I sniffed in his direction. “Bel, there’s a foul stench coming from your backpack.”
“It’s the brat’s head. The sun’s baking it.”
I stared at his profile. “Whydid you bring it?”
“I made a promise. I intend to keep it.”
I turned my head to look at the ocean along with him. “All right. I’ll deal with the smell—for now.”
He snickered softly. “It’s not that bad yet.”
“Yetis the keyword.”
“True enough.”
We stood in silence until the yacht started to move.
All it did was move a meter in the water…
And the mist came.
I sucked in a harsh breath. “Holy shit.”
That. Was. Quick.
And very much unexpected, my heart hammering.
Bel started laughing, full of hilarity and glee, and threw his arms out wide. “You missed me, didn’t you, you beautiful bitch?”
The mist swirled around us…affectionately.
I took a step closer to my lover—smashing my side against his. “I was all about embracing the bizarre thirty minutes ago, but now, I’m not so sure. That was very fast. And the mist likes you. And you’re talking to it. And there’s a big magical island right in front of me. I think I might need a moment.”
Bel grabbed my left hand and started dragging me across the bridge. “We’re going to watch them put the tender down. I want to leave as soon as it’s in the water.”
“What? The loving mist won’t do it for them?”
My lover snickered, grabbed my backpack from the ground with his free hand, and shoved it against my chest. “Are you ready, Gwen? Are you ready to step foot on sand that hasn’t been stepped on in three thousand years?”
He was very excited.
I cleared my throat, plastered a smile on my face, and stated calmly, “That is actually intriguing. I’m thrilled.”
Bel snorted. “You’re scared shitless. But, that’s okay. One step at a time, and we’ll make it through this.”
“One step at a time?”
He nodded regally. “One step at a time.”
* * *
Thunder boomed in the night sky as I took my first steps onto the sands of S’Kir, my boots sinking down into the soft white sand. With ominous clouds swirling overhead, I murmured in awe, “This is amazing.”
“It is,” Bel whispered.
Our eyes scoured the beach with the tender safely tied to a bleached white tree trunk jutting out of the sand.
A few crushed clamshells dotted the seashore, and a random, scraggly palm tree leaned to the side ten feet away. Dune grass peeked up indiscriminately from the sands, and dry seaweed lay where it had been spat out by the ocean.
