Tieran, along with the three men he hoped to relieve of their kings’ gold, was seated at a table in the common room the next morning. The smell of smoke overpowered the scents of food, sweat and ale. Sela paused to glance out the opened door. Smoke curled towards the sky from a massive funeral pyre at the side of town, where Tieran had fought his enemy’s men the day before.

The reminder of what she had learned left her feeling conflicted. She understood Tieran much better. But was that good? She did not yet know. To date, their relationship had been strained at best. How much more would it change? Did she want it to?

Sela shook her head and crossed to the four men, who were eating meat pies and sipping ale.

“My brother was spotted to the west,” Lord Winlin informed her. “Tieran is taking us north first then west. We may cross into Iliu. We’ll be near the Emerald Bay.”

Citon pushed a meat pie towards her. Sela pushed it back and reached for mead instead.

“How far is it to the Emerald Bay?” she asked the air mage and his warrior.

“A day, no more, on horseback,” Citon answered.

“Finally,” she breathed. “Water!”

“If we journey close enough, we will settle our disagreement,” the wind mage said with a smile.

Sela opened her mouth to retort, when Citon spoke first.

“Before we debate the merits of wind and water, we would like to know why you chose to travel with us rather than returning to your home,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow and looked at Tieran. He had asked her to trust him. Whether or not she did, she did not yet know.

“My guardian favors you,” she replied. “I go where I’m told.”

Citon snorted. “Very well.”

Sela sipped her mead. It was rare when she had to swallow her pride and defer to someone else. Karav may have been pretending to let her make decisions from time to time, but she had never had to admit aloud she knew he was in charge.

Tieran smiled faintly. “Satisfied?” he asked.

“I’m not,” Vinian muttered.

“We are,” Citon said, ignoring his disgruntled mage. “We must tread carefully through the western kingdom.” He glanced at Lord Winlin. “He is our safe passage.”

“Wise,” Sela said. “You can never go wrong kidnapping the cousin of a king.” Her retort drew the looks of everyone in her party.

“I’m at peace with it,” Lord Winlin said with a shrug. “My father may listen to me. My brother will not.”

Sela was quiet. She understood the dangerous nature of looming war, and the need for each king’s representative to be cautious, lest he sparked the fuse that started the war. No king won, if he was caught unprepared, and no king possessed the water mage he needed to win. She thought over what Tieran had said about war and the kings vying to find her. She had not slept well, partially because of the events of her day, and partially because she could not shake the thought that sank into her mind long after dark fell.

If she remained in the Inlands, she prevented war from becoming a reality. When a king could claim her, he would be more willing to attack, knowing he controlled all the waterways and seas separating the islands of the kingdoms.

Tieran had been right about remaining in the Inlands, though she doubted he was thinking solely of avoiding war when he refused to leave his homelands.

She sat up – and a wave of dizziness hit her. She took another drink of mead and shook her head.

“Sela,” Tieran reached for her.

Vinian’s head hit the table. Citon sagged in his seat, while Lord Winlin appeared to be struggling to lift his arm.

Sela glanced towards Tieran, whose hand missed hers and eyes were glassy.

“Tieran,” she murmured. “I feel …”

Blackness swept over her.

* * *

Sela became conscious only a breath after the cool energy of the magic in her blood began to sing. Her head pulsed, the effects of some unknown sleeping potion, while her insides hummed with power.

Confused, she sat up and looked around. The room she was in resembled any of the innes she had frequented the past fourteen moons: all wood, with an uncomfortable pallet, a trunk for storing saddlebags and other supplies, and a table with a lantern on it.

Except innes did not sway or bolt their furniture to the floor.

She stood and balanced herself. Her throbbing head was woolly, but it was the call outside of herself that drew her attention.

Water. Lots of it. Its magic shouted to her, and her blood sang back. Unlike her encounter with the lake, she did not feel out of control or powerless. Her bond with Tieran was intact, stabilizing her.

Sela went to the door and wrenched it open, thrilled to be on a ship at last. She hurried down the hallway and reached the stairs leading to the upper deck before she began to rethink her eagerness.

She recalled going to the table with the others, sipping mead and then … blackness. She did not awaken bound or guarded, but who other than an abductor would render her party defenseless before bringing her aboard a ship?

She cocked her head to the side, listening. The water revealed her location.

