Hæra brooded until she finally reached the rocks, but then practical concerns took over. What was she to do with her clothes? Jonathan usually handled that, bringing them when they met onshore and taking them away when she left. After their argument, he might not return for their usual appointment, and she wanted to apologize before then anyway. Tomorrow, in fact.

A large rock stood far back enough that the high tide wouldn’t reach it. She looked around to make sure she was alone. Then she undressed and tucked her clothes and boots in a crevice beneath the big rock.

Naked, she transformed into her four-legged horse form and walked into the water.

The waves lapped welcomingly at her fetlocks and then rose steadily over her legs. Sand and pebbles scraped against her, borne landward by the water to blend sea and shore.

The current urged her forward, and she lunged in with relief as it buoyed her, taking the burden of her body weight. She bobbed up and down, concentrating as her hind legs fused together into her marine tail.

There. She was herself again. Her true self that needed nobody else: not a friend, and definitely not someone to love. Just because she’d grown used to wearing a human-shaped body once in a while, just because she’d been learning new things, didn’t mean she was changed.

She crested to the point where the waves rose highest. Once she got past it, the water would calm again. Normally, she plunged beneath the surface and cut through the waves, the better to conceal herself and hurry back home. Tonight, though, the air called to her: stay just another moment. And so she crested the surface of the wave instead, letting it carry her higher up.

Freedom. The word flashed across her mind. Hæra, nearing the top of the wave, looked longingly up toward the sky, where freedom beckoned. Then she reached the wave’s peak, looked down at the water that awaited her, and saw the end of freedom altogether.

Three pairs of Each-uisge eyes glowed up at her.

She’d been caught.

There was no time to feel anything but shock. The wave swept her swiftly and unforgivingly down, smacking her into the surface and then shoving her below it.

The Each-uisge parted before she could crash on top of them. Below the surface, she looked around wildly to see that she’d been met by Asgall, Beathag her mother, and Calder, the Sire of the herd. Calder’s tail, mottled with blue and black, barely moved as he held steady in the water. By contrast, Beathag’s dark green tail whipped back and forth in agitation.

Shite. Shite, shite, shite.

They all dove down and surrounded her. Asgall’s eyes were bright with malice, Beathag’s with rage. Calder’s were only cold with purpose.