Page 29 of The Rake OR The Orca Who Met His Match in a Selkie Desiring Revenge

“Right then, how tall is Feann, compared to you?”

With significantly more confidence, Elspeth indicated a few inches taller than she was.

“And the elf, close your eyes, and see if you can picture him standing next to Feann.”

“He’s a few inches again, probably the difference between Feann and I?”

“Very good.” With a thought, Aegir tapped his lunula and extended his femur.

“Goodness, I don’t know if I will ever get used to that.”

‘You might. Now, what color was his hair?”

“A sort of reddish brown?”

“Texture?”

“Quite curly, to his shoulders.”

Aegir released his hair from his follicles and grew a short length that approximated what Elspeth had described. “How is this?”

“Perhaps a bit lighter, but otherwise good.”

He released that batch of follicles and regrew another. When she nodded, he extended his hair until it met his shoulders. “Skin tone?”

“Pale, and I think he might have had freckles.”

He emulated her description and she nodded.

“Onto the nose…” he prompted.

They spent the next thirty minutes on a well-honed refinement protocol that Aegir had developed. Many people were nervous when trying to describe someone they’d seen briefly, but he’d found that confronted with a visual, they could usually refine it into a good approximation. He often knew when he’d arrived at the correct shape or tonebased on Elspeth’s reaction alone. When she gasped and stepped back, he knew that they were likely close enough to practice. Her pulse fluttered like a bird in her neck, his hunter's senses focusing on it immediately. No, he needed to calm her. This wasn’t delicious playful fear, this was real fear, visceral fear. She needed to learn to control it, yes, but in order to do that, she needed to remember that she wasn’t in any real danger.

“Good, good.” He flashed his eyes back to his own dark brown. “I’m still me, Ellie. It’s still me in here.”

Her eyes, which had previously darted around, locked on his. Her rapid pulse slowed a bit, though she was obviously still agitated.

“I’m going to grab you, and you try to break my hold.”

Elspeth whimpered and it damn near broke his heart. “Ellie, how good is your sense of smell?”

“I don’t know, normal?”

“Alright, fair, let me rephrase, if you close your eyes, can you smell me?”

“I can smell you without them closed, too…”

“Of course, sorry. What if you tried closing your eyes and focusing on my scent? It might help.”

She closed her eyes, following his suggestion, and he was overcome with pride. She did it immediately, and he couldn’t be more honored or grateful. Thank the Lady she had her eyes closed because he surely looked an idiot.

“Did it help?” he asked. He cleared his throat, surprised that it was thick with emotion.

“Yes.”

“When you feel more calm, can you see if you can open your eyes for me?”

Elspeth nodded, and it took a few moments, but eventually her eyes fluttered open, first wide with shock, but then calming as she held his gaze.