“I know what it means.” He smiled. “I studied Gottwa. I’m surely a little rusty since I haven’t had anyone to practice it with for a long time.” After a second, he said, “I’m surprised Ace answers to anything said in Gottwa.”
My lips quirked into a smile. “Only when it comes from my mouth, or Nima’s. He pretends not to understand our extended family’s language otherwise.”
“Skies, even your smile is the same as your mother’s. But your eyes . . .”
“I had to take something from my father.”
He chuckled.
“I also got his superior sense of humor, in case you were wondering. Made surviving this damn place a little easier.” My gaze chased the bushes that no longer shivered from Remo’s hasty departure.
My sense of humorhadhelped, but it was Remo who’d kept me sane.
And safe.
And smiling.
And alive.
“You should go wash up,” Cruz said, as though realizing where my mind had ventured. Or rather,after whom. “I need to take care of the cat. Get some meat and fur out of our hunt. We’ll meet back at the caves.”
Even though I was curious about these caves, I knew I would see them soon enough. “Thank you, Cruz.”
“For what?”
“For saving Neverra. For saving my aunt.”
“Your parents saved Neverra, Amara. As for saving Lily’s life, I don’t deserve any gratitude. Especially since it was my fault she was locked out of Neverra in the first place.” Guilt veiled his easygoing expression, making him look older than his body’s age.
What an adjustment it would be for him once we got him back to Neverra. Everyone he’d grown up with had aged whereas he’d remained frozen at—how old was he again? Twenty-four . . . twenty-five?
“They’ll come for me and Remo, Cruz. And when they come for us, you’ll finally be free.”
His mouth pressed into a fine line. Nodding sharply, he turned away and headed back toward the dead feline. “Hope’s a dangerous feeling to harbor in this place, Amara,” he called out over his shoulder. “Dangerous but vital. It’s what’s kept me alive, but it’s also what’s brought me the most pain.”
My heart went out to him. Decades of confinement in this place . . . I stared around me, at the swaying cyan trees, the sugar-white sky, the slate rock walls. Out of all the worlds, it seemed the least horrible, but it remained a cell.
As he knelt beside the mound of purple and gold fur, I trailed the noise of crashing water. It took me a while to reach the beach, a while that gave me plenty of time to think about Cruz and Remo and Gregor and this supernatural jail. I’d resented Josh for sending me hurtling inside, but not anymore. Now I thanked him because what an extraordinary voyage it had been.
Still was.
I imagined Iba’s face when he’d see Cruz. Imagined Neenee’s and Nima’s too. All of them would be overjoyed. I was still picturing the reunion when I came upon Quinn and Kiera crouched beside the fallentigri, carving up its belly with the tips of their spears. They’d set out large fronds on which they were tossing pieces of pink meat. The smell of fresh blood and damp fur pulled me out of my reverie and flung me back into the lackluster reality that we had yet to be rescued.
Kiera pushed back her dreadlocks, streaking the white-blonde cords with red. “Come to help us gut the tiger, princess?”
I gritted my teeth, not at the smell or the sight, but at the label she insisted on using and her demeaning undertone. “I’ll help, but first, I need to speak with Remo. Do you know where he went?”
Kiera stared steadily at me before tipping her head toward the liquid curtain. “Swam behind there a while ago. Didn’t look too happy.” As I stepped into the clear water, she asked, “How was your little reunion with the Neverrian hero?”
I didn’t miss her innuendo. “It was great, thank you for asking.”
Quinn tossed me a hostile glance as I dove under the rippling surf and stayed under until I’d passed the thundering line of foam. When I emerged, I found myself inside a small cave. Although little light penetrated through the curtain of water, I caught a flash of cinnamon in the dusky recess. From the way Remo was leaning against the rock, arms extended on either side of him, I took it he’d discovered a ledge to sit on.
I swam toward him until I felt the cave’s rocky bottom underfoot. The water rippled around my shoulders and then my breasts as the ground swelled beneath my boots. He didn’t utter a single word, just stared with those hardened emerald eyes of his as though trying to scare me away.
Once the water reached my waist, he said, “Is he everything you imagined he would be?”
Was he jealous? Because I was childish like that, I responded, “And more.”
