“Ready to go, John?” The Empress walked toward them, Finn at her side. He had a slightly strange look on his face, as if he was trying to process something. There was a black pearl around his neck, strung on a silver chain, that hadn’t been there before.
Martha went to her mate, taking his hand. “All okay?”
He nodded at her, but it was the Empress he addressed. “I will think on it. Expect to hear from me soon.”
The Empress touched the pearl at his throat. “You know how to reach me. Thank you, Master—that is, Finn.”
The pair waded into the lake. A wave of displaced water surged over the shore as they shifted, their human shapes blurring into the impossibly large, sinuous forms of sea dragons.
The Empress was black as the night, every scale shining like the pearl around Finn’s neck; John, a deep, rich indigo, the exact shade of his hair in human form. The water closed over their jeweled backs.
“What did she want to give you?” Martha asked Finn, as they watched the V-shaped ripples head toward the center of the lake. “That pearl?”
He nodded, touching it. “It is for scrying. I used to have a similar one, when I was the Voice of the Empress. It will allow me to speak to her, when I wish, using the surface of a pool of water.”
“Sounds handy. And what’s this thing you told her you’d think about?”
He hesitated. “She…told me some news. The Pearl Empire will have a new heir, this time next year.”
“Oh! They’re having a baby?”
“Yes.” His gaze tracked the distant ripples of the underwater sea dragons. “She asked if I would be the child’s champion. Godfather, I think you would call it.”
She squeezed his hand. “Sounds like quite an honor.”
“It is.” He looked down at her, his deep-set eyes shadowed. “But…it is a tie to Atlantis. I did not know whether you would approve of that.”
She nestled closer to his side. “Of course I do. It’s where you come from, Finn. I don’t want you to never see your home again.”
He kissed the top of her head. “You are my home.”
“Oh, you.” Martha narrowed her eyes. The ripples on the water had vanished, suspiciously abruptly. “Hey, where did they go? For that matter, how did they get here?”
His lips curved in a slight, mysterious smile. “Do you have your pearl?”
“Of course I do.” Martha touched the golden locket that she always wore around her neck. “Why?”
Without a further word, he waded out into the lake. Turning, he held out his hand to her.
Martha glanced back at the distant bonfire, with the silhouettes of their pack gathered around it. The party was starting to die down now, parents gathering up dozing children and carrying them off to blankets under the stars. A few other couples were quietly slipping away into the trees, hand-in-hand. Soft laughter carried on the warm night air.
Their pack was safe, and happy. For a few hours at least, they wouldn’t be missed.
Her pulse rose in anticipation as she joined Finn, the lake water lapping around her thighs. Taking her hand, he dr
ew her deeper, until the lake lifted her off her feet and into his waiting arms.
He bore her up in the water, her back to his front, his calm, strong heartbeat echoing in her own chest. Tipping back her head, she stretched out her limbs, letting the water stream like ribbons through her spread fingers. The cloudless night was ablaze with stars. Weightless in the water, she could scarce tell where the lake ended and the sky began. She floated through eternity, wrapped in her mate’s embrace.
“Ready?” he said softly into her ear.
“For what?” she started to say, but he was already ducking them under the water. Her words were lost in bubbles, the pearl around her neck glowing as its magic took hold.
The water of the lake tasted different than the sea had; a hot, muggy June day rather than clear winter air. It was murkier too, so that she could barely see Finn’s pale form swimming beside her. She kept a tight hold of his hand as he drew her down into the depths.
And then-
She gasped in shock at the sudden salt tang in her mouth. The green-brown lake waters turned to crystal-clear turquoise. The unmistakable murmur of the open sea filled her ears as they floated up to the surface.