The engines rumbled back to life, pushing them farther along the glacial face. Emmy leaned on the rail, eyes tracing the jagged towers, the deep crevasses, the stark reminder that nature could rend itself apart with no warning and no regret.
Then the call came again, sharper this time: “Whale! Off the bow!”
The boat erupted with movement, tourists surging forward. Emmy found herself squeezed between Ajax’s solid shoulder and Felix bouncing on his toes like a kid.
The water ahead roiled. A plume of spray shot skyward, glittering in the sun. Then a humpback breached, rising higher, higher, until its entire massive body cleared the surface. Time slowed, and she could see every scar across its back, every rivulet of water pouring off its flanks before it crashed down in an explosion that shook the boat beneath their feet.
Screams and cheers blended into one deafening roar. Emmy’s pulse surged with the impact, her ribs vibrating with the echo. She clutched the rail tighter, half wild with exhilaration.
Felix threw both arms up like a referee. “Ten out of ten! Perfect dive!”
Arabella squealed and clapped, the sound unguarded and pure. Ajax steadied her without looking away from the water, his arm still around her smaller body.
Another humpback surfaced nearby, smaller, sleek — maybe a juvenile. It rolled gracefully, then slapped its tail against the waves, sending another spray across the bow.
Rhea laughed, wiping droplets from her cheeks. “They’re showing off for us.”
“Or warning us,” Ajax countered. His voice held no fear, only respect.
Emmy could barely breathe. The scale of it, the raw power, made every human concern feel trivial. It takes a lotto impress a mighty dragon, but she was completely enthralled.
She glanced at Spence. He stood apart but not distant, gaze locked on the ocean, lips parted like he was whispering something to the sea itself.
“Magnificent,” he said again, and this time Emmy understood.
Emmy had wondered, at first, why Spence bothered to arrange this trip, but she got it, now. It was about everyone having fun together, about exploring Alaska, about fully experiencing life outside the walls of the coterie. They were food for vampires, but they were alsomore.
The whales lingered for long minutes, breaching, slapping, rolling in the waves as though the ocean itself was a stage. Tourists filled memory cards, shouted oaths of disbelief, and clutched each other in shared awe.
When the pod finally slid beneath the surface, leaving only ripples and the faint shimmer of flukes vanishing into the deep, reverent silence followed.
It lasted until Felix broke it with a sigh. “Well. Guess we can all die happy now.”
Rhea elbowed him, but her grin matched his.
Emmy leaned on the rail, heart hammering, the spray drying on her cheeks like salty tears. She thought of contracts and dungeons, of being used and burned, and felt the residual trauma sliding away under the vast weight of the ocean and the whales that claimed it.
Today, she wasn’t food, sadist, or scholar. She was just a girl on a boat, breathless at the sight of giants.
“You’re as big as them, you know,” Spence told her, speaking low enough none of the humans around could hear over the sounds of the engines and wind.
She nodded. She’d seen her siblings and parents in dragon form while she was human, but that was kind of an everyday thing when they were in Faerie. This was the first time she’d seen whales.
“I know, but this was just…” She shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I see fantastical creatures when I visit my famous aunts, and you’re right that I’m basically one of those, but I’ve never seen humpbacks before.”
“I get it. Zander let me go to Alfheim with Kirsten for a couple of days a while back, and the entire experience was magical, but this is right up there with it.”
“Oh, IloveAlfheim. It’s another place I can just take off and fly whenever I want, and I adore Zeta. Thank you so much for putting this together. It’s been a really special day.”
“I’m glad you’ve enjoyed yourself. I think I most enjoyed the human pony stables in Faerie. The beauty and regalness of beings in top shape dressed up as animals. The headdresses, the reins.”
Emmy smiled. “I may or may not have spent more time in the stables than you probably want to hear about. Back when I had plenty of funds, and could bid on the winners of the races.”
“We aren’t the same.” He grinned. “I wished I could spend a day being a horse in the stable, but without Zander there to give the okay and watch over me, it wasn’t possible.”
“Even if he could get permission from my aunts to go, he’d have a hard time leaving Midgard,” Emmy said, remembering why Marco couldn’t go to Alfheim. “He’d have to hand his power over to Kendra before leaving, or the weakest vampires might not survive.”
Spence nodded. “Exactly, but he’s happy to let me go off on adventures here and there, as long as I’m not gone terribly long.”
