“Nope, and I don’t intend to wait one further moment to find out.” Clumsy in her flippers, she waddled over, reaching up to pull at his arm. “Stop fretting, Finn. It’ll be fine.”
He let her draw him down for a kiss, but he couldn’t stop his hands from clenching into fists. More than he ever had before in his life, he hated what he was.
I am weak, weak to allow her to make this sacrifice. Oath-brother, you would be ashamed of me.
He should be the one giving up everything for her. After all, his own oath-brother, the Pearl Emperor, had left the ocean for the sake of his human mate. At the time, Finn had come close to hating him for being able to abandon the Pearl Throne—abandon him—so easily.
Forgive me, oath-brother. I understand now. I would do exactly the same, if she asked.
But she hadn’t.
She knew that there was no place for a shark in her warm, joyful pack. Yet they were true mates, unable to be parted. Since he could not join her world, she would sentence herself to his.
And he was too weak to stop her.
“It will be fine,” she repeated, breaking away from the kiss at last. Despite her words, a little crease of worry marked her brow. “Now, are you absolutely certain I don’t need scuba gear?”
He took her hand, turning it palm-up. “All you need is this.”
“Oh, Finn, it’s beautiful.” Martha held the hinged, filigree locket up to the light, admiring the pattern of curling waves worked into the gold. “This may sound silly, but…is it magic?”
“No. It is just a container.” Fighting down sudden nerves, he held out his hand again. “This is magic.”
Martha’s eyes widened at the sight of the pearl in his palm. He was, he secretly had to admit, rather pleased with the way it had turned out. It was an unusual silvery gray, like storm clouds, with flashes of blue-green iridescence where it caught the light.
“That’s never a real pearl, is it?” Martha’s finger hovered over the shining surface, as if she was scared to touch it. “It’s enormous!”
“I would have liked to make it bigger.” He eyed it critically, searching once again for any hint of a flaw. It had to be perfect, if he was to entrust his mate to its magic. “But I ran out of time.”
Martha’s startled gaze jerked up. “You made it? How?”
In answer, he put his other hand on top of the pearl, hiding it from sight. Closing his eyes, he rolled it one last time between his palms.
The hidden fire of thermal vents, where the very water burns. The taste of sulfur in his gills. Tiny, glowing creatures who would never know the sun, going about their private, secret lives on the dark sea floor. Unconcerned by his vast silent form soaring through their sky.
Martha gasped as he opened both hands and eyes again. The pearl glowed for a second with the memory he’d wrapped around it, before it faded into the shining surface.
“That’s what you were fiddling with the other day!” she exclaimed. “In bed, the morning after the dance. You were making this pearl?”
He nodded, taking the golden locket from her and opening it. “The sea dragons lay claim to many arts. But this one they stole from my people. We are not adept with words. We make our thoughts into pearls instead. They can have great power, depending on what is put into them.”
She watched as he fastened the pearl into the locket. “And what did you put in this one?”
“The dreams of a shark.” Carefully, he fastened it around her slender neck. “To teach your body what mine already knows.”
Her hand flew to the locket. “I’m going to shift into a shark?”
Her evident dismay cut him to his heart…though he could not blame her for it. If he was a coyote, he would not want to turn into a shark either.
“No,” he said, his voice roughening. “That is beyond my art, and I would not do it even if I could. But it should at least allow you to breathe underwater.”
Martha still looked worried, but her back straightened. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s test it out.”
She marched into the surf without another word, dignified as a queen for all her ridiculous, clumsy flippers.
Oh, my mate, my fearless coyote. I am not worthy of your courage.
Nonetheless, he followed, keeping close to her side as she swam out into the bay. Though he had made many pearls for many purposes over his long life, he had never before made one like this. He found himself holding his own breath as she ducked under the waves.