Page 78 of The Secret of Drulea Cottage

Briony pondered for a moment, her mind running through everything that had happened in the past few weeks. She searched for something, anything that might have been the trigger.

When did he show up? What happened right beforehand?

Briony gasped. “’Tis my fault… I brought him here!”

“Yer fault? What are you talking about?”

“I did na know it at the time. I did na know the danger… That silly legend about the selkies! I’d completely forgotten it until Mum mentioned it in her letter. Seven tears in the ocean…”

I was so upset that day when Santiago and I argued. Then I sat on the cliff, and I watched my tears hitting the water… If only I’d known what they would lead to.

“And with my mum gone, her threat to hunt the seals was gone too, so there was nothing to stop him from coming here!”

Mr. McLaren rose and began pacing back and forth. “Has he talked about taking you away? About going back to his home?”

“He said he was going to save me.”

“Then that means he wants to make you his bride. Fer you to shed yer humanity forever. And you could do it, now that you know where yer sealskin is.”

Briony said nothing as she let the words sink in. From Niall’s perspective, she was sure it made perfect sense.Why would I stay with the people who murdered my father? Why na run to the ocean’s arms instead?

And yet Briony felt something tugging on her soul at the thought of leaving, a strange tether she had never known existed until now.

She slowly shook her head as she made up her mind. “Nay, I can’ do that. I… Even though life is hard here, how could I leave everything and everyone I know behind? Drulea Cottage, Adaira, Fergus…” She trailed off as another name almost crossed her lips.

The day he kissed me… He’d heard me singing that day! That was why he kissed me. ’Twas an enchantment from hearing me sing. ’Twas na from any real desire to do so.

A question zipped through Briony’s mind as quick and sharp as an arrow, an arrow that soon found its mark as it pierced her heart.Does that mean the connection I thought was between us is just a lie?

“If yer determined to stay, lass, then you must be very careful going forward. Have you told Niall that you don’ wish to be with him?”

Briony jumped in surprise. She’d forgotten that Mr. McLaren was standing there. She steeled herself and refocused on the matter at hand.

“Aye, I told him. But that was before I knew what he was, what I am. When he told me the truth, I did na believe him, so he started the storm to convince me. I have na seen him since then.”

The fisherman pressed his fingers to his temples. “Then this is na over. He will return fer you. ’Tis only a matter o’ time. And when he does, I fear what else may happen.”

Briony frowned. “What do you mean? Just because I know the truth now does na mean my feelings fer him have changed. I’ll reject him just the same.”

Mr. McLaren shook his head and let out a pained groan. “Nay! Don’ you see? If Everton is keeping you from being with him, what’s to stop him from just getting rid o’ it?”

“Getting rid o’ it? Mr. McLaren, I understand he’s powerful, but do you really think he could…”

“All the time he spent here, all those days working fer Daniel Calhoun, why do you think he did that?”

“I guess he did it to maintain the illusion that he was human while he was here?”

Where is he going with this?

“Don’ be naive, lass! He was studying us! Now he knows we’re in no position to defend ourselves from the likes o’ him and his kind. You and I are the only ones who even know selkies exist! If he attacks the town, ’twill be a slaughter. He already hates us because o’ what happened to yer father, and if you reject him again, it might give him all the push he needs to bathe Everton in its own blood.”

Eu Te Amo

Briony trudged home, her heart sinking like a stone, for neither she nor Mr. McLaren had thought of a good solution to her predicament.

When will Niall return? A day? A week? What if I have na thought o’ what to do by then? I—

“Santiago!” Briony jumped backward. She had been staring at the ground for such a long time that she hadn’t even noticed the merchant at the cottage entrance.