4. The Summer Solstice

"Iam sorry to hear about your father." It was the fifth person to approach Ronin and his sister, Yuki, and give their condolences.

Naia shifted from foot to foot on the asphalt, discomfort lining the soles of her feet. Checking out her busy surroundings along the closed strip of road, blocked off by tall, orange cones and a sign. People poured in behind them, around them, and all in front of them. Weaving around each other, filling the strip of the narrow street compacted with rows of stalls. Scents of barbecued meats and sugared fruit wafted in the air.

"Thanks, Lana." Yuki gave the stranger a polite wave. "We'll drop by your stand later."

Ronin said nothing in response.He peered straight ahead, above the crowded area to the tops of the trees surrounding the festival grounds, hands resting in the pocket of his dark trousers. The baggy purple checkered top spilled over his forearms, and he maintained a relaxed expression.

Although Naia could spot the tension in his jaws from the muscles flexing under his skin.

They strolled at a slow pace into the festival. Groups of voices accumulated beneath the low strum of music. Naia's gaze gravitated to the passersby holding snacks and large stuffed animals in their arms.

"Nana used to sell her tinctures and herbal remedies at the festival." Akane gravitated to Naia as they walked. "Papa carried on her tradition."

"What a fun hobby," Naia said, avoiding expressing any other sympathies.

She couldn't help but glance down at the little girl. Akane's hair was pinned up, and she wore a marigold cotton robe with floral patterns. Wrapped around her small waist was a red sash.Yuki wore a similar robe, only hers was a blue color scheme.

A yukata, Yuki had told Naia when she'd complimented it before they'd left the house. It was a custom in their culture on their mother's side to wear them during the festival.

"She's been gone for a year, and yet we still have an entire room full of her medicinal creations," Yuki mused with a nostalgic smile."Dad made me promise not to carry on the tradition and set up her stall the way he did. Go enjoy the festival," she mimicked in a baritone, deep voice. "Literally his last words to me."

Naia gave an awkward smile, not sure how to take those being his choice of last words.

"Totally kidding." Yuki laughed at whatever expression consumed Naia's face. "Glad my dress fits you. I haven't worn that thing in years."

The light wind ruffled the floral sundress Naia had found laid out on her bed after showering. The length of the dress came right above her knees. Dresses were never her first option, but it was better than the ridiculous pajamas she'd been wearing.

"I'm going to assume you've never been to one of these festivals since you aren't a local." Yuki moved closer to Naia's side, shoulders bumping. Naia inhaled sharply and moved away. Yuki didn't appear to notice. "The shaved ice stands are where it's at. Always get it with condensed milk. Steer clear of the roasted pig feast if the sight of dead animals freaks you out."

Naia studied the woman's appearance as she blabbered on. It resembled Ronin's—deep-set eyes, the shade of hickory wood, cropped oil-black strands swaying against a short jawline, and a thin top lip and plump bottom lip painted dark purple.

"If you're a fan of raw fish, I'd say try a poké bowl. Any stand will do. Oh! And if you are a sucker for games, the goldfish stall is fun, but know whatever fish you win, you have to toss into the sea for the goddess and all that."

Like hell would Naia sacrifice anything in the name of Mira.

"Thank you," she told Yuki.

Akane tugged her by the arm, eager to move at a quicker pace. "Mom, let's go."

"I know, I'm starving too." Yuki giggled, shaking her head before bringing her attention back to Naia. "We're going to grab some squid luau. Make Ronin take you to the ceremonial dance. It starts in about ten minutes. Though, this grumpy ass here"—Yuki nudged her brother with an elbow—"will act like a bored teenager, hating every second. Just know he's not too miserable, he just shuns the festival. Don't let him bring you down."

A scoff spluttered out of Ronin.

Yuki turned her head to him, the motion like the slow, methodical turn of an owl's head. Her sprightly aura darkened a bit, and she held her glare on him. "For fuck's sake, Ronin, lose the attitude and go enjoy yourself for once in your life."

The muscles in his jaws tensed again.

His eyes dropped to Akane, as if to remind himself a child was present.

"You came today because I asked, but the least you could do is pretend to have fun," Yuki continued berating him. "And if not for that fact, then how about because I came running home when you called and said you found a stranger on the cove, and how I haven't asked questions—yet."

"Yuki." Ronin's eyes flashed up to her, their dark shade stale. "I got it."

"Oh, look!" Akane shot off down the path to their right towards a stall with people shooting what appeared to be water guns at a target.

