He cracked his knuckles. “It’s been a long time, but I’m sure I can still do it.”
“Get back into the boat, Aren,” Jor said. “You’re not a fourteen-year-old boy anymore.”
“No, I’m not. Which should only be to my advantage. Lia and Taryn, you bait. Do a good job of it unless you want to spend your days watching Ahnna’s ass.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Jor ordered the two women. “Stay put.”
Aren twisted round in the water, resting his hands on the boat. “Do I need to remind you who is king here, Jor?”
Lara felt her jaw drop. Never in her time in Ithicana had she seen him pull rank. Give orders, yes, but this was different.
The two men glared at each other, but Jor threw up his free hand in defeat. “Do as His Majesty orders.”
With grim faces, the two women retrieved a pair of fish each, then jumped into the water. They’ve done this before, Lara thought. They’ve done this before for him.
Lara’s heart was pounding in a staccato beat. “Get in the boat. Your arm isn’t healed.”
“It’s healed well enough.”
“This is madness, Aren! What are you trying to prove?”
Aren didn’t answer, wading until he stood only a few feet back from the water line, then standing utterly still while the two soldiers splashed noisily in opposite directions, drawing the attention of the snakes. The ground beneath the ledge was a twisting mass of bodies, the creatures moving away from the path, watching the women.
This is because of what you said, a voice in her head whispered. You told him to lay down and die.
“Aren, get back in the boat.” Her voice was unrecognizably shrill. “You don’t need to do this.”
He ignored her.
Tell him you care. Tell him his life matters to you. Say what you need to say to get him back in the boat.
Except she couldn’t. Couldn’t tell him a lie like that only to stab him in the back.
But is it a lie?
“Aren, I . . .” Lara’s throat strangled the rest of the words.
Jor nodded at the guards in the boat, and those carrying bows silently knocked arrows, but somehow, Aren sensed what they were doing. “If any of you shoots one of those arrows, you’re done in my guard.”
They lowered their bows. “You can’t be serious,” Lara snarled. “Aren, get back in the boat, you—”
“Go!”
At his command, the women threw flopping fish onto the beach. Once again, snakes shot out from the under the ledge, dozens upon dozens. More than Lara could count. And just as the frontrunners were about to snap up their prize, Aren broke into a sprint, feet sinking into the deep sand. He only made it halfway up the beach when the snakes saw him, several of them rearing up high to regard the intruder before launching themselves his direction.
He was fast.
But the snakes were faster.
“They’re coming!” Lara screamed, watching in horror as the wicked creatures flew across the sand. Aren was on the path, racing toward the towering pier, sweat gleaming on his bare shoulders. He had thirty yards to go.
He wasn’t going to make it.
The snakes were throwing themselves through the air, their jaws snapping only paces behind him. And they were closing in.
“Run!”
Lara stood, not even noticing how the boat rocked beneath her. He could not die. Not like this.
Jor was on his feet, too. “Run, you little shit!”
Only a dozen yards. Please, she prayed. Please, please.
She and Jor saw it before Aren did. An enormous beast of a snake rounding the base of the pier, drawn by the commotion of its smaller brethren. It saw Aren the same time he saw it, the snake rearing even as the king skidded, caught between death on both sides.
Without thinking, Lara lifted Aren’s bow and tore an arrow out of the hand of the nearest guard. Nocking the arrow even as she whirled, she let it fly. The black fletching shot through the air, barely missing Aren’s shoulder, catching the man-eater square in its open mouth.
Aren reacted instantly, leaping over the fallen snake and jumping to catch handholds in the worn rock, jerking his heels out of reach of the lunging snakes just in time. He climbed to the midway point in a matter of seconds, then turned his head to look at the boat, likely to see who’d disobeyed his orders.
Lara let the bow slip from her fingers, but it didn’t matter. He’d seen. They’d all seen. And now she’d have to deal with the consequences.
No one spoke as he climbed, and Lara’s heart didn’t slow for a moment of it, knowing full well that a fall from that height would kill him. The wound on his arm had broken open, and blood was dripping off him as he climbed, but if it bothered him, he didn’t show it. Reaching the top of the bridge, Aren loped down the span until he was back over deep water, then without hesitation, dove into its depths.
Lara held her breath, searching the sea for any sign of him. But there was nothing.
His shoulder was bleeding.
What if there were sharks nearby?
Jor was moving behind her, kicking off his boots, the boat drifting. “Lia, Taryn! Get over here.”
Then Aren broke the surface, hauling himself into the boat in one smooth motion. Water glistened on his tanned skin, muscles rippling as he caught his balance, his soldiers half falling out to clear a path as he stepped toward her. “What the hell was that?”
Lara stood her ground, not caring that he loomed over her. “Me saving your childish ass, that’s what it was.”
“I didn’t need saving.”
Jor’s subsequent cough sounded a great deal like “bullshit.” Aren glared at Jor once, before turning back to Lara. “You never said you could use a bow. Would’ve been a useful thing for you to mention in recent months.”
“You never asked.” Rising on her toes, she glared at him until he took a step back, the boat rocking as it drifted closer to shore. “And if you ever scare me like that again, don’t think I won’t hesitate to use one on you.”
“And here I thought you didn’t care.”
“I don’t! You can walk back onto that beach and bed down with one of those snakes for all the difference it makes to me.”
“Is that so?” And quick as the serpents on the island, he picked her up and tossed her into the water.
Lara landed on her ass on the sandbar, the water only up to her waist, but her clothing soaked. “Asshole!” She clambered to her feet, the waves lapping at her knees.
“Says the woman who’s been nothing but a thorn in my—” He cut off with a yelp as Jor leaned back in the boat and kicked him solidly in the ass.
Aren landed on his hands and knees with a splash, nearly knocking Lara over. Regaining his footing faster than she had, Aren shouted, “Goddammit, Jor. What the hell was that for?”
But the boat was already sailing away. “We’ll be back,” Jor shouted, “Once you two work out this little marital spat.” Then the vessel rounded the pier and they were out of sight.
Unleashing a string of blistering curses, Aren smacked his hand against the surface of the water. Lara hardly noticed. Instead she watched the snakes making their way down the sand, stopping at the waterline. Several of them reared, swaying back and forth as they watched the two of them. And behind her . . . open ocean. Even if she could swim, Lara damn well knew what lurked within those waters.