Dorian stumbled back a short distance and sat down. The waves leaped in front of him, foam streaking their always-descending curls. Was she really gone? Forever?

Running footsteps sounded in the distance, coming closer. Dorian didn’t move. Whatever it was, it wasn’t his problem. All this human stuff just wasn’t his problem. The footsteps thudded onto the beach with a loud clatter of dislodged stones.

“Dorian! Oh, thank God. But you’re soaking wet!”

Slowly Dorian turned his head. Ben Ellison ran toward him, eyes urgent, and reeled to a stop as he registered Dorian’s miserable face. Ellison stared around the beach, obviously puzzled. “Dorian, I was looking for you, and then I heard—I thought—wasn’t someone screaming?”

“Oh.” Dorian turned back to gaze at the waves again. “That wasn’t me. It was Luce.” He nodded toward the breakers. Ellison followed the gesture and teetered slightly as he grasped what it meant. “If you’re worrying about her, she’s probably fine.”

“Luce. That’s her name? That’s why I was looking for you.” Ellison stood unsteadily, considering, and then sat down close to Dorian. “There’s something I wanted you to tell her if she came back, your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend anymore. I’m not going to be telling her anything.” Dorian felt shocked by the words even as he spoke them. Could they really be true? “I just broke up with her.”

Ellison looked flabbergasted. “You just what?” He paused, his face working strangely. “And you’re still here? I would have sworn that breaking up with a mermaid was a guaranteed way to get yourself killed.”

Dorian exhaled. There was no reason now not to say whatever he felt like. Ellison knew; the whole FBI probably knew. “I offered. I told her to go ahead and drown me if she felt like it.” Dorian glowered at the midnight blue waves and pitched a rock. “She wouldn’t do it.”

“You offered yourself up for murder?” Again that odd chewing motion passed through Ellison’s worn face. “Why would you do such a thing?”

Dorian didn’t answer. The wind on his sopping clothes chilled him, but he didn’t want to move. An idea came to Ellison; his voice grew more animated. “Was it that you used to be so deeply in love with her that it seemed like the only way you could honor that lost connection? A grand gesture . . .”

Dorian rubbed his face against his knees and groaned. He’d thought Ellison was smarter than this, and he looked up bleakly into the older man’s face. “No. I offered because I’m still in love with her.” Dorian wanted to let go. He wanted to sway in that blue darkness, melt into song. “I more than offered, actually. I tried to make her do it, and she still wouldn’t!”