She shook her head. “Don’t be. I wouldn’t trade my time with him for anything on this Earth. What we had was precious. The memory of that time will live with me forever.”
My brow creased. “But if he is dead, why not come back home? Back to your family?”
She waved a hand inland. “This is my home now. These people are my family. They rely on my herbs and potions. They treat me with kind respect. And everything around me reminds me of Nate. The carvings he made which sit on our mantle. The musky smell of his pillow. I can almost see him sitting in the chair opposite me at dinner, smiling with fondness.”
She gave a wry smile. “I could never leave; not now. I am content.”
She eased down to a knee. “But you, my lass, we have to get you back to where you belong. Once your arm is healed up, of course. Your sisters will be worried sick!”
I barked a laugh. “Those sisters are the reason I’m out here. Meredith’s land-father must have been a ripe old bastard. It seems her moods get fouler each passing year. She’s the reason I was out in that storm. Claimed we had to get urgent news up to our four sisters in the north.”
“Oh? What news?” She carefully prodded at my arm.
Pain shot up its length, and I bit back the shriek.
She examined my arm more closely. “I’m sorry about that. But I’m afraid it’s going to get worse for a moment. She handed me a strip of cloth. “Here, bite on this.”
I bit.
She held my gaze for another beat. And then she took my arm in both hands and gave it a sharp tug.
The pain was excruciating, searing through me from head to tail. I arched against it, desperately throttling my need to scream. The last thing either of us could handle right now was curious eyes.
Finally the waves of pain receded and I found breath.
She wiped down the injury with a clean rag and then reached into a pottery jar to dab on a mud poultice. That done, she laid a stick against the arm for support and wrapped the area with fresh cloth.
She smiled reassuringly down at me. “There you go. A few days, and you’ll be able to head on your way up to your elder sisters in the north. I assume you didn’t get the message to them?”
I shook my head. “The storm hit before I could reach them.”
Her brow creased in curiosity. “What could be so urgent that your sister would send you out in such a storm? Meredith always did have a temper, even as a young tyke, but this would seem even beyond her lack of empathy.”
I gave a shrug, petulance creeping over me. “They don’t tell me anything. I’m the baby. The last child born before Mother was killed by that Viking raiding party. I’m a full twenty-two years old and they still treat me like a minnow.”
“Ah, but the minnow is all grown up, isn’t she,” smiled Moa. “Your sisters can’t rule your life forever.”
Somehow, I had a feeling that they would certainly try.
I reached down to my hip. “Well, the message is right –”
My hand swept empty space.
I looked down, and my mouth rounded in shock.
The clam and its seaweed belt were wholly missing.
Chapter 4
Panic coursed through me as I frantically looked around the shadowed cave. Had I somehow pulled the belt loose while working my way along the damp sand? But, no, the clam was nowhere to be seen. And now, come to think of it, I hadn’t remembered seeing it since I woke up on shore.
Had I lost it?
Moa gave me a reassuring pat on the arm. “Calm yourself, child. If it is anywhere on the beach, Ryan and I will find it. And if it was lost in the depths, that is the will of the Kraken.”
Her face tightened. “Your sister should be grateful you are in one piece, thinking to send you out on a night like that. She was always a rash child.”
I nodded, my eyes still scouring the sandy floor hoping against hope that the clam would spring into being. “With my four older sisters up north, Meredith has the final voice. And she uses it every chance she gets.”
Moa turned toward the mouth of the cave. “Ryan? Could you come in here for a moment? Bring that dress I left with you.”
Ryan dutifully trotted in, a translucent white dress draped across his arms. His eyes fixed on me as he approached. His voice was a reverent hush. “You’re even more beautiful than I remembered!”
Moa chuckled and took the dress from him. “You’re a good lad.” She turned and handed me the dress. “It’s the one I wore when I first met my Nate. I kept it for memory’s sake – I certainly can’t fit into it any more, myself. But it should suit you well.”
I looked doubtfully at the cloth which I was sure would scratch and tug. “Why can’t I just stay natural?”
She smiled. “I know, I used to feel just as you do. But we have to be practical. You are injured, and our search might take us a while. You should put this on – and transform - just in case anyone stops by while we are out looking.”
She gave a soft shrug. “I can’t imagine they will. Everyone in the village is busy making repairs. But it’s best to be prepared.”
I sighed. Not only did I have to get stuck on shore, but now I’d do it with the awkward legs? And stuck in this clinging net of plant and animal parts?
Moa’s gaze was kind but firm.
At last I took up the dress and wriggled it over my torso. It was as bad as I imagined it to be. It gripped and held in unnatural ways.
Then came the worst part.
I closed my eyes and clenched my hands. I breathed in deeply, held my breath, and …
My beautiful tail lost its glossy scales. The two halves split, separated, and narrowed down into bony, spindly juts of flesh ending in wriggling worms of knobs.
Ryan gasped.
I opened my eyes and looked down at my legs. “I know. Aren’t they awful?”
Moa chuckled in amusement.
She took Ryan’s small hand in her own. “All right, young one. Come on, now, we’re on a treasure hunt. Let’s see which of us can find a clam shell first.”
His eyes lit up in excitement. “Is this Lea’s treasure?”
She nodded with a smile. “Shall we find it for her?”
He nodded and practically dragged Moa out into the shimmering sunshine.
The cave faded into the soft whoosh of waves and the distant cry of gulls. The throbbing my arm eased; there must have been some medicine in the mud Moa had used to coat my arm. I leaned back against the cool rock and closed my eyes.
It was odd, resting on land like this. The sea was my home – the twisting currents and shimmering minnows. The easy weightlessness of moving wherever I wished, in any direction at all.