Yuki held Ronin's eyes a beat longer, the two exchanging some form of silent sibling communication.

Eventually, Yuki broke away and gave Naia a wink, returning to her light demeanor as she allowed Akane to drag her away. "You two have fun,"she sang.

Ronin rolled his eyes.

The crowd swallowed up Akane and Yuki. There were so many people. Naia had second thoughts about deciding to come. She hadn't realized the festival would be so packed.

Paranoia crept over her and coiled her insides. She quickly inspected the faces around her in search of familiar ones or anything out of the ordinary, while checking Wren in her braids, reassuring herself the hairpin was still there.

Ronin stood a few feet from her, waiting with his brow arched."Are you coming?"

"If you would walk slower, then yes." Naia stalked behind him.

"We're practically the same height. I think maybe you need to take wider strides with those long legs of yours."

She did not miss the way he gave her bare legs a sidelong glance as they walked side by side.

Her cheeks prickled. "I suggest you stop looking at my legs before I take my hairpin out again."

Ronin laughed.

The congested pathway caused him to walk closely beside her. His arm grazed hers with every other step, and the touch grated on her. Each encounter constricted the breath in her lungs.

Unable to take a second longer of it, she widened the space between them.

Ronin glanced at her. "Have you ever been to one of these festivals before?"

The stall they passed by caught her eye. A little girl, around Akane's age, held a chocolate-covered banana.

Naia faltered in her step, salivating over the delicious-looking treat. "Yes, but from a different perspective. I watched from afar."

Ronin stopped walking, and she did the same.

Naia tore her gaze away from the fruit dessert dripping down the little girl's wrist to Ronin.

He stared at her, his piercing gaze cataloging every inch of her face, hunting for something.

Naia backtracked and replayed her response in her head, internally groaning at how suspicious her answer sounded. What type of person watches the festival from afar?

"I could not attend," she clarified.

Ronin continued to stare at her.

Her pulse stammered, and she fumbled to think of another excuse.

Then, after a long second, he jerked his chin towards the stall behind them. "You want one?"

Gods, did she ever.

"Yes, please."

Ronin handedthe banana dessert to Naia, its chocolate coat decorated with an assortment of rainbow-colored sprinkles.

"I'm not a child," Naia said. "You could've gotten me a plain chocolate one."

Ronin carried on down the busy aisle of stalls.

"I could've, but it's your first Summer Solstice Festival." He angled his head to get a better look at her, and she quickened her pace to catch up to his stride. "And besides, you seem like a sprinkles-kind-of-girl."

She took a bite of her banana on a stick. The cold blanket of chocolate crunched between her front teeth, and the natural sweetness from the fruit and the bitterness of the dark chocolate were a newfound combination she would obsess over in the future.

"Well, what's the verdict?" Ronin asked.

She took another bite. "If's food."

He chuckled. "It's good?"

Naia nodded, not the least bit embarrassed by her excitement towards something as meaningless as a festival treat. During the weeks leading up to her wedding, she'd been too nauseous to eat anything.

As they approached the square of Nohealani Island, Naia heard chanting. The calls of the islanders praising the High Goddess of the Sea.

They entered among the crowd gathered around a performance. Several individuals watched with overly enthused expressions, holding up a device and recording the performance on a screen.

"What is that?" Naia pointed to the rectangle device the woman in front of them held up.

Ronin snorted out a laugh.

When Naia continued to stare at him for an answer, he gave her a double take.

His eyes thinned, and she swallowed. It was the wrong question to ask.

"A cell phone," he replied, skepticism coating his tone.

Due to her curse, she'd never seen one. She'd heard of the technology device from her siblings, claiming they all possessed one.

Naia took a step deeper into the crowd to get a better look at the show.

Six people dressed in traditional Nohealani clothing—flower wreaths around their necks, skirts made of palm leaves, and the women with coconut husks over their breasts—moved in choreography to the beat of the drums, circling the enormous statue of Mira.

Everyone sang: "Oh, High Goddess of the Sea, we give our lives to you. We nourish the island you founded, and we dedicate our hearts and souls to you. Our devotion forever belongs to you. Bless our island and our lives."

Naia glared up at the stone carving of Mira. Island blossoms decorated her classic side braid down her shoulder. Arms outspread, a gesture suggesting she was a merciful goddess, welcoming her worshippers into the protection she supposedly bestowed upon them—when she was too righteous to ever offer such a thing.

"How's the banana?" Ronin asked.

Something about his tone sounded sincere, as if he could sense her kindling discomfort and wanted to help somehow.

