Ranan continues to gaze down at me with that soft look in his eyes, as if he’s feasting on me. “You’re swimming well.”

I grow flustered because now he sounds proud of me, too. “Stronger every day, just like your leg.”

He chuckles, his gaze lighting up with amusement at my retort. “Indeed.” But when he looks over to Balo, his expression ices over and becomes remote. “Teaching her spear fishing when she’s new to swimming seems dangerous. She could get hurt.”

Balo shakes his head at that, swimming over to my side. “She’s a natural. She’s doing a great job and picking it up very quickly. You’d be proud of her.”

Ranan bristles.

Actually bristles.

“I’m always proud of her,” he says, voice stiff. “Vali is strong and smart. She knows how to take care of herself. How to survive. I would never imply that she’s helpless.”

I’m a little startled at his fierce reaction. Balo has been nothing but complimentary and encouraging of my spear fishing. I absently twist the stretchy cord tight around my hand, as if I were about to launch my spear. I don’t know what to make of Ranan’s words. He’s acting jealous of Balo, which makes no sense. He has known Balo for far longer than me. Balo is married to his uncle. And yet he hates the thought of him teaching me things? “I’m just trying to learn,” I say quietly. “So I can be a contributing member of the flotilla.”

“That’s not why I brought you here,” Ranan snaps.

I recoil as if stung, staring at the waters even as I tread in them silently.

“You don’t have to prove anything to anyone,” Ranan says after a long, reluctant moment. “That’s not why you’re here. If anything, I’m the one…”

Just then, a large shadow passes under our feet, swimming below us. Ranan trails off.

Balo puts a calm hand on my shoulder. “Not a shark. A thunderfish. Tasty eating if⁠—”

Perfect. That’s all I need to know.

Before he can finish, I duck under the water and surge down toward the thunderfish. It’s the answer I’ve been looking for. It’s the sacrifice I need for Lord Vor. Maybe if I present this to him, my luck will change. Ranan will look at me with that affectionate, devouring gaze always.

He’ll love me.

I surge down into the waters, towards the fish. Balo is splashing behind me, probably to stop me. It’s huge, I realize in a flash. Longer than my body, and swimming slowly. This will be a true feast for the god of the seas. I let my spear fly.

It all happens in the space of a breath. Going under, a dive toward the fish, the sling of my spear. Time moves slowly, and I watch my spear sail through the water. I can almost hear the thud as it sinks into the large fish’s flank and blood blooms in the waters.

Then, there’s a jerk on the cord. The large fish jolts, and I’m pulled along in the water after it.

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

RANAN

Before Vali’s spear connects, I know what’s going to happen.

I shout even as the fish bolts away, swimming at top speed, and drags her smaller form along with it.

“—if they weren’t such a pain to catch,” Balo finishes, his voice rising in panic. “No!”

I toss aside my crutch and dive into the water. There’s no time to think—I have to get to Vali before the fish swims so deep and so far that she drowns. I move through the water, using all four arms to surge as fast as possible. Balo will call for help rather than attempt to save her himself—he knows he won’t be fast enough—but by that time, it might be too late. I kick in the water, ignoring the hot shock of pain that lances up my leg. I swim, following along behind that fish, moving so speedily that it’s nothing but a blur in the waters.

And dragging behind it, frantically clawing at the water, is my Vali. She flails as the fish darts back and forth, trying to shake her loose, but she’s got the safety loop tied to her ankle. The fish drags her along, feet first, and zigzags back and forth along the ocean floor. I know these fish—I know that they bolt and head for deeper waters when startled, and that is a death sentence for Vali. I fight my own panic as the fish darts, moving entirely too close to a coral reef. My leg throbs in pain but I ignore it, because I’m gaining on the impossibly swift thunderfish.

With every bit of energy I have left, I surge forward and reach for one of Vali’s flailing arms that windmill in the water. I grasp onto her and she clings to me, a bubbled scream emerging from her throat. The fish jerks and slows, trying a different route for escape with more weight on the line, and I clutch my mate even as I climb up her body, heading for the offending cuff. When I reach it, it takes a few moments for me to undo the tight knot, and then her foot slips free. She immediately darts for the surface and I grab her hand, hauling her along with me. She hasn’t been under so deep and so long that she needs to surface slowly. Right now, she needs air more than anything.

I want to shout with relief when I break the surface and drag Vali upward until she crashes through. She immediately coughs and chokes, spewing water from her mouth and nose.

“I’ve got you,” I tell her, anchoring an arm at her waist that will keep her head above water.

She sobs as she coughs, clinging to me and sputtering. More water pours out of her and her ragged breaths sound wet. She’s shaking all over and the realization that I almost lost her hits me. If I hadn’t been standing there, Vali would be gone. Dead. Balo—or any other human—can’t swim fast enough to catch up with a panicked thunderfish. She would have just disappeared, never to be seen again.

The idea terrifies me. I shake her, frantic. “What were you thinking, Vali?!”

She coughs harder, managing to sputter, “Lord…Vor…”

“I said I would take you! What, you think a few days with a spear and a few swimming lessons and you can suddenly do whatever you like? Don’t be foolish, Vali!”

She pushes at me, another sob breaking her throat. “Can’t you wait until we get back to the flotilla to get mad at me?”

“You almost didn’t make it back! I almost lost you!” I give her another little shake. “Do you understand that?”

Vali splashes water at me, as frustrated as I am. “I know it was wrong now! Quit yelling!”

“I’m not yelling!” I bellow.

“I’m just trying to prove my worth!”

“Your worth?” I roar, trapping her above the water’s surface with my right arm while my left arms swim frantically for the safety of the flotilla. A brief glance shows me just how far Vali’s been pulled, and it makes my leg ache just seeing how far it had taken her so quickly. “You don’t need to prove anything! To anybody!”

Vali lets out a scream of rage…that she ruins by coughing. “I don’t understand you, Ranan! If we’re not here so I can prove myself to your people, then why are we here?”

She clings to me, even as she argues, and I don’t mind that with every cough she’s spraying my face. I welcome every ragged breath she takes. Even though I’m furious, I’m starting to grow angry at myself, too. Vali thinks that I brought her here to see how she’d fit in with my people? Doesn’t she realize I don’t care if she fits in with them or not?

“We’re here,” I say, rolling onto my back so I can let her rest her upper body on my stomach as she shivers and quakes, “because I am proving myself to you. I am going to marry you in front of all of my people so you will no longer think I am trying to get rid of you. So we’ll have truth between us and you won’t feel the need to pretend out of fear that I’ll give you away. So you’ll realize what I’ve been trying to tell you all along. That you are my wife, now and forever.”

She stares at me as she clings to my abdomen, and I anchor my arm tighter around her waist. I can’t help but notice that she’s still wearing the foolish dress she insists upon, though now it is bunched and gathered at her waist, stuck around the belt. Her magnificent breasts heave against my chest, and she sputters. Her hand slaps against my chest, though it doesn’t hurt. “You…idiot! Are you serious?”