“Alright.” She drew the word out slowly, confused by his odd behavior. “Well, you can rest assured that when I am with Devri, I am perfectly safe. We go walking nearly every morning, unless it’s storming.” A sudden thought occurred to her. “You’re welcome to join us, if you like.”
I suppose it can’t be very interesting, left all by himself at the house with nothing to do.
“I don’t wish to intrude.”
“You wouldn’t be. Devri would really like to meet you, actually.” She gave him a wry grin. “Since we’re engaged, it only seems right that you should meet my best friend.”
He was silent, so she filled the space by continuing to talk. “Anyway, you’re more than welcome to come. We always walk this stretch of shore.” She gestured around them to the sandy beach, sheltered by rocks and cliffs on one side and the sea on the other.
They reached the rocky slope, and conversation became difficult as Sienna focused more of her attention on climbing. The rocks were still slippery after an early morning drizzle, and since she had no desire to scramble up on all fours the way she might if Casper were not with her, there were several points where she nearly lost her footing. Each time, the captain’s chilled but steady hands were there at her elbow or back to help her regain her balance. When they finally reached the top of the cliff, Sienna turned and walked along the edge.
There was a particular point where the land jutted out further than the rest, hanging over the water below. It wasn’t more than a dozen feet, but to Sienna it always felt as if the view was better. It was a popular spot for thrill seekers, as the overhand jutted out just far enough that the more adventurous could get a running start and jump into the water, avoiding the sharp rocks that lined the bottoms of the cliffs.
She shielded her eyes with her hands, peering out to the horizon.
“What are you looking for?” Casper settled beside her, crossing his arms in front of him. His cap was pulled low over his ears again, leaving just the ends of his hair to lift in the cold breeze.
“Nothing in particular. I usually try to keep track of any ships that might be passing through. It’s not quite as important during the day as it is at night, though.” She looked over her shoulder to the lighthouse that stood at attention behind them. “Part of the duties of a lighthouse keeper include watching out for and rescuing any sailors who might be in distress. There are a lot of hidden shoals around here, and a wreck happens at least once every few months, particularly if we have heavy storms.”
“Are you worried about the weather?”
She shook her head. “No. It doesn’t sound like bad weather.”
“Sound?”
He was looking at her with a curious tilt to his head, though his face was still just as serious and inscrutable as before.
But at least he’s talking now, which is better than whatever grunting language he was using this morning.
“You don’t hear it? The music in the sea?”
Casper shook his head.
“Not a Nymph or a Naiad, then,” she muttered quietly to herself.
“I beg your pardon?”
Sienna blushed, having unintentionally voiced the thought out loud. “It was just—Devri was asking about you and wanted to know what kind of fae you are. You can’t hear the water, which means your Natural magic must be attuned to something else.”
He grunted noncommittally. “And yours is, I take it?”
“I’m a Naiad, so yes.” She hugged her arms tight around her middle, the memory of her loss producing a hot knife of longing in her heart. “Though it doesn’t do me a whole lot of good at the moment.”
“What do you mean?”
She turned to face him, shifting backwards a step closer to the edge. “I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that my voice is different. I—”
Her words cut off suddenly and were replaced by a startled shriek as the ground suddenly gave way beneath her. One moment she was standing on solid ground, and the next she was plummeting toward the water full of treacherous rocks below. Her arms and legs flailed wildly, and she grasped for the edge, only for it to crumble beneath her fingers.
She came to a sudden, jarring stop as Casper’s hand clamped around her wrist. There was a pop, followed by a searing pain in her shoulder, and she cried out in pain.
“Hold on,” Casper grunted. He was lying on his stomach with his arm extended, having just barely caught her before she wasout of reach. Sienna snuck a quick look down at her feet, then quickly clamped her lips together as nausea rolled through her at the sight of the jagged rocks below that had so nearly been her final resting place.
Casper slowly hauled her back up and over the edge until she was able to awkwardly crawl away from the precipice, holding her injured arm close. She melted into the ground once she was far enough away to feel safe again. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, her limbs shook with adrenaline, and her mind could process nothing but the terror that still flowed through her veins like ice water.
The captain was on his knees beside her in an instant, and she was surprised to see his eyes were wide with a fear that nearly matched her own, and his face was a pale, deathly white.
Sienna saw his mouth moving, but her brain struggled to make sense of any of the sounds that came out. A biting wind blew past, freezing the tears on her face that she hadn’t even realized she had been crying.
