Gently, he took her hands, lifting her to her feet. “Then allow me the great honor of bringing you home.”
She wore a silky garment the color of sea foam. Still holding her gaze, he reached behind her to find the tiny tab of the zipper. She did not protest as he slowly drew it down. The delicate straps slid over the soft curves of her shoulders.
Courage, courtesy, compassion, chastity, charity, constancy, candor. John mentally clung to the mantra of the Seven Knightly Vows as if to a lifeline as Neridia’s dress fell away. Courage, courtesy, compassion, chas-
Silk pooled around his mate’s feet, leaving her clad only in the barest wisps of lace, and all thought drained away.
Her curves held both the abundance of the earth and the rolling waves of the sea. Her skin evoked the rich tones of fertile soil, warmer than his own ocean-tinged hue. Her navel was a tiny perfect whirlpool; her collarbones graceful as the wings of gulls.
He might have stared in dumbstruck worship until the end of time and tides, but she shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. “I’m cold.”
Every drop of his soul cried out with the desire to embrace her and warm her against his own body. But if he did…
I would never be able to let go again.
He forced himself to step back, though it felt like fighting against the strongest ocean current. He cleared his throat. “The, the water shall warm you, Your Majesty.”
He turned away, crouching down to put one hand just above the surface of the water. The lake rose up to meet his touch, waves rubbing against his palm like a dolphin’s arched back. He could hear the water’s anticipation, its shivering eagerness to greet the Empress.
Gently, gently, he cautioned the water, as best he could with a mere human voice. Feel the warmth of my blood; all seas are one sea, and your currents flow through my veins. Give back your stored summers, remember the heat of distant sands. Embrace my lady gently, as I cannot.
“Here, Your Majesty.” He motioned her forward. “The way is prepared for you.”
She cast him a dubious look, but kicked off her shoes. Her eyes widened as her bare toes dipped into the water. “It’s warm!”
“The lake is your loyal subject, Your Majesty, as are all waters. It is anxious to please you.”
The water murmured with pleasure, caressing the Imperial ankles. John tightened one fist, fighting for control as the lake whispered and sighed over the silkiness of her skin. Linked to its currents as he was, he could not help but feel everything that the water did. The elegance of her instep, the perfect shells of her toenails, the soft swells of her calves…
The Empress waded out further, and John bit back a moan as the water crept past her dimpled knees and up her thighs. The lake sang in ecstasy as it lapped higher, tasting her intoxicating salt-
“John?” Waist-deep, she looked back at him in concern. “Are you coming?”
“A, a moment,” he gasped, hunched over.
Courage, courtesy, compassion, chastity, charity, constancy, candor! He mentally shouted his Knightly Vows, drowning out the water’s sensual song. Courage, courtesy, compassion, chastity, charity, constancy, candor!
His crisis retreated a little, leaving him not quite so much on the brink of utterly shaming himself right there on the shore. Straightening, he strode into the water—raising rather more concealing spray than was strictly necessary.
“You’ll ruin your suit,” she said as he splashed over to join her.
“It is a necessary sacrifice, Your Majesty.” He wished that he could ask the lake to drop the temperature to sub-arctic levels in a very localized area. “Come. We must go deeper. Your true form will require more space.”
The Empress hesitated, biting her lip. “I can’t swim.”
“You can swim.” He took her hand, drawing her forward. “You were born able to swim, Your Majesty.”
She grabbed at his hand as her feet left the bottom, eyes suddenly panicked. “John-!”
“Let your body recognize what your mind has forgotten.” He wove a calm melody around the human words, urging the water to cradle her as gently as a soft-scaled hatchling. “You spent the first nine months of your existence floating, rocked by the tides of your mother’s heart. You knew water long before you ever knew air. You merely need to be reminded.”
He was floating too now, balanced on his back, his long legs positioned protectively underneath her. The lake swirled around them both, supportive and welcoming. He felt her rigid muscles ease a little at the friendly, buoyant touch of the water.
Cautiously, she relaxed into the embrace of the lake. She kept hold of his hand, but her free arm drifted out, fingers opening like a delicate anemone unfurling.
“Oh,” she whispered. “Oh.”
“See, Your Majesty,” he whispered, heart near breaking with pride and longing. “You are home.”