I skim through the waters, seeking just the right movements that will tell me that what I’m looking for is nearby.

The sea floor stirs, and something impossibly large rises from below.

Immediately, I dart for the surface, alarm flaring through me as the entire bottom of the sea seems to rise up. A sea dragon, I realize, and I’ve wandered into its hunting grounds. Around me, the fish scatter in a panic, and I dart in the opposite direction of the large school of skipjack I’ve been following in the hopes that the sea dragon will go after the fish and not me.

I am not so lucky, though. I can feel it rising in the waters behind me, the sea shivering with the force of its movements and confusing my senses. I need to get away at all costs. Sea dragons are similar to the eels that hide in corals, but ten times the size, and as fiercely possessive of their territory as their smaller cousins.

Something sharp closes in around my leg, sending white-hot pain lancing up my calf. I cry out, the sound escaping away in a bubble. I’m dragged downward, my lower leg trapped in the creature’s jaws. If he takes me into his cave, I won’t make it out alive. I have to break free. I pull one of my short knives from my chest harness and stab at the creature’s face, but the beak of it is tough like Akara’s shell. I stab again and again, desperate to hit something that will make a difference, even as the waters around me fill with blood.

Blood is bad—if the sea dragon doesn’t finish me off, the sharks will. In a panic, I continue to stab—and finally hit something soft. A nostril, perhaps.

The creature thrashes, the head flinging back and forth, and then I’m flung away into the inky waters. Panicked, I claw at the sea, desperate to get away, but all is dark and I don’t know the way up. I’m blinded in the darkness, and I could swim right back into the creature’s yawning mouth if I’m not careful.

I need to go soon, too, or it might change its mind about releasing me and come to finish me off.

Ignoring the fluttering panic in my gut, I cup my hands around my mouth and let out an air bubble, noting the direction it heads, and I follow after it, doing the same over and over again until the light begins to seep through the blue waters, and this time I can see the bubbles heading to the surface.

Clawing my way forward, I surge to the surface and take a deep gasping breath of air. I tread water for a moment, trying to orient my senses, but I’m far from the grotto. I can feel the torn flesh of my leg dragging in the water, and the dull, hot pain increases by the moment.

I have to get to shore. I can’t bleed freely in the water or I’ll bring every shark in the area to my side. I mentally reach for Akara, but her thoughts feel distant. I try to head toward them, but my own thoughts are foggy with pain.

Stupid. I’m so stupid. I practically wandered into a sea dragon’s mouth just because I was trying to chase fish for a pretty human. I should have known better than to venture so deep. I swim for a bit, noting that the shore is a dim line of color on the horizon. Closer than that, a gray fin breaks the surface, circling.

I’m not going to make it to the shore.

I turn, looking for alternatives. There’s a sandy spit not too far away, with a lone tree clinging to the rocks. I head there and barely manage to pull myself to the shore. Sand clings to my skin as I pull myself to safety, getting into my wound and sending more pain shooting through my limbs. I turn onto my back and look down at my bad leg—the flesh of my calf hangs off, as if the beak of the creature was trying to strip meat from bone and didn’t get a chance to finish. The sight of it makes me ill, as does the blood pooling around me in the sand.

Pulling my chest harness off, I make a tourniquet to slow the bleeding and then lie back on the sands, dizzy. I’ll rest for a bit, wait for the sharks to dissipate, and then swim back to the grotto. It might be morning before it’s safe, though.

Hopefully Vali won’t be too frightened to spend the night alone.

Chapter

Sixteen

VALI

Ranan doesn’t return for supper.

Normally when the sun sets, he returns with a freshly caught fish or two and an eager look in his eye. I like to pretend that the eager look is for me, that he’s happy to return to my side. It’s more likely he’s just hoping for me to use my mouth on him before bed, but I don’t mind. I like pleasuring him.

Tonight, though…no Ranan.

Huh.

I mentally go through our last conversation, wondering if I said something to offend him. Wondering if I’ve irritated him enough that he’s decided to just not come back for me at all. It doesn’t seem like something Ranan would do, however. If he was done with me, he’d say so.

Wouldn’t he?

I keep myself busy, tidying up the cave and sorting through a few more bags of treasure that have been carelessly tossed together. There are delicate dishes mixed in with cloth, vials of exotic spices flung in with jewelry, and fascinating-looking weapons mixed in with the lot. I neatly sort through everything, not because I’m calculating their worth, but because it’ll be easier for Ranan to realize what he has if it’s all placed together. By the time I’m done with three of the biggest trunks in the back of the grotto, I’ve got a chest full of Yshremi coins, a smaller one of Adassian, and bags of jewelry. The weapons are rolled into leather to keep them tidy, and the fabrics gently folded.

Still no Ranan.

My heart aches. I must have offended him, then. Said something stupid or careless…or lied again.

Gods, that must be it. Some silly lie has tumbled off my lips without me realizing it, and he’s furious at me once more. That’s why he hasn’t returned.

Crushed, I go to sleep alone in our nest of blankets.

I wake up to sunlight streaming in through the hole in the roof of the grotto, and still no Ranan. Sitting up, I rub my face and yawn…and then I hear it.

A low, morose bellow. Like a woale searching for her calf, only much larger and deeper.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I get to my feet, listening for it again. Is that…his turtle? What’s her name? Akara? Did he not take her with him if he was leaving?

None of this makes sense.

Since I didn’t eat last night, I nibble on a few of the treats he’d brought me from the mainland— dried fruit and nuts. I clean up after myself and get fresh water, and am relieved to note that my period is finally gone. There’s nothing to stop me from learning to swim now.

Nothing except for the fact that the person I wanted to learn for is gone.

Akara makes another low moaning sound, and it unsettles me. I don’t know anything about turtles of any size, but that doesn’t sound happy.

Is it possible that something has happened to Ranan?

I glance up at the hole in the ceiling of the cave, but it’s far too high up for me to climb to. The only way out of here is to go along the watery tunnel I entered from. The thought makes me shiver. I can’t swim, and this time I don’t have Ranan to guide me through. What if I get lost underwater? What if I drown?

Akara moans again, and I scrub my hands against my scalp. I can’t stand it. I have to see what’s going on. Ranan wouldn’t leave his turtle behind. I like to think he wouldn’t leave his wife behind either, not without some sort of word. Something must be wrong.

Decided, I move to the edge of the pool and stare into the blue depths. My teeth chatter with fear, imagining all the monsters that could be lurking just outside the cave entrance, waiting to gobble me up.