Hæra thought about it and nodded. “Because we’ll try both places and then decide. That’s a good plan.”

“I can’t wait.” Madeleine’s voice cracked. Her eyes looked wet again, and a flush covered her cheekbones. “To show you everything—go places with you, see things through your eyes—everything’s going to look new.”

Hæra knew how she felt. She’d grown used to living on the farm, but when she’d taken Madeleine on the tour, it was as if she was seeing it again for the first time. She hadn’t known time could collapse and expand that way, just because of who you were with.

It was Madeleine’s turn. Whenever Hæra visited her, she’d get to do the same thing. And Hæra would be able to do things she’d never thought she’d be able to do. Leave the North Sea behind, get on a plane, and⁠—

And—

And fly.

She’d watched aeroplanes so many times, including the little hopper that flew between the islands. It didn’t come to Jorsay, and on the rare occasions she’d had to leave, she’d taken the ferry. That had seemed right anyway, since the closer she was to water, the stronger her human form was.

The stronger it had been. No longer.

Her human body knew other joys now. Judging by the flush filling her face, Madeleine was thinking about them too.

“So what do you think?” Madeleine’s voice cracked again. “Will we do it? If—if you’re all in, so am I, I’m—I’m all in, Hæra, I…”

Hæra’s hands shook. Not with fear. She knew this feeling all too well. If she let her hands move, they would grab. She was barely breathing.

“I love you,” Madeleine whispered. “You asked. I said yes. It’s true.”

Hæra’s heart began to race. She didn’t bother trying to slow it down; she couldn’t. She could only race alongside it. “Good,” she said.

Then she shot up from her chair so fast it fell over. She held Madeleine’s hand as she rounded the table and dragged her to her feet too, while Madeleine looked at her with wide, wild eyes.

“You love me,” Hæra said. For the second time, it wasn’t a question.

Madeleine’s lips parted, but no words came out. She only nodded, flushed and panting.

“You want me.” A familiar feeling surged through Hæra, hot and relentless and powerful. Enough of her old nature remained for her to understand whale song. Enough remained for her to feel this way too.

Human or not, love or not, she had to claim what was hers.