Emerald Bay. Heading west, off the coast of the Kingdom of Iliu. Lord Winlin’s king was southwest of the Inlands. His lands stretched around the island and Inlands to the northernmost point. There was no need to be on a ship to reach him, which left her confused. The army of Citon’s king would have taken her east, across the Inlands.

If not Citon’s king, and not Lord Winlin’s, then who had taken her? Why was she crossing the Bay and headed to the Great Ocean?

Nothing lay between the western kingdom of Iliu and the open ocean. A continent no one had visited was said to exist across the expanse of water that stretched for almost half a moon.

What was the destination, if not to one of the islands?

She peered up the stairs. Tieran was close, or she would not be able to remain on her feet with the water beating against the ship to reach her. Darkness was visible through the portal, and a cool night breeze swept towards her. Sela breathed in the scent of the sea deeply with a shudder. How long had it been since she had tasted the salty sea in the air? It cleared her headache instantly, and any soreness in her body vanished, replaced by anticipation.

She started up the stairs and slowed when she reached the door to peer through the portal. No one stood guard, and she detected no movement at all in the space beyond. The ship appeared to be completely void of people.

Sela opened the door and stepped onto the deck. A moonless sky glowed with stars above. The chilled sea breeze rolled over her, rejuvenating her in a way nothing else could. Her magic burst into cool happiness, flowing within her for the first time since she had arrived to the Inlands. She stood, content to feel her power awakening within her once more.

After a moment, she roused herself from the pleasurable sensations inside her and took in her surroundings. No one was present on this part of the deck. She twisted, and her eyes went up to the billowing sails overhead. They displayed the unfamiliar sigil of a sword through an orb. In Vurdu and the other kingdoms, the sword represented the warrior corp.

The orb?

This ship, larger than any galleon in her kingdom, was from no kingdom she knew of.

She went to the railing and leaned against it, holding out a hand.

The sea rose up to greet her eagerly, and she shivered as the cold water and its cool magic fluttered through her. A short distance behind the galleon was a second ship bearing the same sigil on its sails, and a third behind it. The ocean stretched ahead of them, beyond the edges of the largest bay she had ever seen.

She let the rocking of the waves lull her into a near doze before shaking herself.

She turned, about to return to the below decks and find Tieran, when her eyes went to the cage hanging off the stout mainmast leading to the crow’s nest. The cage was large enough only to hold a man upright.

Sela halted mid-step. She would recognize Tieran’s shape anywhere. The caged Inlander was not moving.

Who would think to cage him but allow her to roam free?

Someone who knows water mages, she answered her own question.

She hurried forward, intent on climbing the wooden ladder leading up to the cage. Sela was about to reach the base of the mainmast when two figures slid in front of her, one armed and the other wearing silks rich enough to reflect the starlight.

She stopped. Her pulse quickened and with it, the height of the waves around the boat. The sails of the ship were filled with wind, but the water reacted to her uncertainty and prevented it from moving.

“Who are you?” she asked when neither man spoke.

“An interested party.”

She glanced up. She could sense Tieran but not reach him. But here, finally, she was not defenseless. She could protect herself and him.

Sela rolled her shoulders back and allowed the sea magic to fill her. Water slid over the railing of the galleon and pooled at her feet. The effect of her gathering her power was enough for both men to step back.

“We mean you no harm,” the man in silks said with a heavy accent she did not recognize.

“You kidnapped my companion and me,” she replied. “You cannot mean me well.”

“The four kingdoms were closing in on you,” he explained.

“Do not try to convince me I am safer with you than alone in the Inlands!” she retorted. “I’ve heard enough lies. You will set my guardian and me free, or I will sink your ships.”

The nobleman was silent. He motioned to his guard, who turned and hurried down the stairs leading below decks.

“I will be honest with you then, mage,” the richly dressed man said. “I am here to test you.”

“Test me?” she echoed. “For what purpose?”

“I am building an army of my own. My kingdom is the last of ten standing on the mainland to the west. The threat we face cannot be defeated by warriors alone. I’ve identified several of you who can help me.”

Sela was too surprised to respond. How could such a mad claim be anything but the truth?

She recovered from her shock and was about to ask him more, when he suddenly disappeared. Sela blinked, uncertain she had witnessed him vanishing.

“You see, I am a mirage.” His voice came from behind her.

She whirled to face him. He kept his distance, as if understanding the threat of backing her into a corner on her territory.

“Free Tieran,” she demanded. “Mirage or not, this ship is real, and I will sink it.”

