeting Hadrian’s stare over the curve of my own cheek.
“Why?”
My eyes closed as my throat fought away the rawness whenever I remembered my final moments with the uncle who’d taught me to read. “He attacked me with a knife in my garden. I somehow got it away from him, and he climbed over me, strangling me underwater—”
My voice caught, though Kye’s words from that day drifted back to me.
Don’t mourn a man who tried to kill you.
“So, I stabbed him in the back,” I finished with a whisper.
Kye exhaled heavily through his nose.
Hadrian coughed, clearing his throat. “So, you’re claiming self-defense. You were blackmailed.”
Mihauna, I hadn”t expected the relief that followed those words. At admitting what had happened, at having someone understand why I’d come to Calder without having to explain myself. Even Selena had glossed over the reality of how my contract came to be signed. But Hadrian tackled it head on, with all the sheer focus of a steer tucking in and ramming the unknown. Before me, Kye’s eyes flickered, thoughts turning in his own head.
Throat burning, I met his stare. “I don’t—didn’t want to be here. I wanted to stay in Leihani.”
A branch snapped behind us, and Kye and I swiveled to watch Hadrian turn around and cough into the cool forest air. He sat heavily on a log.
“Shit,” Kye breathed, darting a glance at me before releasing my arms. Dimly, I felt the scrape of rough bark as my spine dropped away from the tree.
Kye clambered over the mossy floor to his brother. “Water?”
Hadrian shook his head. “Elros.”
Kye’s gaze whipped toward me and back to Hadrian. “Is he here? He’s in the castle?”
He took a bracing step backwards, ready to run. My knees wobbled, hands and arms shaking as my rush of adrenaline ebbed. Legs crossed, I sat down among the roots, feeling their eyes on me.
“I can’t leave her with you,” Kye hissed through his teeth.
Anger and confusion flared through me, though I was too relieved I wasn’t dead to care. Instead, I watched them both, trying to understand what had just changed.
“Take her, then,” Hadrian wheezed, the tendons in his throat flaring as he dropped his forehead into his hand and lost himself in a fit of coughing. His face turned the color of a newly ripened plum. Grabbing his collar, he ripped the neck of his shirt away from his throat, the top button popping free, but the movement did nothing to ease his coughing. He worked his jaw, eyes full of terror, the purple color deepening across his face, and I realized he’d lost the ability to speak.
Feet ready to bound away, Kye returned in front of Hadrian, hands hard on each shoulder. “Relax,” he said, though sudden desperation rippled through his own voice. “Breath slow. Breathe like you’re making fog.”
Hadrian gazed up at him, his mouth working soundlessly, a fish with no water.
“Breathe!” Kye thundered.
“He can’t,” I said. Their shared gaze snapped to me as though they’d forgotten I was there. Kye growled, turning back to his brother. “Leihani, get back to your horse and go to the castle. Ask for Elros.”
I didn’t move. Frozen, I watched as Hadrian’s eyes rolled, his shoulders drooping. He began to fall forward, but Kye caught him under his arms, hauling him back to the log.
Humans can hold their breath for one to two minutes before they drown.
Eyelids low, Hadrian’s muscles went slack. He leaned against Kye, their eyes meeting in sudden understanding. He slid off the log again, and this time Kye went with him, holding him upright as they huddled against the rotting wood.
Hadrian was suffocating.