In which case, Naia held the banana up to his mouth. "Would you like to taste?"

"Nah, I hate bananas. But look at you offering. You must be warming up to me."

She retracted her offer with a scowl and licked the melting chocolate from her fingers. "Hardly. I thought it would be comical to watch you eat something so phallic."

Ronin smirked. "Why do you think I bought it for you?"

Naia's mouth popped open.

His eyes glittered with a smile, eliciting a dip in her stomach she did not approve of.

Naia spun her chin away from him to take another bite of the phallic dessert.

Ronin lightly nudged her arm with his elbow. "I'm kidding."

She flinched, and he pulled back.

Naia wanted to assure him it was not his touch. It was all touch. A traumatic response. No matter the time that passed, or how hard she tried to train her body to react otherwise, nothing seemed to work.

With her mouth full of chocolate banana, she walked ahead of him. "Let's go. I'm still hungry."

He took the lead,and she kept a few footsteps behind, silent, over-analyzing everything.

Did I offend him? What if he retracts his offer to let me stay with him?

It's fine.

Everything is fine.

I can stay at an inn?—

Her heart clenched, as if someone reached through her chest and fisted it.

No inns.

Not after what happened with the last one she stayed in.

Sighing, she swept another look around the bustling festival grounds from person to person, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Aside from the difference in attire and hairstyles, back from when she first emerged on mortal soil centuries ago, nothing caught her attention.

Ronin slowed his pace, and Naia nearly stepped on his heels as he came to a stop.

She followed his gaze to a particular stand straight ahead.

"Shaved ice?" She read the lopsided sign across the top. "Sounds promising. Though, what exactly is it?"

"It's blended ice, usually topped with syrups and fruits." His voice sounded strange. Coated with an emotion akin to discomfort, but something deeper.

"I assume you've had one before?"Naia stepped up to his side, wanting to get a look at his face.

He handed her a wad of cash and turned away. "I'll wait over there. Go grab yourself one."

Without giving her a chance to respond, he turned his back on her and took off towards the edge of the bluff.

Did he hear her question, or did something she say nip a nerve in him? His transition was immediate—the halt of his witty banter, his nonchalant demeanor hardening with a tense line of his shoulders.

While waiting in line, she gave a quick glance at the shaved ice stand. Unlike the tents pitched up and down the street, this was a small structure, painted red with a mural of a seascape along the bottom brim beneath the large opening where the workers took orders. She skimmed the list of flavors running down one side of the exterior. There were two options: build her own or order a special.

When it was her turn in line, she recalled Yuki's words of wisdom. "I suppose I will have the special with condensed milk and…" She tilted her head, pronouncing the foreign word carefully. "Azuki beans."

The woman, taking her order, paused tapping on a screen, larger than the cell phones, and brought her gaze up onto Naia. Blue and yellow glitter sparkled around her eyes and all over her cheeks. Tropical flowers decorated her dark hair. "Have you ever had azuki beans?"

Naia shook her head, fidgeting with the bills in her hand between her fingers.

"They are red beans boiled in sugar. They have a decent level of sweetness to them."

"Say no more." Naia handed her the cash. "I love sweet treats."

The woman laughed, accepting the money from Naia.

Within a matter of minutes, she handed her a large bowl. Bedded between a globe-shaped scoop of flaked, green marble ice, and ice cream was a burgundy, brown layer of azuki beans. Surrounding the masterpiece were four round treats the color of snow.

A tumultuous wave of excitement flooded her as she stepped out of the line, rushing to open the plastic spoon from its casing.

One bite turned into four. The sweet vanilla bean ice cream and the creamy, earthy flavor the ice provided were the perfect, rich combination of tastes. Naia was barely focusing on where she was going as she made her way back to Ronin's side.

He stood on the tip of the bluff where tourists were oohing and awing, holding their cellphones pointed towards the seascape view.

"Your sister is brilliant," Naia said with a mouthful. "Condensed milk is heavenly. Though I am unsure what these small treats down here are." She poked at one. It was squishy.

She expected another smile or a silent chuckle from him, but he was squinting out into the horizon as if he had not heard her.

"Ronin?"

He blinked and then turned his head to her. "Sorry. What?"

"These treats…" She picked one up and held it for him to see.

"Mochi." His voice sounded somewhere far away. He lifted his gaze over her head. "It's a rice cake. They're good. Um, I'll be right back."

He took off in the direction they'd come from, leaving Naia standing, mouth agape.

What the…?

