And I thought my life with Evariste wasstrange.
Angelique cleared her throat. “Is something wrong,Pegasus?”
Pegasus snorted, then started through the underbrush at a briskwalk.
Eventually, Angelique heard a voice—playful-sounding but lost and mournful in pitch. “They said he was with the mage—the sea witch,” this new voice said. “And I am my clan’s bestsinger.”
The voice whispered something Angelique couldn’t make out and was followed by a dullthump.
Chapter 23
Pegasus bargedhis way between trees, then shifted slightly so he and Angelique could together peer down at the young lady slumped on theground.
Her skin was a warm shade of olive, and she had lovely hair of tight curls that were a dark brown color, though the top layer was a burnished gold—bleached by the sun. Even from this angle, it was obvious the girl was taller thanAngelique.
Angelique blinked as she struggled to process this.Golden skin, tall, curls in her hair…what does that mean?She looked at Pegasus, who jerked his head in an eastern direction, and even this far inland, Angelique could hear the call of seabirds.
Angelique brightened.Aha-ha! Of course!Feeling surer of herself, Angelique spoke. “Strange, I didn’t think I would find someone who looks even worse for wear than I do. What is wrong, selkie lass? Why are you out of the sea and away from yourcolony?”
Selkies were a rare race of magical people who could shift between a human form and seal form. They were able to transform by putting on their seal pelts and were, in general, considered the guardians of theoceans.
Though Ringsted was the location of their only colony, they were rarely seen inland—and certainly never far from theirfamily.
Slowly, the selkie raised her gaze, revealing mesmerizing sea green eyes swirled with hints of ocean blue. “You’re a magic user,” she whispered, her eyes glowing with renewedhope.
Angelique slid off Pegasus’ back, banging herself in the kneecap with a saddle stirrup on the way down. “I am an Enchantress-in-Training. My name is Angelique. Can I helpyou?”
Tears welled up in the selkie’s eyes. “I’m Dylan, youngest daughter of King Murron and Queen Gwenllian of theselkies.”
Angelique successfully managed to keep her jaw from dropping at this tidbit, and her sense of concern for the selkie lass was now linked to a desire togroan.
If Selkie royalty is on land, this is worse than Ithought.
“A sea witch has been plaguing Ringsted’s shores,” the selkie princess continued, unaware of Angelique’s new dread. “She is responsible for the storms that tear through the ocean. We selkies have been tracking her for months, and it has been a stain on our pride that she has avoided capture for solong.”
Well, I suppose that solves the mystery of the storms—though it’s probably the worst possible outcome. A sea witch—it will take a squad of weather mages and water mages to take herdown.
Dylan scowled, making her lovely eyes stormy. “We have set so many traps and launched many an attempt to capture her, but she’s evaded us, and sometimes the landers unknowingly muck up our traps and ruin our plans.” She smacked an open hand on the ground in herfrustration.
Angelique nodded in encouragement when the selkie glanced herway.
“Today, my family set up another trap for the sea witch. We would have caught her—weshouldhave—but she was wielding some sort of sword, and we were in our seal bodies…” She trailed off and mashed her lips together. Her eyes once again welled with tears, though her furrowed brow spoke more of vexation thansadness.
Angelique strained her memory for more selkie lore. “If a selkie pelt is damaged, the selkie can no longer take up the form of a seal, yes?” she askedgently.
Dylan wordlessly nodded. “I chased her onto land,” she finally said. “Against my Da’s wishes. Ihadher! My selkie magic had her trapped! But she’s allied herself with some shady humans and they snuck up behindme!”
Though Angelique was inclined to feel sorry for the selkie princess, Dylan’s ire only seemed to grow.This one is a handful, that much is forcertain.
Dylan finally snapped her gaze up. “They took my pelt, and now I can’t go back to my selkieform.”
Angelique’s heart broke forher.
She had seen princes taken to their knees, a duchess desperate in her desire to mend two feuding countries together, and Puss unconscious and injured, but the grief in Dylan’s eyes, her consuming fear made Angelique’s chestwrench.
Dylan had been backed into a dark corner, and there was no curse to break, no spell to modify that would return the pelt—part of her very being—toher.
Angelique paused when she noticed a very key word in Dylan’s explanation. “You saidtheytookit?”
