“Giya?” I yelled.
Please let it not be another tigri. I’m not ready for another one.
Remo parted the leathery fronds.
What lay beyond made me wish it had been another furred behemoth.
39
Bite
“You fucking psychopath, let the girl go!” Remo growled.
Kingston had my cousin pinned to his front, one arm banded around her chest and both biceps, and the other hooked around her neck. The crimson apple gleamed like a mined heart inside his white-knuckled fist.
He pressed the fruit against Giya’s lips, which were thankfully wedged so firmly they formed a line on her wan face. She shook her head from side to side and writhed. She even stomped down on Kingston’s foot. He hurled curse words at her and lifted her a little higher, so that she was off balance, then whispered something in her ear that made her body still and her eyes brighten with fear.
“It’s me you want!” My skin felt as though it had shrunk and stiffened, compressing my muscles like my discarded jumpsuit. “Let her go and take me.”
“Show me your hands.”
I raised both in the air. Indubitably, Kingston had seen my tattoo, but since he didn’t fear it, I surmised he thought I couldn’t access the confiscated dust.
“Turn.” His slitted brown eyes followed my slow twirl.
“I have no weapon.”
“You want Giya; you come to me.”
Remo gripped my arm as I inched toward my uncle.
“You come alone, or I shove this apple down your cousin’s lovely throat.” When he nosed her neck, my fury turned into a raging ball of fire. Had I been able to access mykalini, all that would’ve been left of him would be cinders.
“Let me go, Remo,” I murmured.
His fingers tightened on me. “Trifecta, no.”
I glanced at him over my shoulder. “I can do this . . .”
His breathing had turned shallow and fast, fluttering his birthmark. Reluctantly, he freed me, and I walked toward them.
Kingston jutted his chin toward Remo. “Back up, Little Dog.”
Remo vibrated with such rage that the leaves of thepanemover his head frisked with it. He stood his ground, so Kingston backed up while keeping my cousin in a chokehold. I strode along with them, keeping my gaze on Giya’s, trying to soothe her panic.
When we reached the beach, he said, “Closer, Amara.”
I was trying to understand his strategy, which seemed hasty and ill-thought-out. To grab me, he’d have to release her, and the moment he let her go, he’d lose his advantage. Still, I approached. When I was within arm’s length of them, I said, “I’m right where you want me.”
His crazy eyes tipped at the corners, turning wildly mirthful. “You certainly are,prinsisa.”
Giya’s eyes widened. And then she started to shake her head. Kingston shoved the apple against her clasped lips with such violence he was going to bruise her faceorthe apple. As long as no juice leaked out . . .
What had Cruz told us? Could its juice kill us?
Her eyes widened and darted to a space over my shoulder. What was she trying to tell me? Was atigri—
“Remo, behind you!” I screamed.
