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Except…

Alistair motioned to his face with his finger. “Umm, your face…”

Her eyes widened. She leaned away from him, mouth open in shock. “Excuse me? What about my face?”

He gave himself a mental slap for blurting out something that sounded so ridiculous and insulting. Throwing his hands up in surrender, he shook his head and quickly said, “No, no, it’s not like that. Nothing is wrong with your face. You’re…beautiful. Without the glamour.”

She certainly was.

Now he understood why her movements, her voice, even her presence, reminded him of a faery.

The glamour surrounding her trickled away, revealing those strange, hologram-like pointed ears that shimmered in and out of focus until they solidified. The contours of her face sharpened, her brows arched at a steeper slope, her eyes slanted.

As if the magic she cloaked her true self in muted whatever was happening between them, something else lifted like storm clouds after a torrential rain.

That tingle and burn that nudged him since their first encounter came dangerously close to exploding.

He fisted his fingers in the cool sand to keep from grabbing her head and pulling her in for a kiss, because if the sea gods only knew how tempting her glamour-free mouth was, they’d curse him to the waters to keep them apart and never let him walk the Earth again.

He almost leaned into her. Almost made a complete and utter fool of himself.

Chasing her off might be the best thing for her. And yourself.

Niera turned her face away, but he quickly caught her chin and lifted her gaze to his. He watched the magic of her glamour try to slide back into place, the fuzzy edges of her appearance shift and melt, but it failed to hold.

“Stop. Please. Don’t hide yourself.” He laughed, and shook his head. “I’m not the best with words when caught off guard. And you definitely surprised me”—he straightened his shoulders when her lips parted to speak—“in a very good way.”

Her delicate brows pinched over the bridge of her nose. “My glamour’s in place.”

He shook his head. “No. I can see the real you just fine.”

Her muscles tensed and her fingers curled tightly around the pouch. “I-I don’t understand. I know it’s in place. I can feel it. You shouldn’t be able to see…” Her eyes widened as she let out a quiet gasp. “You have magic!”

It was his turn to gape. “I’m sorry?”

She poked a finger at his chest. “Youhavemagic.”

“Uh…” Lost for words—what was he supposed to say, yes?—he cleared a non-existent knot from his throat and motioned down the beach. “Okay. Would you like to move closer to the water—”

“No!”

Her snapped answer and the sharp stab of fear in her eyes niggled at the back of his mind. She didn’t merely dislike the ocean. Shefearedit. The cold, toxic essence that often accompanied fear of any kind made its way to his mouth, filling it with a bitter taste that urged him to spit. He kept his wits about him and motioned to the velvet bag.

“That’s protecting you, isn’t it.” A statement, because pieces of Niera’s intricate puzzle were starting to fall into place. “Why did you come to Cat’s Paw Cove if you knew the effects of being here? I’m sure Annie would’ve met you elsewhere if she realized how much you fear the ocean.”

“I don’tfearthe ocean.” The remark was brittle and defensive, the air electric around her. After a few seconds of surf-filled noise mixed with the distant parade music and the occasional squawk of a seagull, she groaned and dropped her chin on her interlocked arms. “Fine. The ocean and I have a long-standing vendetta. It doesn’t like me and the feelings are reciprocated. I’ll take my mountain forests over the water any day.”

“Ah, not of the water family, are you.”

“Woodland.” She cast him a narrow-eyed gaze, scrutinizing him for a long, strangely comfortable moment. “What do you know about the sea fae?”

If she only knew.

The loss of his fins was just the start. His animosity towards the foul beings fueled his desire to return to the waters.

His silence must have given something away. Either that, or he failed to hide his disgust at her mention of his nemesis. Niera lifted her head and eyed him, an adorable crease forming over her left brow. She stretched out her legs and cringed, making quick work of removing her shoes.

“That cat is something else,” she muttered, knocking sand from her sneakers. “Got me all the way here without realizing it.”