He could see her doubt, feel the fear trickling into him through the filaments of trust and need that had multiplied and strengthened these past weeks, binding them ever closer. But beneath the doubt and fear was a sweet savor that set his senses soaring. Hope.
Numahao bless him. Earlier, when she’d told him about the horrible incident in her childhood and she’d unwittingly let him bear her anguish, that subconscious gift, that sharing of emotion, had come with ragged surges of magic that had filled every corner of his being with tingling energy. But this—this hope—even fragile as it was, was like a blaze of brilliant light illuminating the night, a river of pure power, pouring into him. And she wasn’t even aware... wasn’t even trying to share her gift with him.
He could scarcely imagine what it would be like once she actually claimed him as hers and forged bonds of love even stronger than what tied them together now.
“Let yourself love me, Gabriella Aretta Rosadora Liliana Elaine Coruscate.”
She stared up at him, and though all his life he thought the wide, golden eyes of Calberna’simlanifemales were the most beautiful eyes in the world, he measured by a different standard now. There could be no eyes more beautiful than those of clear, deep sapphire. Blue as summer skies and the prettiest seas he’d ever sailed.
“Why do you do that?” she asked.
“Do what?”
“Call me by my full name. Are you trying to work some sort of Calbernan magic on me?”
He smiled. “Not in the way that you mean.”
“Because I know that some folk believe names have power. That by speaking the true name of a thing, you can bind it.”
His smile broadened. “Namesdohave power—true names, at least—and I do aim to bind you to me in every way possible. Butyoumust claimmefirst before I can.”
“How do I do that?”
“You already know my true Name. Speak it, and you make me yours forever. And when you speak it, I’ll know your true Name too. Until then, I call you by your full name because that’s the truest name for you I know.” He shrugged, feeling a little shy as he admitted, “It makes me feel closer to you.”
He traced a finger down the side of her face. “I call you other names too, all of them true in their own way.Moa leia.My flower.Moa halea.My love.Moa kiri.My heart.Myerial u moa kiri.Queen of my heart.Moa liana.My wife, my beloved, my life’s mate.”
Her lips were parted. Her eyes a little dazed. And sweet, hot energy was pouring into him, wave after wave. It was the most marvelous feeling. Like food for a hungry soul. And he hadn’t realized how badly he’d been starving. She nourished parts of him he’d never even known existed. And, like any starving man set before a feast, he wanted to gorge himself. He wanted to take everything she had to give him so that he’d never be hungry again.
But he wasn’t hers yet. She hadn’t claimed him as hers and invited him in. Until she did, that dazzling bounty of love and power wasn’t his. To take what must be given was the worst sort of crime. Punishable, in Calberna, by death.
He bent his head, shuddering against the aching need she roused within him. He clasped her hand more tightly to his chest and willed her to hear his silent plea.
Claim me,Sirena. Speak my Name. Make me thine.
But she didn’t, and so, with deep regret and no little effort, he released her hand and stepped back to break the connection between them. The abrupt loss of her sweet succor made him groan. To leave her, to leave the Halla of that communion, pained him in ways he’d never known. Nothing less than the fullness of her love, the utter completeness of her claiming, would ever assuage the hunger that burned in him now.
If she didn’t have him, he would Fade. Or rather, he would do the Calbernan male’s equivalent. He would give himself up to the ocean and swim the depths until no strength remained in his body except that which the fishes could claim from his lost and lifeless corpse.
He tried to smile in answer to her questioning gaze, but the effort was too much for him.
“Come,moa kiri.I’ll take you back to the palace.”
As they exited the winding paths of the labyrinth, a familiar six-blast call of a Calbernan conch-shell horn rang out in the distance.
“What’s that?” Summer asked.
Dilys, who had halted to listen to the sound, took the closest set of terrace steps three at a time and turned to look out over hedge maze to the fjord beyond. He raised a hand to shield his eyes and gaze at the Calbernan ship sailing round the bend towards Konumarr.
“Dilys, what is it?” Summer joined him on the top step and turned to follow his gaze.
Three familiar flags flew from the mainmast of the approaching ship: the green-and-blue flag of Calberna, the curling blue-and-white waves of House Merimydion, and atop them both, the small white-and-gold crown on a field of coral red. The pennant flown by royal envoys of theMyerialof Calberna.
“I think my uncle is here.”
“Your uncle?”
“My mother’s twin, Calivan Merimydion. He was originally planning to accompany me, but my mother... fell ill and he stayed behind to assist her.”
