The Claimed: A Clash of Copper and Gold

Chapter 9: Seduction

"This is nice," said Finny, "But I like the mountains in Busk better."

She sat beside me on the soft white sand of the lagoon's beach, arms draped over her legs. Peals of laughter echoed in the bluffs as children chased each other through crystalline waters. The salty breeze played in my hair, and the sun warmed my skin. In that tranquility, I could almost forget I was in a land ruled by cruel appetites and unknowable machinations.

Almost.

"Why?" I said.

"I guess I'm more of a climber than a swimmer."

"You're a climber, huh? Then why did I have to carry you through most of our Busk hike?"

She flashed an angelic smile. "Because I climbed you."

I reached up to shove her shoulder. She fell sideways into the sand, giggling.

"You have spent too much time with Aunt Mitzy," I told her.

She sat back up and brushed sand from her shirt sleeve. "I heard Aunt Mitzy arguing with Father before we left. She didn't want us to come here. Why not?"

I hesitated for a moment, trailing my fingers through the sand. "Aunt Mitzy thinks Rakim could be dangerous."

Finny laughed. "She's crazy. This is not dangerous." Then she caught my expression, and her voice became small. "Is it?"

I scooted closer to her and wrapped an arm over her shoulder. "As long as I live, nothing can be dangerous for you."

"If you were trying to comfort me just now, you did a very bad job."

I reached up to stroke a hand over her hair, and she leaned her head against my shoulder. Silently, we looked out at the lagoon.

I found my gaze drawn to a ledge halfway back on the left. He sits up on that ledge after lunch every day, absorbed in some stupid novel. I shaded my eyes from the sun to study the area. Of course, no one was there. I wondered if Niako ever returned to that spot after the day I pushed him into the water.

Finny's voice speared my thoughts. "He is very handsome, isn't he?"

The bottom dropped out of my gut. Finny was starting to think of boys as handsome? I glared at the group of children, but I had no idea which had struck her fancy. 

"The gangly one? Or the one with hair like a cockatoo?"

She snorted. "No, Toom. I mean Niako."

I blinked at her. "Finny, he's... he's twenty-five."

And interested in men.

And possibly plotting against our family.

She gave a dramatic eye roll. "I know. I mean for you. I saw the way you looked at him."

"You... I... the way I looked at him?"

"Though I do kind of wish he had a brother my age."

"Please don't wish for that. Niako already has one brother too many."

Finny's brow scrunched. "Wasn't there a sister, too?"

"Yes," I said, "But she —" I paused, realizing I didn't really know Trebalda's story. The men in the tavern claimed she was exiled, but I remembered Niako saying she disowned the family because she was disgusted by their ways.

I finished with the one thing I knew for certain. "She left to start her own tribe."

"I think I would like her," said Finny. "Can we visit her tribe someday?"