Page 8 of Ballad of Sea and Sky

I dressed quietly, remembering how cold I had been after my swim the other night and grabbing an extra skin for the journey back. I crept out of my room only to smack straight into a broad, tattooed chest.

“Marina,” Vitulus said, placing me back a step as he caught me. “Where are you going?”

“I wanted to go for a swim,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant and sure. “If you’ll excuse me.”

“Your father told you not to leave the grounds without an escort,” Vitulus argued, following me as I headed down the hall.

I sighed, taking a calming breath as I remembered my promise to try. “Will you please escort me then, Captain Vitulus? I do not need long.”

Vitulus looked down at me. I was not a short female, but he still stood a head taller than me. “It’s sea dragon season.”

“The season ended two weeks ago, and they don’t come out this early anyway,” I argued, crossing my arms.

“You have been ill,” he said, trying to come up with another argument for why we shouldn’t go.

“And now I’m better,” I countered, holding out my arms and turning once as if to display my healed lungs. They did feel better, although I knew I shouldn’t push it.

Vitulus pursed his lips, clearly not convinced but not wishing to argue with me. I was grateful for it. It would be easier to like him if he didn’t attempt to control me. “Very well,” he replied. “But it must be short.”

“Thank you,” I said, striving to offer him a winning smile.

Vitulus nodded once, holding out his arm for me. I hesitated. This was not something he did as the Captain of the Royal Guard, I realized, but as my betrothed. I tried not to wince as I took his arm and let him guide me out of the stone fortress and down to the sea.

We walked in awkward silence for several minutes as I thought of something to say. I settled on convincing him to take my side in one of my arguments with Father.

“Don’tyouthink I should learn to use my magic defensively?“ I asked, recalling my father’s dismissal of the subject.

“There is no need, if you’re cautious,” Vitulus argued next to me.

“What if I asked as a favor?” I asked, turning to look up at him. “A gift. For our betrothal.”

“You want to learn to fight,” Vitulus said, measuring my words, “as a gift? From me?”

“Please?” I asked, leaping on his hesitation. “Wouldn’t you rest easier knowing I could defend myself?”

Vitulus clenched his jaw, studying me. “Maybe,” he finally conceded. “If it means so much to you, then I shall bring the matter to your father.”

Just as hope had bubbled to the surface, it popped. “He will say no,” I argued.

“That is his right as king,” Vitulus responded, gesturing for me to keep walking.

I sighed. I had been so close.

I stripped off my sealskins when we got to the beach, feeling a little self-conscious with Vitulus watching me.

“I won’t look,” he offered, turning his back to me. I let the sealskins fall to the sand as I splashed into the cold ocean. She greeted me with a frozen kiss to my thighs as I shifted into my tail, and I sighed as I dove into her depths.

Sometimes I wondered if anyone else felt the call of the sea as I did. All selkies loved and honored the sea as the Great Mother. But I swore some nights I heard her speak to me, asking me to come to her and swim far away into her embrace.

“It’s safe,” I called, shouting over the crashing of the waves to Vitulus. He turned again, a slight pink tinge to his cheeks as he watched me from a distance. Seas below, we were to be mated. If the hint of my bare breasts made him blush, what would my fully naked body do? I dove, letting my worries float away on the current as I swam, surfacing again a minute later. “Why don’t you come in?”

Vitulus turned a deeper shade of crimson, and I congratulated myself on unsettling the stoic captain.

“It would be wiser for me to stand guard here,” he shouted back.

I shrugged, diving again until I touched the sea floor, the kelp swirling around me as I admired the murky depths. The seals who lived around our islands liked to sun themselves on the nearby rocks, and a few early risers were already barking happily as I swam toward them.

“Marina,” Vitulus shouted, taking a step toward the water. “That’s far enough.”