“Thank you for meeting us,” Sigurd says.
“But of course,” he says lightly. “You know curiosity is my besetting sin.”
Sigurd rolls his eyes. “No, that is lust. Nosiness is far beneath that.”
He laughs. “You are right as usual. There are just so many women and men in this world, and since I have the time toindulge myself, why restrict myself to one?” He shoots Sigurd a sly look. “Unlike you, I hear.”
Sigurd makes a sudden gesture, and the man’s eyes sparkle with amusement. Sigurd turns to me. “Cary, come and meet Marin.” He says it as sedately as if we’re at a garden party and not underwater and talking to a half-naked man with a tail.
I gape at them, and Marin laughs. It’s a merry, mischievous sound, and I already like him. I bet he’s a rascal and a charmer in equal measures. “I believe he is struck dumb.”
“Not for long,” Sigurd says slyly. “He talks more than the piskies.”
Marin looks at him sideways, and his mouth twitches as if at a private joke. Then he turns back to me. “’Tis an honour to meet you, Cary.”
“Really?”
My astonishment seems to amuse him. “Aye. It is rare nowadays to meet a dragon’s?—”
“Friend," Sigurd interrupts. “I have few friends.”
“That’s an outrageous lie, isn’t it? I bet you have loads of friends.” I step forward, careful to remain on the path. I reach out my hand, and Marin moves forward and shakes it. His skin is cool to the touch.
“I believe you know my sister?” he asks.
I look at those blue eyes, and recognition dawns. “Morveren?”
He gives me a crooked smile, and when I see a glint of silver, I realise he has a lip ring. “She is the older and tells me often that she is also the wiser.”
“To be fair, she hasn’t got much competition with you,” Sigurd observes, and the two men laugh.
I idly reach over the edge of the path and gasp when I feel a powerful tug on my hand.
Sigurd watches me with a serious look in his pretty eyes. “Without the path, you would rise too quickly to the surface, and the pressure would cause your lungs to tear.”
“Are we that far beneath? We weren’t walking for long.”
“Two thousand fathoms, and we have farther downhill to go.”
I blink. “Bloody hell.”
Marin laughs. “It is not a long distance for the Mer.” He gestures to the path. “Come, we must hurry. Impatience is growing in the palace over Melusine.”
We hasten down the sand road, shells crunching beneath my feet. The two men talk as Sigurd strides along and Marin swims beside him. His tail moves lazily, propelling him along, and occasionally a stray ray of light makes the scales on it glitter fiercely. I keep pace, but my eyes are everywhere. Rocks line the seabed, and seaweed drifts lazily like tree limbs in the current. Fish swim by, their bright-coloured bodies vivid in the light. Movement draws my attention, and I watch an octopus emerge from under a rock, its orange body rippling. It sees us and scuttles back to safety. Dark shadows move overhead, but we’re largely alone with no sign of any other human guests or Mer folk.
A shoal of clown fish swims by, but one enterprising member breaks free and swims next to me. It darts around my face, and I put out my hand, laughing. It hovers close, and I look at Marin. “Can I pet it? Will it allow me?”
“Why do you ask?” he says, his eyes curious. “Why not just do it?”
“That is the way Marin approaches humans,” Sigurd says slyly.
The merman laughs.
“I’ve read about humans hurting wildlife because of the germs we carry,” I say.
His eyes soften. “That is indeed thoughtful. Yes, you may touch if she will allow it. She is a naughty one. Never where sheshould be.” The fish looks at him with what I can only describe as a “what the hell” expression, and I smother a laugh as he rattles off some words in a strange language. The fish darts at him, butting his face before swimming back to me. It hovers nearby invitingly, and I put out my fingers. She slides against my hand, her little body cold and slippery. She darts up and noses my face as if kissing me and then turns as the shoal of fish comes back. One bigger fish swims out, and the little one speeds up to join them. She offers me a look back, and then the shoal turns as one and vanishes.
I can’t help my smile as I watch them go. I turn to find the two men waiting. “I’m so sorry,” I say immediately. “I know we’re on an urgent mission, but this is so incredibly wonderful. You don’t understand.”
