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“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?”

They being 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.