Page 75 of The Secrets of Roan Island

“I don’t have any translation glasses.”

She moves to her knees before me, a hopeful air surrounding her movement. “Here. I’ll show you.” Taking the book from my hands, she flips to the page she wants. “My father. He has it wrong. I’ve tried to tell him, but he won’t listen.”

“Has what wrong?”

“The turning.”

“With all those dead women, I would guess so.”

She gives me a bored look. “Stick with me.” When I nod, she continues. “He thinks it’s by chance. That it has to do with the women themselves not being strong enough. That at some point he’ll find someone who is. But he’s missing a vital ingredient.”

“And it’s in her journal?” What could have happened if Noah had this journal instead of Zarah? A chill skates my spine as I realize it probably wouldn’t have changed anything. Zarah already said Hammish didn’t listen.

Zarah holds the book out to me and points. It’s a word I recognize.Ta’ari. My heart stutters in my chest before slamming up against my ribcage. “What is that?”

“My love. Or my mate. My ancestors were in love before she was turned. And she wasn’t the first one, she writes of two other women who were turned long before her. They were all in love. I think that’s the key.”

Love.

Oh Stars!

I’d seen it between the lines and had said as much to Noah, but hadn’t considered it an ingredient. An emotion, a feeling as the key to how venom might impact tissue.

“A changed pheromone or something,” Zarah continues while my mind spins. She waves her hand dismissively. “Noah would know more about that. But I’m convinced that without love, there will be no turning.”

But does Noah love me?

When I try to dismiss the possibility, I can’t.You’re mine, he said.I wanted to keep you safe.How many times has he tried to get me to leave? He insisted upon it just hours ago. Just before we made love—yes, love, because that wasn’t a casual fuck.Noah’s gentle touch and attention. The way he claimed me. That was something more.

But he’s never said it. And he still wanted me to leave him.

“Does he love you?” she asks.

My eyes jump from the fire dancing in the hearth to Zarah. I swallow. “I don’t know.”

36

Noah

“Where have you been?” I shout when the boat carrying my brothers and four women materializes in the fog, the rhythmic clank of the engine, of metal on metal, meeting me first. The sun is just rising over the horizon filling the world with soft pink and yellow light.

“Is that any way to greet us?” Jafeth answers, his voice sliding along the water’s surface to meet me.

The boat’s hull sluices through the water causing ripples to splash against the dock where I’ve been waiting for an eternity. The wooden boards creak, a welcome sound even as panic fills my throat. With a deep breath, I walk to the edge and cross my arms, trying not to think about what my father might do to Ruby between now and the Solstice ceremony at the temple.

After cutting the engine, Shemaiah tosses me the rope, and I pull them up to the dock before tying the boat off.

Shemaiah steps out, straddling the swaying boat and the dock to extend a hand to the women. “Welcome to RoanIsland. This is my brother, Noah. The scientist,” he says, then introduces each one as they step from the boat: Pippa, Kay, Anna, and Celeste.

“You understand why you’re here?” I ask.

“Yes.” The one named Celeste nods. “A possible chance at a new life.”

“Or death,” the woman named Pippa says quietly. “Which isn’t a change either way.”

I cringe. The scientist in me wonders what she might be dying of. She’s pale, and clearly underweight, but she doesn’t look like she’s in pain. Her blonde hair is loose and wavy and I catch the way Shemaiah’s nostrils flare as she steps past him. She smells like sunshine and death. Nothing like Ruby.

Jafeth steps onto the dock. “As you see, big brother, we told them the truth. And didn’t find the sexy professor.” He winks.

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