“Shear off, you rascals!” I clapped my hands, calling the hounds’ attention. “Where is he? Show me!”

Just like all the times before, they took off into the trees, tails up and muzzles down, letting their noses lead them to the rendezvous point.

I gave chase, bending into the pursuit and hugging the trails. At length, I lost track of all the twists and turns and forged headlong into unknown lands.

The terrain grew savagely rugged. Twiggy branches grabbed at my skirts, ripped seams, and gouged irreparable holes in the chintz.

I’d scrounged up a lot of trouble in my life and managed to fight my way out of all of it. But stealing a nobleman’s horse and destroying my mother’s precious gown? There was no coming back from this.

Maybe I wouldn’t have to. Maybe this time he would let me go with him.

My heart rate sped up, filling my chest with giddy anticipation.

He never ventured too close to town, so I wasn’t surprised when the journey extended into the next hour. The hounds maintained a frantic northernly pace, sharing my excitement to reunite with their master.

Deep into the woods, the dirt paths grew narrower, choked with foliage and disappearing beneath unexplored wilderness. But I hadn’t strayed far from the coast. The scent of brine and tang of salt lay heavily in the warm air, and the resonance of surf thundered over the clap of hooves.

A few minutes later, the trees parted to a view of oceanic blue.

The hounds sprinted toward the shore, kicking up sand in their wake. I dismounted the horse and secured him in the shade. Then I darted out of the forest and into the embrace of uninterrupted sunshine.

The narrow crescent of beach formed an inlet some sixty paces across. On the north side, waves broke in a spray of foam against the base of a cliff. Gulls circled overhead and perched on the rock face. Farther out, past the pounding surf, lay endless swells of water.

There were no ships, no signs of human life, but I felt him. He called to me in the crash of breakers upon the beach and hugged me in the clingy damp wind that whisked across the Great Western Ocean.

He was the sea. Rough. Dangerous. Dependable. No matter how far he traveled or how long he stayed away, he always returned to me.

I scanned the coastline to the south, where it curved out of view. The hounds had vanished in that direction, beyond an outcrop of trees.

Gathering my skirts, I dug my toes into the sand and took off after them. But a few steps in, something stirred in my periphery.

I spun toward the movement and shielded my eyes, squinting at the trees.

Shadows shifted in the woods near the horse. Someone was there, right where I’d been standing.