Naia shoveled a spoonful of shaved ice into her mouth and weaved through the oncoming traffic to tail him. Not that he checked behind him to even see if she followed. His frame was easy to track—tall with his long black strands tied back, and the only person traveling against the current of the side of the street they were on.

To her surprise, he dipped off the trail into the forest line overgrown with tropical flora.

Naia tossed her bowl into a trash can as she passed by—the act killing her a little on the inside to not have finished the delicious dessert. She wiped her sticky hands on the front of her dress and stepped into a lush grove of tropical fern, entering deeper into the forest. The pillow of the trees drowned out some of the sound of the festival the further she ventured.

She found the mortal slumped down on the trunk of a breadfruit tree in a crouching position, his head hanging between his knees.

"Do you realize how rude it is to take off like that? Because of you, I didn't even have the chance to try the mochi?—"

Ronin lifted his head. His pupils were flared, and anguish burdened his features.

Naia's expression softened, along with her voice. "Are you okay?"

It was the first time she had inquired about him.

"I'm fine. Just…" He pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a sigh. His shoulder slumped with the motion. "The shaved ice stand was a bit too much."

She walked over and took a seat beside him. Quietly, she tucked her knees into her chest and peered through the trees ahead. He appeared unenthusiastic about the festival to begin with, and she had assumed he wasn't the type to enjoy overcrowded events. But now, she got the sense it was something to do with his departed father.

"Is it a precious memory of him?" Naia asked delicately.

Ronin dropped his head back down. Loose pieces of his hair hung around his cheeks, and Naia had to resist the urge to push them back behind his ears.

"I was eight the first time my dad took me to the stand. It was right after I had a fight with my mom. I was pissed and in no mood to eat." He ran his tongue over the inside of his bottom lip. "Dad swore it would make me feel better, so we sat together and ate. It was so damn good. I couldn't stop raving about it and Dad couldn't stop laughing. By the end, I had completely forgotten about the fight with my mom."

"That sounds delightful."

"He loved that stand. Always told me of all the times he went to it as a boy after he moved onto the island." He gave a small, nostalgic laugh, his eyes glistening.

Grief was a heavy burden without a cure. His story moved pieces of her heart.

"After my father's absence," she said, picking at the grass around her feet, "I threw out all the flowers in my bedroom because I couldn't bear to look at them for the same reason."

Naia couldn't recall the last time she spoke of her father to anyone besides Finnian. She wasn't sure what possessed her to do so with Ronin. Just that he might benefit from hearing her words.

Ronin peeked up at her. "He grew you flowers?"

"Dahlias." She smiled at the memory of the floral fragrance filling the walls of her bedchamber. "They were my favorite."

"Some grow near my apartment. I look at them every day when I'm headed out the door. They're pretty."

"What color?"

"Purple."

"The red ones are the prettiest."

It evoked a soft laugh from him. "Ironic for someone who passes out at the sight of blood."

She sent him a dull look.

Though he did not know the extent of how right he was to poke fun at her. In all of Naia's years, no other deity had hemophobia—or any phobia, much less.

"Well…" She hoisted up onto her feet and held her hand out for him. "Come on. Let us make today a memory that adds to the joy you used to feel with your parents."

The last thing he needed was to replace all those fond memories with one of sorrow, grieving for his father.

Grief would devour a person if they allowed it, and for some reason, Naia did not want to see such tragedy happen to Ronin.

He took her hand, and she helped him to his feet.

The bright redlanterns strung over the pathway flickered on, casting a colorful glow across the festival.

Naia happily licked away at the ice cream cone Ronin bought for her—chocolate-chip flavor mixed in a creamy swirl of vanilla.

They passed the goldfish stall Yuki had told her about. Children huddled around a glass tank, gripping small nets, and striking the water in excitement.

Naia peeked over at Ronin beside her, secretly admiring the hue from the lights glowing across the side of his profile as he tossed back pine nuts. His jaw muscles flexed as he chewed. Pieces of dark hair brushed over the light skin of his temples.

Ronin glanced at her and smirked. "Like what you see?"

His arrogance made her lack of consideration easily obtainable. "I was hoping if I manifested you choking on one of those nuts long enough, it would come to pass."

He chuckled, leading them to a bench beneath a canopy of palms.

Clearly, based on his choice of pine nuts out of the more tempting choices around them, he had exceptional self-control, or terrible taste when it came to food.

"Tired already?" Naia sat beside him. "Or do you hate the lantern lighting ceremony as well?"

