“Well, that doesn’t happen every day,” Marin said conversationally to her sails.
She leaned back and couldn’t stop grinning. What a tale this would make, if she had anyone to tell it to. Maybe whoever receivedthe delivery at the next dock would want to hear it.Chances are, they won’t believe it.
That was okay. She knew it was true.
And Iovar wasn’t here to refute it.
Her smile faded as she thought of him, and then she resolutely shoved all thoughts of him away, squishing them into a tiny ball in the corner of her heart. She’d made it through the pass, and she’d rescued a sea serpent. It was a good day, and it was all hers.
Settling in, Marin sailed away from the painted cliffs and the twin islands of the lovers. The wind was strong and steady, and the sun was warm on her silvery arms and cheeks. It caressed her as if welcoming her back from the rainbow shadows of the Painted Pass.
In the distance, she spotted a herd of merhorses. She watched them crest with the waves, sea spray flying from their manes as their tails propelled them through the water. It wasn’t every day one got to see a sea serpent, much less rescue one. She’d treasure this memory.
Humming an old sailor’s song, she continued on.
It was two hours later when she realized the sea serpent hadn’t left. He was still swimming with her, beneath the waves, a polite distance from her boat.
“Um, hey?” Marin called. “You said thanks. We’re all good. You can go now.”
He flicked one of his feathery fins, and water sprayed her legs.
She felt a bit like she’d been scolded for being silly. “I’m serious,” Marin said. “You can’t just…staywith me.”
He raised his head out of the water and looked at her with his blue-as-the-night-sea eyes.
Okay, so maybe she couldn’t tell him what to do or what not to do, but really? A sea serpent swimming alongside her boat? For hours? She’d never heard of that happening. They were supposed to be aloof creatures who occasionally sank ships during storms for no apparent reason. You were supposed to admire them and avoid them.
“We’re not friends,” Marin told him.
He swam beside her boat, as if to say he disagreed.
When he was still with her two days later, she gave him a name: Perri.
And when the people on the docks she visited asked how she’d befriended a sea serpent, she told them the truth: “I didn’t. He befriended me.” All she’d done was save his life, which didn’t seem nearly as impressive a feat as becoming her friend.
CHAPTER TWO
TWO YEARS LATER…
Marin sailed toward the city island of Alyssium and tried to ignore the sulking sea serpent just off the side of her boat. Slicing through the surface of the water, he was swimming close enough to the hull that seawater sloshed over the deck.
“You don’t have to come,” she told him.
He flipped one of his fins at her, and spray spattered her face.
Marin laughed. “Rude.”
He didn’t like the imperial capital, and she didn’t blame him. Sure, the city was lovely, in the same way that a many-tiered cake covered in fondant and spun sugar seemed lovely if you didn’t know it had been baked with fish inside. It soured if you sniffed too hard.
As she trimmed the sail, Perri circled the boat and then flipped onto his side and wiggled as if he were squeezing his sinewy body through a pipe.
“Yes, I know you hate the canals,” Marin said. “I don’t like them either.” The city, which filled the entire island, was riddled with canals that served as watery roads between the spires and towers. You moved through the city either by crossing the bridges and arches that connected the upper levels of the palatial buildings or by maneuvering through the narrow canals below. Sugar and icing again,with fish at the bottom. Really, it was an excellent analogy. She should try to remember it for the next time anyone asked why she didn’t like her trips to the capital.
But coming here was unavoidable. This was the capital city, the heart of the glorious Crescent Islands Empire, and even with the weight of the emperor’s ever-increasing tariffs, which mostly hit independent sailors, it was an essential stop for any supply runner who needed a decent income, which she did. “You can wait for me in the open water. I’ll be fine.”
Another splash.
“Of course I want you with me, but…” She raised her arm to ward off the next splash. “Your choice. That’s all I’m saying.”
