“I’d love to.” The sound of her voice—sweet as nectar—chafed at his nerves.

Perry felt the eyes of people on them as they came down the ladder and crossed the clearing together. He took the trail to the harbor, knowing he’d find it empty. It was too early in the day for the fishermen to be back.

“I thought we’d make ourselves useful,” Kirra said when they stopped.

It streaked him that she’d spoken first. “If you want work, come to me, not Bear.”

“I tried, but I couldn’t find you.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Does that mean you want us to stay?”

Perry had considered it all morning as he’d listened to Marron describe the work needed at the cave. He saw no reason to turn away a band of able-bodied people. If he was right about the Aether, they were on borrowed time.

“Yes,” he said. “I want you to stay.”

Kirra’s eyes widened in surprise, but she recovered quickly. “I was expecting you to fight me a little more. I wouldn’t have minded, actually.”

Her words were flirty, but her temper was difficult to read, an odd mixture of warm and cool. Bitter and sweet.

She laughed, tucking a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. “You make me nervous, staring at me with those eyes.”

“They’re the only ones I have.”

“I didn’t mean that I don’t like them.”

“I know what you meant.”

She shifted her weight, her scent warming. “Right,” she said, her gaze wandering to his chest and then to the chain at his neck.

Her attraction to him was real—there was no hiding that—but he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was trying to bait him.

“So where do you want us to work?” she asked.

“Finish the roof. I’ll show you the cave tomorrow.” He turned to go.

She touched his arm, rooting him in place. A shot of adrenaline pulsed through his body. “Perry, it’ll be easier if we can find a way to get along.”

“We are getting along,” he said, and walked away.

At supper, Kirra’s group was as rowdy as the previous night. The two men who had fixed the hole in Perry’s roof, Lark and Forest, came from the deep south, like Kirra did. They carried on loudly, telling jokes and stories back and forth in a battle of wits. By the time supper ended, they had the Tides cheering for more.

Kirra fit right in with the Tides. Perry watched her laughing with Gren and Twig, and then later with Brooke. She even spent time talking with Old Will, turning his face red beneath his white beard.