With everyone gathering at the port in preparation to light their lanterns and send them across the sea, the festival grounds were quieter, with less traffic.

Ronin extended his arms on the back of the bench and looked over at her. "Do you want to see it?"

"Is that where Akane and Yuki are?"Naia continued to eat her ice cream before it melted down her hand, giving him a sidelong glance. His eyebrows drooped and his eyes were slightly glazed. Was he tired?

"Yeah." He put the bag of pine nuts to his lips and dipped back his head.

"And you don't want to go?"

Swallowing, he stuffed the bag in his pocket and shook his head. "Not really, but we can if you want to."

"I don't." It wasn't a lie. She'd seen those lanterns drift across the sea sky of Kaimana for well over eight centuries.

"This is the first time I've been to the festival in a while. Since I moved away from the island," he said.

The cone of the ice cream crunched in between Naia's teeth as she asked, "Which was?"

"When I turned eighteen. So, about ten years ago."

Twenty-eight was an unseasoned age compared to her centuries. A mortal's lifespan was as evanescent as a mayfly's.

Finishing the last bite of her ice cream cone, she rubbed the stickiness caking over her thumb. "Did you enjoy the festival when you were younger?"

"My family only took part in it for the island traditions." He rolled his neck from side to side, stretching his muscles. "The locals here have a kinship, and my mom's side of the family has been a part of it for generations."

"I thought her ancestors were from the northeast?" she asked.

Ronin spread his long legs out across the concrete as he bobbed his head. "They immigrated to the island a long time ago."

"Oh, I see," she said. "What about you then? Do you only partake in the festival for the sake of island traditions?"

He gave a small shrug, popping his knuckles. "I did it to help my parents out."

The ice cream in Naia's stomach churned as she assessed the side of his tense profile. "Not to worship the High Goddess of the Sea, the way the others do?"

He turned his head to look at her then, and for the first time since meeting him, she saw a faint flicker of something in his eyes. A lively, poetic darkness.

"My family doesn't worship the gods," he told her. "We despise them."

Naia's heart sank.

Thiswas more like it. Her pitiful luck had led her to a man who loathed deities.

She couldn't blame him, whatever his reasons were. Deities were cruel and selfish. She knew this better than a mortal like him ever could. Admitting she agreed would open the opportunity for an explanation she could not give him unless she wanted to spill her truths.

Yet, even though she understood his hatred, disappointment chiseled away like an ice chip in her chest. Whether she agreed, the fact remained. She was a goddess.

Naia stood from the bench, her gaze grabbing ahold of the small stucco structure a little way down the path with a sign above the door reading restroom.

"I need to wash my hands. I'll be right back."It was an excuse to expend some of the nervous energy buzzing through her.

Ronin nodded casually. "I'll be here."

She took off across the road, her hands trembling against her legs. We despise them. Not only him, but Yuki and Akane, too.

Naia whipped around the corner of the building, her mind sparking with half-baked, worst-case could happens?—

A pair of hands caught both of her arms. She gasped and recoiled from the man's chest she'd almost collided with.

"Whoa, you okay?" His voice perked her ears. Its rich, melodic tone was familiar, but too gravelly to fully decipher, as if she had heard it through static.

She brought her gaze up to his face, fully aware of his touch on the skin of her arms. Light brown hair, cheeks sprouting a thick beard, and sitting on round cheekbones were a set of emerald eyes.

A rock settled in her stomach.

His eyes flitted all over her face, brow creasing. "Ma'am, are you okay?"

She'd seen such an expression before. Boyish and brutally handsome, silently communicating his concerns or grave apologies—equally conflicted as it was sincere. Except, it was eyes the color of a thunderstorm always gazing back at her, and they belonged to the man she was destined to wed.

"Solaris." Naia stepped back, yanking her arms away with her true strength as a goddess.

It did not snap his arms from their sockets, as she had suspected.

He simply rocked back on his heels.

Naia's mind jumped to Ronin, less than twenty feet away, waiting for her. Had Solaris come alone? What if he brought his attendants—or Marina?

A horrific visual of Ronin slumped on the bench, blood pooling from his throat, flashed behind Naia's eyes. It took less than a second to end a life. A gruesome sight from Naia's past that took her well over a century to recover from.

"Naia, love." Solaris's charming accent revealed itself, his voice shedding its static and melting back into its usual honeyed pitch. "You've wounded my pride."

Naia clenched her fists, prepared to knock his head off his body if he took a step towards her. "How many of you are here?"