“Are you capable?”

“Of course I’m capable!”

“There has been no water mage in several generations. It is widely believed the line died out, and you are an attempt by your king to distract the other kingdoms.”

“I’ve never heard such madness!” she returned. “Who are you?”

“Will you not show me your power?”

“Tell me who you are, and I will consider it.”

“You would not believe me.”

“This is not a negotiation,” she said firmly.

He paused, as if debating whether or not to acquiesce. She had thought his face shaded at first, but upon closer look, realized it was obscured as if by water. His frame was tall and lean, not that of a warrior, but of a noble who trained with warriors, and his clothing richly tailored, if strangely so, with an ornate belt fastened outside a tunic much shorter than any she had seen and boots that reached mid-thigh. The colors were different as well, garish, bright hues with an abundance of purple and green samite. The gilded hilt of the single dagger he wore was more for decoration than use.

No one in the island kingdoms dressed in this manner. He was from elsewhere, as he claimed. But from the unknown continent? Every priest, and even Karav, believed the continent to the west to be uninhabited.

“I am called The Sorcerer. I live in an enchanted palace, which traps me, forbids me from leaving the palace grounds. My family’s enemies long ago imprisoned my line as a means of ensuring we do not unleash our unholy power upon the world,” he said. “They did not know they were also sealing their own fates. I cannot stop the hordes sweeping across my realm when I am caged in my palace. I have had to find a different way to fight them.”

She listened, conveying her confusion to the water. The galleon ceased swaying and the water around it went still, waiting with her to decide how to react.

“The Sorcerer,” she repeated, recognizing his title without knowing why. “Your magic is not based in water, wind, or any other element.”

“It is not,” he confirmed.

“Your family wishes to unleash unholy magic, or that is the perception of lesser men?” she asked, sensing there was more to his careful story than he let on.

“You’re astute, mage.”

When he did not expand on the answer, she crossed her arms. “These hordes you speak of. It is an army?”

“No human army. But I answered your question. Now show me.”

“I have.”

He glanced around, not understanding.

“Go to the rail,” she directed him.

The mirage obeyed. Sela already knew what he would find; the sea told her. The water had lifted them ten horse lengths above the ocean’s surface and held them in place on a waterfall pillar.

“Good,” the sorcerer said. “You are what you claim to be.”

She rolled her eyes. “Wait a minute,” she said, placing his name. “Are you The Sorcerer Lord Winlin spoke of? Who sold him an enchantment to use against me?”

“I admit, I did not evaluate his character well before selling the spell,” the Sorcerer said. “He was supposed to bring you to me. I haven’t been able to find you for over thirteen moons. I’ve sent many men after you, and only he succeeded in finding you.”

“And betraying you,” she surmised. “I’m not interested in fighting any war, yours or mine. Now, let Tieran go.” She willed the sea to return them to the surface.

“Is it also true he is bonded to you? And you can be bonded to another, only if he is dead?”

A chill ran through her. “No,” she lied.

“I sense differently.”

“What exactly do you want from me?” she snapped. “I have shown you my power. Your war doesn’t concern me. If you think you can kidnap me, you do not understand the nature of a water mage.”

“Wild, I imagine, like the ocean itself.”

“Then you should not threaten me!”

“My threat is towards your guardian. I want you alive.”

The dread at the pit of her stomach, present since she realized where she was, dissolved into anger. She dared not glance towards Tieran for fear of giving away her concern for him. Cool power slid through her, awaiting her command.

“You will free us both,” she said calmly.

“You will return to my palace. Your guardian is worthless to me.” He indicated the cage with a lift of his chin.

She spun to look up. The second man had climbed the mainmast and was cutting the cage free. She watched, frowning, not understanding his intention, until the cage swung free from the mainmast and out over the edge of the galleon. The man chopped through the rope securing the cage to the ship.

Tieran plummeted into the sea.

Sela stood frozen. Her mind raced between panic and the notion she could be free, if she allowed her guardian to drown. She had not wanted him. He had not wanted her. They were doomed from the start.

But … this was Tieran, a man as uncertain of what was happening as herself, who had taken his duty as seriously as he knew to, who had never hurt her because of an oath. She had seen the truth of his heart, peered into his soul. She understood his suffering, admired him, and had been unable to imagine a future without him when he faced down the small army belonging to his enemy.

