Hæra set her jaw. Her human teeth ground together, their blunt surfaces reminding her of all she had lost, and all she stood to gain. In her Each-uisge form, her teeth were like knives. They could only tear Madeleine’s flesh, not caress it.

Wanting.

What was that? When Hæra thought of Madeleine, and wanting her, and Madeleine wanting her back, she no longer knew what that meant. It had been clear once. Want had been the same as hunger. This seemed like hunger too, but Hæra felt no desire to rend Madeleine’s soft skin.

It would be nice to figure out what she desired instead.

It felt, as Jonathan sometimes said, on the tip of her brain. She was on the verge of realizing the truth, but the harder she tried to work it out on her own, the more elusive it became. Over the last few years, she’d learned that in times like this, you had to stop thinking and let the answer come to you on its own.

Hæra flopped back on her bed. At ten o’clock, it was still light outside, but today had been tiring. She’d drawn her heavy drapes that blocked out the sun, and now she picked up her mobile to play the ambient “ocean noises” sounds she liked to have at night. It wasn’t the same as being in the sea, but it was a surprisingly good imitation. Humans had many skills, including being able to record the rumble of underwater currents and the call of whales. Now, Hæra could hear the sea in her bedroom.

She hit “play” and set the phone on the nightstand. She’d changed into comfortable sweatpants and a T-shirt. Needing little insulation, she used no duvet. It was time to slow her metabolism down and sink into the half-conscious state of rest that would prepare her for the next day.

On her mobile, as part of the recording, a humpback whale sang out for a mate.

The sound made Hæra’s heart beat faster rather than slowing it down. Mating calls were so personal. In her former life, the herd had used them to track down whales and find the smaller fish that tended to surround them. Now, in this life, alone in this room, the song sounded different.

“Come here,” the whale sang to a female, “join with me.”

Hæra squirmed in bed.

“Let challengers perish,” the whale continued. “Let us be one.”

She squeezed her thighs together. The resultant pressure brought a warm, firm pulse between her legs that felt quite good.