The Deep

Queen Silence

Aboard The Finnie, Seil Sea

OFF THE COAST OF AIREN

I stood at the railing of the handsome galleon, staring down into the waters, a bitter, stiff wind blowing my hair about my face.

The waters were somewhat choppy.

Ha-Lah, Aramus, Jorie, Frey and Finnie were just down the deck from me.

And my husband stood before me.

The vein in his temple was pulsing.

“This is natural for me,” I said soothingly.

“It is cold,” he replied.

“And Ha-Lah and Jorie have assured us that I will not feel that,” I reminded him.

“A being can die swiftly in this cold,” he said, as if I had not spoken.

“A being could, if they were not mermaid.”

He cast his gaze down to the water.

I lifted my hand and pressed it to his cheek.

He gave his beautiful eyes to me.

“I will be fine,” I promised.

“I find suddenly I would wish for a wife who was less dauntless and bold,” he muttered.

I started giggling.

He, too, put his hands to my face, both of them, before his head descended, and he took my mouth in relentless kiss.

I was clinging to him when it ended.

“Now go,” he murmured. “Before I commandeer this ship and take us back to Sky Bay.”

I nodded, his hands still on my face moving as I did.

Mars removed them but wrapped his fingers around one of mine and led me down to the others.

Jorie watched me the entirety of this short journey.

“You are ready, little sister?” he asked when we arrived.

I nodded to him too.

His gaze went to Mars’s.

“I will be with her every length,” he stated. “And Ha-Lah will be with us.”

“Do not keep her down there long,” Mars grunted.

For a moment, Jorie didn’t say anything.

Until finally, he spoke and did this solemnly.

“My brother, you can trust me.”

They locked eyes, and I waited.

I was glad it didn’t take my husband long before he jerked up his chin, gave my fingers a squeeze and let me go.

“Right. Ladies, for your convenience,” Frey murmured.

He then unlatched and swung open a gate in the railing which was where they put the gangplank.

Ha-Lah and I moved the few feet to that as Jorie called from behind us, “Do not turn around.”

Regardless of his words, I began to do that, but Ha-Lah grabbed my arm and whispered, “He’s disrobing.”

Faith.

I nodded to her earnestly and absolutely did not turn around.

I was wearing a heavy dressing gown over a light shift that ended just over my bottom, slippers on my feet.

Ha-Lah was in much the same.

We heard a splash, and I peered over the railing to the waters and watched until Jorie’s head surfaced, his dark hair slicked back.