The Inland mercenary was honorable and courageous with unmatched skill.

I care for him. Whether or not she should have, she did, and not in the same manner in which she had cared for Karav. Until she witnessed Tieran plummet into the sea, she had not connected the thought that she was attracted to Tieran with the idea she cared about him as more than her guardian.

Was this why she had always noticed his scent, his strength, and his warmth? Was there more between them than duty?

I have not been the guardian I should have been. I have not given my oath to you the consideration it deserves.

Tieran was flawed, but he was hers.

Sela snapped out of her thoughts and faced The Sorcerer. “If I ever venture to your palace, it will be to destroy it where it stands!” she shouted. As she spoke, she strode towards the railing. “Say farewell to your ships, sorcerer!”

“Mage, wait. I can offer you more gold than you have ever seen.”

“I am the daughter of a prince, his only heir. I have my own gold.” She leapt on top of the railing and gazed down into the roiling waves. Exhilaration raced through her. She looked towards the two other galleons. The sea swallowed one, dragging it to its depths. The images of her companions were in her mind, and she commanded the waves to carry them to safety. The ocean asked her about the other men – twenty total – present on board the ship. Sela did not stop to consider but asked the sea to send them home, alive. They did not need to die for their master’s foolish attempt to kidnap her.

Whirling, she faced the mirage.

“Tell me what you want. Everyone cares for something,” the Sorcerer said, pacing towards her.

“I do, and you just threw him overboard,” she said.

“The savage?” He sounded genuinely confused.

My savage, she replied silently.

“From now on, any galleon you send to the islands, any ship in any of the waters around your continent, and any waterborne transport, from galleon down to a rowboat, bearing your sigil anywhere in any sea will be swallowed by the ocean,” she said coldly. “Consider this a curse, Sorcerer! As long as I live, no ship of yours will have safe haven, and I will drown you in your palace if I ever travel across the ocean!”

Without waiting for his reaction, she fell backwards into the Bay.

The waves caught her, welcomed her, filled her with euphoria after so long apart.

But first on her mind was rescuing Tieran.

The water conveyed her downwards, where the reach of starlight was replaced by the glowing of the native creatures inhabiting the sea’s depths. The water warned her that Tieran was not moving, not breathing.

Alarmed, Sela created a bubble around him and requested more light. Tiny creatures and large ones appeared, lighting up the blackness of the sea’s depths. She breathed easily in the water, which flowed through her from head to toe.

Tieran’s limp form became visible ahead of her, surrounded by a vigil of glowing sea creatures. Sela’s heart felt as if it turned over in her chest. His cage floated near by, with the signs of some massive creature having chewed through the wood to free him. The water conveyed her to the air bubble, and she entered it. Sela coughed up the water in her lungs. Air replaced it. Tieran floated in the middle of the bubble, unconscious.

“Tieran!” She cried and reached him. She took his cheeks and lifted his face, unable to recall a time when her strong guardian had been rendered completely weak. Panic was in her breast, and despair in her heart.

The idea Tieran would die here, in her sea, left her breathless and angry. She was no longer helpless. She would protect him here the way he protected her on land.

The water in his lungs whispered to her. She opened his mouth and coaxed it forth, until his lungs were empty.

Still, he did not breathe. His skin was pale beneath the golden tan.

“Tieran,” she said again, hands trembling. “Wake up!” Why was she just now noticing the light freckles across his nose, or the jaw that could have been chiseled from stone? Had she never appreciated his ale-hued eyes before fearing she would never see them again?

Sela wracked her thoughts for what to do. Karav had once told her of a technique he used on a drowning man. Was it another of his stories, or had it happened? She never knew with her former guardian.

She sucked in a deep breath and pressed her lips to Tieran’s. His fire, normally tempered by her cool magic, shot through her, overwhelming the flow of the sea in her veins. Startled, Sela jerked away. The heat settled at the base of her belly and floated above her blood, teasing and hotter than anything she had ever felt.

She shook the strange effect off. Realizing his mouth needed to be open for the air to reach his lungs, she squeezed his cheeks with her hands. His lips parted, and she pressed her lips to his, blowing air into him. The fever spread through her once more.

She leaned back, waiting for him to awaken and lecture her about how she had been foolish to challenge a sorcerer.

He did not awaken, did not move at all.

Sela tried again. In spite of the unsettling heat circulating through her, she kept her lips pressed to his, sucking in air through her nose and breathing it into him.

