Hæra lowered her head. Her hot, soft mouth closed around Madeleine’s fingertip, and she began to suck.

She might as well have licked between Madeleine’s legs. Madeleine’s head tilted back, her eyes closed, and she moaned. The faint sting melted into the warmth, until the only thing left on earth was Hæra’s eager mouth.

Hæra gasped and pulled away. When she raised her head again, her face was flushed, her eyes glazed over, as if she were drunk. Her mouth was still open. She clearly wanted more, although there was no more from such a tiny wound. Her black hair curtained her face when she turned aside and let Madeleine go. She said roughly, “Sorry.”

Madeleine’s fingertip wasn’t bleeding now, but it tingled. “Th-that’s all right. Are you—um—what does that do?”

Hæra didn’t look up. “Do?”

“I mean, tasting blood. Does it…do something to you?” Maybe that’s why Hæra wouldn’t turn to her. “A feeding frenzy, like sharks?”

“Sharks!” Hæra laughed, sounding a little scornful. Maybe that was another insulting comparison, like with the kelpie. “No. There’s no frenzy. I’m still myself.” She turned to Madeleine then. Her eyes weren’t glazed anymore, and she wore a little smile, but the hunger was still there, written all over her in a language Madeleine ached to read. “Just want every bit of you there is, I suppose,” she said.

Madeleine’s face grew hot. I want the same, she could reply, minus the blood part.

“Can’t sleep?” Hæra asked. Her knee bumped Madeleine’s. She was warm and close, the living room was dark and cold, and embroidery could only get you so far.

Madeleine tossed the wheel and thread aside. “I’m sure I can now.”

Hæra’s eyes gleamed. “In my arms, you mean.”

“There’s no end to your ego.” It was as good as an admission. Madeleine stood up. She held out the hand with the finger that had bled, but wasn’t anymore.

Hæra regarded it silently. Then she took it as she rose to her feet, and kept holding it as she led Madeleine back to bed.

The next morning, Hæra left before Madeleine was awake, although Madeleine got up earlier now that she was helping out round the farm. Hæra loved how enthusiastically she’d taken to it. Yesterday, she’d learned how to drive a tractor. She embraced every opportunity to help out. Madeleine said it was only fair since Jonathan was letting her stay in the cottage for free, but Hæra knew she liked to be useful. More than that, she enjoyed working with her hands and being outdoors. Strange, she’d said, for a city girl.

It had been stranger still for an ocean creature. Hæra and Madeleine surely had more in common than Madeleine seemed to think.