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I pulled the velvet box from my purse and handed it to him.

“No, Marlowe. You need to do this alone. I want you to know you can do it.”

He pulled something from his pocket, but I couldn’t see what it was.

“Excuse me?”

“I know you can.” He took the box, then pulled the necklace from it and held it out to me. “Wade in until you’re thigh deep.”

“Thigh deep? When you said I didn’t have to go in deep, I thought you meant up to my ankles. These are new jeans. I didn’t bring a bathing suit.”

“And this ritual is very old. Old and binding. You need to go in like you mean it.”

“Damian—”

“I’ll be right behind you.”

I stared at him in the near-dark. I could only make out the line of his jaw, the silhouette of his hair and shoulders.

“No,” I said, then unbuttoned my jeans and loosened my blouse.

“Marlowe—”

“You want me to wade into that? You can watch me do it in my underwear. I’m not ruining my clothes. This blouse is Anthropologie.”

I peeled off my jeans and blouse and left them on a rock by my purse. Damian went still. I took the necklace from his hands.

“You’re coming in too?”

“Yes.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

I thought I saw him almost smile. “Fine.”

“Fine?”

“Fine.”

Slowly, he unbuttoned his shirt. I don’t think he meant to tease me. Maybe it was just him being timid, but the slow motion of his fingers over those buttons teased me anyway. Then he unzipped his jeans.

We stood opposite each other, half-naked, clad in the fog and a few faint stripes of moonlight.

“Okay, what am I doing here?”

It took him a moment to respond.

“Take the necklace and take this,” he said, then handed me a nail from his pocket.

I took both.

Then he said, “Wade out with me.”

The water was marrow-freezing. I felt it in my molars. It seeped through my underwear and stole my breath. I held my jaw clenched to stop my teeth from chattering.

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” I yelled over a crashing wave.

The salt-heavy weight tugged at my ankles. A few yards ahead, the water was a black wall. The sea stacks were out there, jagged and hidden in fog.