Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
My arm now lowered, I lifted it up, and a gust of surf blew straight up into the air only to shower down as I again lowered my arm.
“By Triton,” Aramus whispered, his gaze locked to the water.
On a tug of his hand, I moved us to the edge of the surf.
And when the waves lapped my bare toes and the leather of his boots, I tugged his hand again and made him crouch beside me.
I closed my eyes, felt the warmth overtake my insides, opened my eyes, submerged my free hand in the water and sent my request.
It did not take long for me to receive a reply.
I turned my head to my husband.
“Watch the sea, my king,” I urged.
His eyes, no longer filled with fury, now filled with wonder, something that warmed me far more greatly than what I was getting from the sea, went from me to the horizon.
I turned that way too.
I heard his sharp intake of breath when four dolphins, two on each side, leapt from the waves toward each other.
“And now for a show,” I said.
And they were back. This time flipping nose over fin in the air or riding above the surf on the ends of their flippers or leaping all together in formation.
They ended with just their heads above water, whistling and trilling our way.
As they sunk beneath the sea, I waved my hand still in the water, and said, “And the finale.”
Aramus had not turned his eyes from the deep.
And thus he saw the great gust of water spout high before the gleaming beauty of a whale burst in a proud eruption of foam. It twisted in the air to its back, before splashing home.
Thank you, I sent through my hand.
The vibrations of the response tickled my fingers.
“Ha-Lah,” my husband called beside me.
I turned my head his way.
“I was in no danger,” I whispered.
“You don’t talk to them, you command them,” he whispered back.
I shook my head. “No. They’re my friends. I don’t command them. I sent a request. And they granted it.”
“The waters?” he asked.
It took me a moment.
And then I shared.
“That I command.” I inched closer to him on my toes, lifted my wet hand to wrap it around his neck, and finished, “If we are near to the sea, Aramus, nothing can harm me.”
“And this is why you’re a very strong swimmer,” he remarked.
Well.
Not exactly.
When I didn’t answer, he noted, “When first spotted, you were out very far.”
“I am indeed an accomplished swimmer, husband.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“Because I was angry at you for hurting me.”
He held my gaze.
Then he straightened, pulling me up with him.
Right into his arms, held tight to his body.
He held me at night, when we slept, never letting go.
He’d done this since he’d said the things he’d said to me in Fire City.
He’d also done this against my wishes, but in an effort, I knew, to silently ask forgiveness for the harm he’d done to me.
But when we were not abed, he rarely touched me, even before he said the things he’d said to me in Fire City.
Now I was in his arms.
And I was not certain it was conducive to my emotional health to know how good they felt around me while standing in the sand with the sea caressing my feet.
He took one from about me so he could run his finger along my hairline and detach the wet ringlets that clung there.
He watched his finger do this as if fascinated.
I watched his fascination and I did it fascinated.
“This is extraordinary,” he murmured, his finger running along my jaw for no purpose as there was no hair stuck there.
I did not know if he was referring to what I had shown him, my ringlets or my jaw.
His eyes came to mine and his hand curled around my head, fingers in my hair, palm at my neck, his thumb resting along my cheek at my hairline.
An area it stroked.
“You are extraordinary,” he said.
I felt myself melting into him with no power to stop it.
“But I do not care.”
At these last words, I found the power to stop melting.
“I…pardon?” I asked.
His neck bent so his face was in mine.
“You left me.”
Oh dear.
I was melting again.
“Aramus.”
“You cannot even begin to imagine the terror that struck my heart when Nis found your clothes, but not you in them.”
I shoved my hands between us so I could press them tight to his chest.
“My king.”
“There was no sign of you. Nothing. This meant the best scenario, Ha-Lah, was you being swept out to sea. That was the best scenario, my wife. But even in that scenario, you were lost to me.”
“But now you see I was safe and never in any danger.”
“A husband could fall asleep beside a wife who commands the sea and the skies, the earth and all fire, and if he woke to find her missing, he would not roll over and fall back to sleep if she has a place in his heart.”