Page 17

17

ROWAN

I had every reason in the world not to do this.

The same refrain that had held me back before simply had vanished. The only thoughts that ran through my mind now were of seeing Nerys at my chamber door this morn. Of watching her train. Of Nerys’s smile while we rode the pelagor.

Of the way she looked at me now.

I knew well how to practice restraint. To keep the secrets that would allow Estmere to thrive in a world to which we hardly belonged. To put my family’s legacy before myself, and certainly that was more important now than ever.

And yet…

“Rowan,” she whispered, a clap of waves against the rocks behind us punctuating a moment that was about to become an important one in my life. Why did that fact seem so certain? I would explore later.

Reaching for her, I meant to be gentle. To cup her face, look into those bright-green eyes and take in the sight before me first. Instead, when my hands reached her, Nerys’s lips parting in anticipation, all thoughts of pausing fled my mind. Instead, our mouths crashed together, our tongues exploring each other almost instantaneously. Slanting my head for better access, I drank from her, relishing in a kiss that was so much more than that.

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.

Marek’s smile faltered for the first time. “Something changed her mind. I’ve been begging her to do this for years,” he said to me.

“Excuse me,” Nerys said. “The ‘her’ you’re speaking of is right here.”

Marek didn’t appear the least bit apologetic. He leaped from the rock and bowed deeply.

“Pardon, your majesty. I meant no offense.” He sat back down in as exaggerated a manner as he stood. By rights, Marek was wholly unlikable. And yet, I could see his appeal too… why she would be drawn to him.

Thankfully, as only a friend.

Because as Nerys marched over to Marek and swatted the back of his head as an older sister might to her wayward younger brother, my own thoughts were anything but brotherly.

Without warning, as the two continued to verbally spar over Nerys’s reversal on her decision to challenge the queen, a shape formed loosely in front of me. I turned toward the sea, as if distracted by its beauty.

This time, knowing the vision was coming, I was able to harness it using the same methods I’d learned years ago to sense and filter emotion. Blocking out everything—including Nerys and Marek’s conversation—I could see the figure more clearly. It was the seafarer himself, Marek on the deck of his ship, yelling orders. He appeared to be battling a brutal storm, and I could sense he was terrified.

But not of the storm.

He was terrified for a woman’s safety. Nerys?

A hand on my shoulder interrupted the vision.

“Rowan?”

Her touch was featherlight. Before I could stop it, that concern flooded into my senses. I’d not meant to read her emotion and immediately blocked it. I knew from my grandfather it would take years of practice to manage the merging of my old and new abilities.

For the first time in my life, I seriously considered the possibility of breaking The Keeper’s code. I wanted to tell her. Confess everything and work with her openly, as our goals were the same.

Our eyes met.

Not yet.

The voice was my grandfather’s, likely my own conjuring what he might sound like, whispering into my ear. And yet, if I could imagine what his advice might have been, those weren’t the words I would have imagined.

“I’m sorry,” I said, hating to mislead her. “I was deep in thought.”

A partial truth.

“Let’s see your sea-binding then,” Marek said.

I wanted to kiss her again. To tell Nerys everything. Instead, I simply watched as she walked forward until she was ankle-deep in water and lifted both arms.

Raising her chin, Nerys took a deep breath, pressed her hands together and moved them slowly outwards, both palms down. Her shoulders dropped, and nothing seemed to be happening at first. Little by little, though, the waves began to calm.

Dropping to her knees, as if the weight of the water pressed down on her, she continued to hold her arms outright. Little by little, as far as the eye could see, the ocean’s waves began to dissipate. Where moments ago, they crashed along the rocks, the sea was now placid.

I looked at Marek. He looked at me.

I had no idea how Queen Lirael’s abilities fared against Nerys, but one thing was clear: Marek was in awe too, and unlike me, he had likely seen similar skills performed many times before.

Nerys had calmed the sea.

I opened my mouth to ask about it, but no words seemed adequate. Instead, I opened myself up to him and felt his reverence.

Without warning, Nerys stood and shot her arms into the air. All at once, the waves returned with a vengeance that even I could feel, as if they’d been bound and were now set free. Her shoulders sagged, the effort of such a skill clear, and Nerys turned to us.

Her gaze found mine, weary but resolute. The truth struck me with the force of her unleashed waves: Nerys wasn’t just destined to be Thalassaria’s queen.

She already was.