of boulders at the base of the rock wall.
“Can’t exactly guard you from all the way over there.”
He stroked the inside of my wrist. “Kingston would have to swim to get to me.”
“Not if he dips an arrow inside the apple and shoots it at you.”
His eyebrows folded over his eyes. “I don’t think . . .” He swung toward Cruz, who was walking into the water fully clothed. I wasn’t sure if he’d kept his pants and shirt on for my sake or because it made doing laundry swifter. “Hey, Vega, how does the apple work?”
Cruz juggled his stalk of yellow aloe between his hands. “What do you mean?”
“Do you have to bite into it and swallow a chunk or can the juice kill you?” I asked.
He clutched the curled stalk so hard a drop of golden gel hit the surface of the pool. “A piece has to get into your system. Juice alone can’t kill you.”
Remo turned back toward me, relief ironing his brow. “Feel better?”
“I’ll feel better once he’s gone,” I whispered.
“Soon.” His thumb drifted to the middle of my tattooed palm and gave it a light squeeze. “Now go. And if you see your uncle, yell and jump into the water, okay?”
Nibbling on my bottom lip, I nodded and then treaded around the foaming crescent until I reached the boulders, climbing over one and onto another. When I felt perched high enough, I pressed my back against the smooth stone and finger-combed my hair, then plaited it while Cruz and Remo spoke in low tones, drowned out by the waterfall.
When I caught both glancing my way and the edges of Kingston’s name on Remo’s lips, I deduced Cruz was being filled in on what had happened earlier. Maybe Remo was looking for an ally, or maybe he was just warning my father’s best friend about our plan for my traitorous uncle.
Whatever they discussed was done surreptitiously and quickly. Before the wet patches on my new clothes had even dried, they were both stalking out of the water, naked. I flung my gaze down onto my pebbled thighs and picked at a thread in the hem of my shorts until large veined hands set on the stone, on either side of my bare feet.
“Just so you’re aware, I never mind if you feel like staring. As long as it’s at me, and not at Cruz.”
The tips of my ears burned.
Remo took a step back from the boulder and extended his arms. “Come, fiancée.”
I stood up, and although I could get down on my own, I braced myself on his shoulders to hop off. “Does he have any idea where Kingston hid the apple?”
“No. But he said he’d help me keep him away from you.”
I stared up into his bright green eyes. “And from you.”
“I’m your uncle’s ticket out of here, Amara. He might try to hurt me, but he won’t try to end me.”
I wanted his words to reassure me, but Kingston was a slippery man-child with a massive chip on his shoulder. To think I’d all but landed in his lap by coming here. “Did you tell Cruz about my dust?”
“No.”
“Because you don’t trust him?”
“Because he’d already noticed it. He asked if you could use it.”
“And you said yes?” We were standing so close that when he nodded, the tip of his nose grazed my forehead. “And?”
“He said asphyxiating him might work.”
I liked the sound of might, even though Remo’s inflection told me he didn’t.
“He also speculated that your blood might poison him if we manage to get some in his heart,” he murmured.
I shivered from his suggestion. “I’m scared, Remo.”
He pressed me against him. “I’m here, Amara. Right here with you.”
I nestled my chin in the crook of his shoulder. “I’m not scared of Kingston,” I murmured against his honeyed skin. “I’m scared of failing. I don’t want him to end up in the mud field. I want him gone. For good. Forever.”
His hand threaded through my hair, tugging on my plaited strands, before he pressed a kiss to my temple. “When have you ever failed?”
I snorted. “If you want the full list of my failures, Sook knows each by heart. Just ask. He’ll be more than happy to share them with you.”
Sook. My heart thumped hollowly. How I missed him. Giya. Iba. Nima. Pappy. Nana Em. Nana Vee. I didn’t tell Remo how homesick I was, but I clutched him a little harder, because until someone came for us, he was my only piece