After another minute of cursing my hopeless ineptitude, I noticed a change out in the water beyond the egress of the cove. It looked like it was swelling up, as if a giant wave were building from nowhere, like a huge ship was somehow sinking in reverse. I gasped and scurried back on the sand, but I could not take my eyes off it. I thought I saw dark, jagged shapes break the surface, but I couldn’t begin to wrap my mind around what they could be, and then they were gone as quickly as they’d appeared.

The swell sank, but the wave it caused broke and crashed mightily before me. I winced, covering my eyes against the spray. When I looked up again, Riley was in the center of the cove, striding toward me out of the waist-deep water.

He seemed entirely unaffected by the waves that crested against the back of his legs as he approached the shore. I reached out to him, and he took one of my hands, circling me to stand at my back. He put his other hand on my shoulder. It was wet, but his touch was warm, and when I shivered as he ran his fingers down my arm to clasp my wrist, it had nothing to do with temperature.

I felt a drop of water land on my shoulder as he spoke at my ear. “There is nothing out there for you to fear, Andromeda. Not with me.”

I turned my head to try to look at him, but he would not let me, pressing me back so that I was forced to face the ocean. I wanted to object. There was very much to fear! A litany of terrors hovered at my lips, but I held my tongue. The experience seemed to mean so much to him. How dare I allow my own weakness to spoil what had been such a perfect evening so far? Save for the past few minutes when we were apart, at least…

“I couldn’t help it,” I said apologetically. “Please don’t ever do that again. Don’t leave me alone, not with the water.”

He laughed softly and I felt the damp pressure of his face against the side of my hair. “You weren’t alone. I am here. I will always be with you. Simple creature, do you still not comprehend? I cannot bear that you be unprotected.” He turned me to face him and slid his arms around my waist, a wry smile on his lips. “And from what I’ve come to know of you, I think we can both agree that you have far more to fear from yourself than you do from the depths of the sea.”

I wasn’t so sure of that, but as I found myself becoming lost in his verdigris gaze, I more than ever wanted to believe he could be right.