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It was a joining of two people who were connected from the moment they met.

It was wave after wave of the kind of electricity, a term I’d heard from the most modern humans in Estmere but had never experienced myself.

When Nerys’s hands lay gently on my shoulders, I held her head still, groaning at the pure pleasure of the moment, never wanting it to end. Our mouths were made for each other’s, fitting perfectly together, the rhyme of our kiss so natural that not doing it seemed absurd.

“This is not the kind of training that will see you best the queen.”

The deep voice startled me in a way I couldn’t remember being startled before. How many years had it been since someone had come upon me in such a way? I was trained as a damn spy and had been actively blocking Nerys’s emotions and therefore hadn’t sensed him.

I’d have expected Nerys to jump back, startled, and maybe even embarrassed.

She was neither.

“Your timing,” she said as we put space between us, “is not ideal.”

Marek’s knowing grin was not at all apologetic.

“How did you know I was here?”

Spying the wraps Nerys had brought, Marek strode to them. Taking a new one out of the satchel, he sat and began to eat as if he had no care for anything but that seaweed wrap.

As the modern humans among us might say… he was a real piece of work.

“There was talk on the docks of an incident at The Moonlit Current, something to do with sea serpents?”

Smiling at the memory, I made my way with Nerys toward where Marek sat.

“Not surprising, I suppose,” she said with a sideways look in my direction.

It was difficult not to notice the fullness of her lips and imagine I was still kissing her.

“I tried to find you, to hear the story.” He shrugged, and then took a bite of his wrap. Finishing chewing, he said, “But I will admit, I did not expect to find you lip locked with your human.”

“Rowan,” I said, still trying to determine if I liked him or not. If it weren’t for Nerys, and the promise I made to her, I’d open myself up to sense his emotion.

As the thought crossed through my mind, it came to me anyway.

Curious.

It was all I could gather, but being able to sense it while blocking Nerys… I hadn’t known such a thing was possible. And it might not have been, before now.

“Your jest hits its mark,” she said. “I actually was training and plan to challenge her.”

Marek’s hand froze midway to his mouth. Dropping his wrap onto his leg, propped casually on the rock in front of him, Marek glanced back and forth between us.

“It has been years since the last challenge, so I could be mistaken, but I do not recall the ability to kiss well one of the skills needed.”

Despite myself, the corners of my lips tugged upward.

For her part, Nerys rolled her eyes. “We’ve been here since sunrise.”

“What changed your mind?”

Whether or not she realized it, Nerys darted a glance in my direction.

Marek noticed. “Him?” he asked, incredulous.

“I had naught to do with her decision,” I said, unwilling to come between them.