I asked, “You will not hunt the whales?”

“It will be added to the proclamations. It will be forbidden. No one will hunt the whales, for they are Companions of the Queen. If they do, they’ll answer to the King of the Sea.”

I could not believe he was saying this, and it meant so very much that he was, I felt a tear trace down my cheek.

Aramus captured it with his thumb and dipped his face even closer.

“You could never not please me, Ha-Lah, that’s how much you please me,” he whispered.

“Do you love me?” I asked.

“I did not know it, until recently, but I fell in love with you kneeling at your side in the sanctuary of Leuthea. I fell more in love with you when you appeared before me in your wedding gown, so regal, it was not like you were not yet queen, but you had been for centuries. And I fell more in love with you later, when you were standing by our marital bed and you stated your case with passion and strength, utterly unafraid of me.”

I stared up at my husband.

He grinned. “Though, I would have preferred you stated your case in the morning over breakfast after we’d had a night where we were both very naked and we did very pleasant things to each other while were that. Not to mention, done it in a much quieter tone.”

I felt a tremulous smile hit my lips.

Then I admitted, “I’m falling in love with you too.”

His head dipped that much nearer so when he said the words, “Thank the gods, I know,” his lips brushed mine.

Another tear traced down my opposite cheek as a frisson chased up my spine.

“Let us make magic together, wife, aboard The Finnie,” he whispered.

I nodded, and with us so close, my nose brushed against his.

That was when my husband kissed me.

It was gentle, and it was sweet. He took a great deal of time exploring my mouth, then gave more, allowing me to explore his.

The taste of him…

Sublime.

Then he turned us, so I had my back to the bed, and slowly he lowered me there, lowering himself on top of me.

His weight was like the heavens had landed atop me.

He rolled us though, so I was on top, as if he feared his weight would frighten me.

I showed him by kissing his mouth, his jaw, his neck, his throat that I was not afraid.

But kissing his mouth, his jaw, his neck, his throat, I smelled the salt of him, the aroma of sea and man and husband.

And I tasted the same things too.

Therefore, when I kissed his mouth again, I tried plundering.

It worked.

I was rolled, and my efforts ceased for my husband was plundering me with mouth and with hands.