"You left an outstanding impression on all the High Gods who attended." As he spoke, his features rearranged into high cheekbones and a diamond shaped face. The pigment of his faded brown t-shirt switched into a leather tunic with thick buckled straps across his chest. A cloak grew down his back, lined with fur around the collar, and a chained rose appeared on the lapel of the fur. The appearance of a true High God.

"Your absence entertained them," he continued. "To witness the High God of Fire stood up at his own wedding, and the High Goddess of the Sea's head explode in fury."

"I did not intend to put on a show."

He ran a frustrated hand through his smokey locks. "They are furious, Naia. After everything you've been through, did you think running away would bode over well?"

Theybeing their mothers.

"Who else is with you?" Naia asked, harder this time.

He shook his head. "I am alone."

She slit her eyes at him, doubtful. "Don't lie to me."

The muscles in his face hardened. He squared a look at her. "Your mother is willing to let your punishment slide if you come back with me."

It made sense then. Mira would not risk jeopardizing the Summer Solstice Festival, but it wouldn't stop her from sending Solaris, for he was known to be level-headed in his actions.Seeking Naia out alone was something he could convince Mira to do. Solaris could persuade a poor man to give him his last drop of coin if need be.

Naia ground her heels on the slab and braced herself for a fight. "You're insane if you think I will go back with you."

Solaris's gaze flickered with heat as hot as the sun, his power as the High God of Fire crackling to life. "Do not make me drag you back, Naia. I will not watch in horror while she punishes you again."

His warning was a true testimony of his priorities that had always been an infinite wedge in their relationship. As much as she cared for him, it was the reason she could never love him.

Naia took a step back, desperate to lay her eyes on Ronin and confirm his safety.

Solaris snatched her by the arm before she could dash around the corner of the building.

"You have no choice, love."His other hand came around her waist and hoisted her up over his shoulder.

Naia jabbed her knee into his pec with all her strength. It pulled a grunt out of him but did not lessen his grip around the backs of her thighs.

She could feel the touch of his power engulfing them. A forewarning they were about to be swallowed up and spit out into an entirely different scenery. Solaris planned on transporting back to Kaimana.

White-hot panic fired through her veins, and she tore Wren from her hair. "Go!"

Wren swarmed Solaris in a blur. A cut on his cheek, his neck, his chin.

"That bloody hairpin—" Solaris's arm sprang up and flames roared from his palm, fanning heat across her face.

Naia had never been more grateful to catch the passing glint of her hairpin as it blew through a cloud of deadly blue fire and straight into Solaris's chest, penetrating through skin and muscle into his heart. Naia shuddered, like all the times her brothers had practiced archery on fat-bellied fish in the sky, and she'd overheard the sound of the arrowhead tearing through guts and scales.

Solaris choked on his breath and dropped to his knees. Naia's tailbone hit the slick pavement.

She ignored the splintering ache shooting down her legs and sprung up before she could take in the sight of Solaris's blood cramming up his throat.

Solaris was a High God, like Marina. He would take no time at all to heal.

As Naia ran around the corner of the building, she held up her hand for Wren to fly into. The hairpin landed firmly in her palm.

Ronin still sat in the same spot. His silhouette was blurry under the capacious fan-like leaves jutting from the palms above.

There was no time to think of an excuse to justify her baffling behavior.

She latched onto his hand resting on his thigh and forced him up, careful to avoid dislocating his shoulder. He let out an oomph sound, and she dragged him behind her.

"We need to go!"

Ronin picked his pace up to match hers. "Why?"

Naia continued down the empty street, but she didn't have the slightest idea where she was going. Returning to Ronin's house would only put Akane and Yuki at risk. She needed to get off the island—now.

Naia's sandals skidded on the asphalt. She looked around, trying to recall which way they came from before parting ways with Yuki and Akane when they'd first arrived.

Ronin pulled his hand from Naia's, his eyes scouring her face for answers. "Naia, talk to me."

She looked behind them to make sure Solaris hadn't caught up, and then her eyes found Ronin, pleading. "I need to get off this island."

Ronin studied her for a long second."Okay. I'll need to go home and get my bag?—"

"No! We need to leave right now."

Ronin followed Naia's continual glances behind him. His nonchalant attitude tightened into a serious disposition. There were a million questions he could demand answers to before agreeing to help her. But to Naia's surprise, he did not. His cooperation continued to baffle her.

He strolled over to the forest wrapping around the festival grounds and looked over his shoulder at her. "We have no time to waste then. I know a shortcut to the ferry. Let's go."