“Then you go to war.”
I lay quietly, soaking in his answer.
“Are you planning a war with someone, Leihani?” he asked softly, propping up high enough to study me.
Thaan’s face flashed in my head, quickly trailed by the Breath of Safiro, a gleaming blue weight in my hand as I passed it to Nori, never giving it a second thought until I’d read Selena’s diary. I still hadn’t concluded how a stone could break me free of my blood vow, but it was enough to know that itcould, if I ever got my hands on it again.
It was my only hope. Unless I settled for the alternative of killing Hadrian and waiting for the day I was named queen.
“My turn,” Kye said when I didn’t answer. “How long can you hold your breath?”
“Why?”
He sighed. “You’re not allowed to question my question.”
“Fine. I’ve never timed myself. But longer than you, I’m sure.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“No.”
He snorted. “Yes it is.”
A glowing spark drifted from the fire over our heads, the wind dousing its flare, leaving it to float in the breeze. Staring at the night sky, he waited quietly for me to accept. My brows furrowed at the dark cliffs as I felt his self-assurance grow with every passing moment, the smugness rolling from him as thick as the waves of heat from his body.
“Fine,” I snapped, pivoting to face him. Kye lifted his arm just enough to let me. Then rested it over the valley of my lower back, drawing me in again. I pressed my side against him, drinking his warmth into my bare shoulder and hip.
“Ready?”
I nodded.
We each pulled briny air in, the snap of it lining my chest. My lungs inflated, and I sent Kye what I hoped was a look ofintimidation. His own mouth clamped, he gave me a tight smile and poked me in the ribs.
My breath escaped in a bark of shock.
Kye immediately expelled his own air, not even bothering to gloat. Lacing his fingers, he laid his head into his hands, adopting an expression of sheer boredom.
“You cheated,” I spat.
He shrugged. “If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.”
I scoffed.
“So, Leihani, if you were to guess?”
“Guess what?”
“How long you can hold your breath.”
I chewed at the inside of my cheek. For the briefest moment, I imagined telling him the truth. Not only about breath-holding. The entire truth. That I was a Naiad, a creature of the sea. That my body housed four lungs, not two, and that I could track his emotions and distant water as easily as he could the scent of baking bread. That I’d been waiting for him to fall asleep the past week, then calling to the fluid inside him, using his own blood to mend his wounds.
How easy it would’ve been, to share it all.
How deadly it would make things, if I ever needed to take it back.
The life of the human I reveal myself to will be forfeited.
I swallowed my thoughts down, banishing them away. “Two minutes, maybe.”
