She heard pride, and a touch of apprehension, in his voice. Being a selkie himself, he didn’t want to speak ill of the man who ruled the Fae with his particular gift, but he’d made enough comments on the journey for her to understand he was hoping Lord Murtagh’s virility wouldn’t sway her into remaining on Selkie Island.

At another time, she might have been amused by the verbal tug-of-war the captain was engaged in—approving of the way Murtagh ruled the selkies and dealt with the human gentry in one breath and in the next giving warning hints that many a young lady had been lured into a lover’s arms by moonlight and the sea, and while a lover could stir the blood, his appeal could fade with the turning of the moon while love rooted in family was forever.

Since she doubted anything she said would reassure the man, she just smiled and turned her attention to the sea.

As they got closer to the island, she saw six small fishing boats—and she saw a man from each boat dive into the water. When she heard the captain order the mainsail lowered, she stared at him in surprise.

He shrugged. “Best to go easy in these waters. Take a look.” He pointed down.

Jenny caught the flash of a sleek brown head before it disappeared under the water again.

Two selkies surfaced near the bow of the ship. Four others surfaced a little farther out.

“Merry meet!” the captain called. “I’m bringing Lady Jennyfer to the island to meet with Lord Murtagh!”

The selkies bobbed their heads, then raced away. Jenny watched two of them head for the harbor while the other four swam back to the fishing boats.

“You can bet a bag of gold coins that there’s an archer in each of those boats,” the captain said quietly. “Now that they know why we’re coming to the island, they won’t fire on us.”

“I thought they were out fishing.” Jenny narrowed her eyes a little to study the boats more carefully.

“Oh, they are. But the Fae have always been protective of these waters, and these days…well.” He pointed at the sky. “There’s plenty of them who aren’t looking for fish.”

“Sea hawks?”

The captain didn’t answer, and Jenny didn’t wonder why. This wasn’t a harbor for the inexperienced or unwary. But an enemy trying to land wouldn’t know which channels through the sentinel stones were deep enough to give safe passage into the harbor itself and which had unseen rocks that would rip the bottom out of a ship.

No, an enemy wouldn’t know, but neither would a merchant who was being pursued and needed a safe harbor.

She wouldn’t think of that. She wouldn’t.

Safe harbor. Oh, Mihail, come back to safe harbor.