Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
It’s no choice at all. It never has been. If I have to learn to live without my skin, then I’ll do it. But not until I’m certain I’ve done everything in my power to attempt to retrieve it. I lick my lips, tasting the salty sea air. My need to be beneath the waves is a craving in my blood that I don’t know how to combat. I’ve never had to before. I want to get back to a point where I never have to again. “I might have an idea.”
“I thought so.” She steps back, gracefully avoiding turning her ankle on the rocks beneath her feet, and motions for me to stand. “Let’s go.”
Just like that.
I turn toward my village and allow myself a moment to memorize the sights and sounds and smells. The bright lights twinkling in the windows. The faint scent of people cooking dinner as they wind down for the day, eager to get some rest before they start again in the morning. The quiet. Most of all, the quiet. I wish I could say goodbye during the day, when people are bustling around and laughter and conversation fill my ears. This will have to be enough. I tuck the memory away, promising myself that I won’t let it dim with time . . . that I won’t let enough time pass for it to dim. I won’t forget them. I’ll be back.
“This way.” I lead her to a path that’s nearly invisible in the night and head north along the coastline. Once again, Lizzie falls into step behind me with a grace that I might envy under other circumstances. Considering she’s haunting my steps, I’ll save that envy for another day. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end to have a predator so close behind me. I don’t trust her, and yet I have to trust her at the same time.
“Where are we going?” The question is absent of even a hint of curiosity. That’s an interesting trick.
I pick my way along a particularly tricky section of the path before I answer. “I wasn’t entirely honest when I said there were no ships here. We don’t have ships but we do have boats—that’s how I got off the island in the first place. They’re just not meant to sail over long distances. There’s the added problem that if the Cŵn Annwn see us, we’re liable to end up in the brig, just like where you found me.”
Lizzie laughs softly, the sound trailing down my spine and seeming to sink its fingers beneath my skin. “If the Cŵn Annwn find us, we won’t be the ones to meet misfortune. They will.”
“What are you going to do—kill them all?” The very idea is absurd.
“Yes.”
I start to laugh but stop short when I realize she’s not joking. She means it. If the Cŵn Annwn try to stop us, she’ll kill them all. Or at least she’ll try. “Shouldn’t we attempt literally anything else before we try to murder a ship full of Cŵn Annwn and potentially bring the whole fleet down on our heads?”
She laughs again, low and throaty. “Maeve, you really need to dream a little bigger.”
Oh gods, what have I gotten myself into?
chapter 7
Lizzie
When you said there were boats on the island, I didn’t expect you’d lead me to a death trap that will sink the moment we put it in the water.”
Maeve looks at me with such exasperation it almost makes me smile. Or I would if I wasn’t fighting down a tight feeling in my chest that makes it hard to breathe. Because what she’s crouched next to is not a vessel meant for the open sea. It looks more like something children put together during a game of pretending to be pirates. Yes, there’s a sail, and yes, it’s technically boat shaped, but the first high wave will sink us. To say nothing of a storm.
“It’s not a death trap. It’s our only way off the island.” She shakes out the sail and sneezes as a cloud of dust erupts. It’s a cute sneeze. Maeve wrinkles her nose. “Besides, Khollu is only three days away, and it’s not the storm season. We’ll be fine.”
“That reasoning sounds like bullshit from where I’m standing.” The boat is so shallow, I’ll be able to reach out and touch the water if I want to. The very idea has my skin prickling. This thing doesn’t look like it will last an hour once we put it in the water. There are storms and sea beasts, and all manner of things that are only too happy to murder us before we reach our destination. To say nothing of the Cŵn Annwn.
The prickling under my skin gets worse. I need this selkie and I need this boat, but fear has wrapped its arms around me and holds me immobile. I can’t do this. “When I asked you to be my guide, I thought you were smart enough to know a suicidal plan when it was staring you in the face. Getting in that thing and sailing for another island is the very definition of suicide. We’ll never make it.” We’ll drown, and that will be the end of both of us. Foolish to the point of suicidal. And who will mourn us? Well, me. Maeve has people who love her. My mother will simply be furious to have lost one of her heirs, and my brother will breathe a sigh of relief that I’ll never darken his doorstep again.