Land was only for brief ventures on long, coltish legs, in the dark of a music-filled celebration. The clinging of rough fabrics, the sharp laughter of humans, and then the grab of a hand which told you a man had fallen for the bait. He would be evaluated, of course. Strong enough to spawn healthy children? Young, muscular, tough?
And then the rest was simple. Follow where he took you. When he was done, get back to the shore as quickly as possible – and sweet freedom.
My friends had talked about the excitement of it – the passion and heat – but I found it smelly and dull. The men were clumsy and rough. The activity usually involved me getting pushed onto poky hay bales or pressed into gravelly rocks. Hardly something to be looked forward to.
I had been performing my duties for a full six years now, but each time I returned a failure. I had no land-child to show for my efforts. And if I were not to be rewarded, what really was the point? I had to put up with the heaviness of land-life, the uncomfortable clothes, the grunting and sweatiness, the smell of –
A tantalizing odor wafted toward me, and my eyes sprang open. Was that … fresh mackerel? My mouth watered and I realized I hadn’t eaten in a full day. I leaned toward the cave mouth, sucking in a deep inhale. Yes, definitely mackerel. Moa had caught some for me. I would thank her a thousand times for the gift.
I could imagine its rich, raw flesh in my mouth, and my stomach grumbled.
A silhouette came around the corner, carrying a string high. On it were hooked three fish.
I looked up –
It was Conor.
Chapter 5
Conor’s voice carried high, light with amusement. “Ryan, are you in here? I told you, we’ll have to start fresh and build a new currach. For there’s no way that anything survived –”
His eyes swung to mine.
I had remembered they were sea-blue, but not this rich, not the deepest depths of the ocean where one’s soul sang with the beauty of life. I didn’t remember the flecks of gold which glowed with awe as his eyes widened.
I didn’t remember just how rippled his arms were; how lean those legs which, on him, seemed exactly right. He wore a fresh linen shirt and dark leggings – and all I could do was wonder what he might look like without anything at all.
He stood there, flanked by the glow of the sun, and suddenly I knew.
I knew the warmth that my friends had spoken of. The warmth that filled my entire body and spilled out to wash over me.
The need which was liquid heat.
A matching flare lit his gaze as his fish fell, forgotten, onto the sandy floor.
I knew, with every beat of my heart, that this was what I had been waiting for, all my life. This one moment.
I opened my mouth –
A blonde woman, perhaps my age, came striding up to his side, her eyes sharp. “Connor, we have to get back to finishing up the roof repairs. That brother of yours can find his own food. He’d old enough to stop babying. And, besides, after the roof there’s still –”
Her eyes swung to me and her mouth turned down in sharp disapproval.
She enunciated every word as if it held the worst of flavor.
“What. Is. This?”
Chapter 6
There was a flurry of motion behind the two, and Moa pushed her way between them, coming over to my side. “I apologize that I was away for so long, Lea. I checked the shore for other survivors. I’m so sorry, my dear. It seems you are the only one from your boat who made it to shore.”
Conor’s voice was low, strong, the way ocean surf sounded in a steady wind. “So you were caught up by the storm as well?”
Moa nodded her head, answering for me. “That she was, poor lass. She’s so worn out that she can barely speak, and I’m mending her arm. In a few days I was hoping –”
Conor’s brow creased. “You were going to keep her in this cave for a few days?”
The blonde crossed her arms. “Well, we can hardly take her into our village, can we? Who knows where she comes from!”
He rounded on her. “She hardly looks like a marauding Viking, Sarah. And, besides, her arm is broken.”
Sarah scoffed. “Her left arm. She could plunge a dagger into our back with that right.”
Ryan’s voice was high with disbelief. “Lea would never do that to us!”
Conor turned in surprise. “You knew this woman was down in the cave?”
Ryan raised his head, standing his ground. “I fetched the widow for her, didn’t I? Lea needed help.”
Conor’s voice was firm. “She should be brought back to the village.”
Sarah pointed a finger at me. “She can barely walk. She’ll be fine right here –”
Conor strode past her to kneel at my side. His eyes came to mine –
I could barely breathe, so strong was the connection between us. It was as if he could see deep inside me. As if he understood my silent fears and secret longings. As if, with the gentle touch of a hand –
Sarah’s shriek echoed off the cave walls. “I’m telling you –”
Conor motioned his hands toward me “I’m going to lift you up. Is that all right?”
I could only nod.
The feel of his hands around my body sent waves of flame throughout me; I had never felt anything like it before. Other men’s hands had been clammy or rough. Slick with sweat or tight with selfish need. But Conor’s grip was strong and sure. He lifted me without effort, and he smelled of earth and fire, of the eternal rock and steady horizon.
I melded into him.
Moa gathered up her supplies. “We’ll take her to my house, then. It’ll be good to have someone there to keep me company, at least for a little while. Until we can get her back to where she belongs.”
The wild, stray thought came to me that this was where I belonged. In this man’s arms. Under his watchful gaze. For to be away from him, to swim away and never look back, would be torture.
Sarah watched my approach as one would watch the slithering of a lightning eel. Her eyes became cold marbles.
“If she is staying, then I will make it my mission to help nurse her back to health – and ensure she depart the moment she is able.”
Moa gave a low laugh. “Not to worry, Sarah. When the time comes, I’m sure Lea will be as eager to get back home as you are for her to leave.”
I no longer knew anything at all.
Save one thing.
I was home.
Book 2 in the Selkie Tales series is Two Mermaids -
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Dedication
To Ruth, who inspires me daily.
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About the Author
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