One of his arms circled her, drawing her against him. He kissed her, slow and gentle, his heat racing through her faster. Surprised, Sela found herself reacting, her response one of instinct rather than conscious choice. His lips were soft, warm and tasted of seawater, the body pressed to hers hard and strong, the heat within her growing. His tongue slid between her lips, and she melted into him, loving his taste – a combination of man and the sea. He was as wild to kiss as the Inlands he loved.

Tieran was the first to withdraw, and her eyes opened. They gazed at one another in the pale blue glow of sea creatures. Sela innately understood the heat racing through her body to be the same she experienced when she saw Tieran shirtless, but much stronger.

How could she be attracted to a savage?

How could she ever kiss another man after experiencing him?

She found herself wishing she could recall how his palm against her skin felt. He had touched her on many occasions, but this time was different. She listened to the sound of his breathing, unable to imagine kissing any man could render her speechless and leave her thoughts scattered, her cool magic boiling.

“Told you,” he whispered. “If I kiss you, you won’t soon forget.” His free hand cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing her lips.

She said nothing, too aware of her body and his full lips. Her hands dropped from his face, and she rested her cheek against his shoulder, uncertain what it meant to feel what she did in that moment. His arm remained around her, keeping their bodies pressed together.

“Where are we?”

Sela smiled at the terse question. “We’re safe,” she said. She lifted her eyes to study his face. “Are you well?”

“I’m alive,” he said. His concerned gaze was on the large sea creatures circling their bubble. “What are we doing here?”

“A madman from a foreign land captured us,” she said, perplexed by the encounter. “But he won’t bother us again. I cursed him.”

“Curse,” Tieran repeated. One corner of his lips lifted. “How does a mage curse another?”

“I told the ocean to destroy every one of the ships leaving his ports or bearing his mark,” she answered. “He tried to murder you by throwing you off the largest galleon in the realm! He deserves worse.”

His gaze followed a massive shark circling them. “A man tosses me into the ocean, and you destroy his entire fleet.”

“I was imprisoned as well. I didn’t do it just …”

When Tieran looked at her again, she drifted off, her thought lost. The aggravating expression was on his face, the one that told her he was already aware of the truth in her mind.

She flushed and pushed at his chest, feeling trapped.

“Settle, mage,” he warned, his grip tightening around her.

Sela pushed again then gave up, aware how impossible it was to resist. “If anyone is to drown you, it will be me,” she said, unable to bear the tension between them any longer. “The sea calls. I must go.”

Tieran released her, as if he, too, were uncertain about what had passed between them.

Sela fled without looking back. She dived into the water around the bubble of air and joined the glowing sea creatures and underwater currents. Desperate to be away, to feel the magic cool the heat in her blood, she swam among the animals, closing her eyes, and allowing herself to become one with the sea. She did not fear it taking her this time, not with her strong bond with Tieran. She wanted … needed for the magic to clear her mind. Her thoughts when it came to Tieran were of a nature she was no longer certain she understood: confusion, desire, surprise.

She replayed the images she had witnessed in his hold, of men and women rutting in public, and could not help wondering what it would be like to be naked with Tieran, to experience his combination of commanding and gentleness, to feel his lips pressed against the skin of her body.

Even the waters of the Bay could not completely sweep away the heat in her blood. Remembering he could feel, if not read, her mind, Sela focused on the sea. She drifted, paying no attention to where she went, until the water grew colder. She became aware of herself then, and aware of the trench she neared. She was about to leave the Bay for the Great Ocean.

Fear fluttered within her as she experienced the ocean’s power for the first time in her life. It was deep, strong, ancient.

Too deep. Too strong. Too ancient. Too powerful for her to command, and strong enough to pull her to its depths and never let her go, if it chose.

She swam away from the edge of the trench, understanding Karav’s claim about how she could never venture to the open sea.

Her panic was conveyed to the water around her. It carried her away swiftly, until the primal fear at her core subsided. She directed it to guide them both back to shore while lazily twirling and dancing with sea creatures and drifting from current to current.

How long she spent in the sea, she did not know. It was not until she felt a strong arm around her waist hauling her from the water that her awareness jolted back into place. Her head broke the surface, and she coughed up water. It was midmorning. The sands ahead of her were the famous black beaches belonging to Lord Winlin’s king.

Tieran pulled her out of the water and onto the shore. A wave snaked up to grab her and haul her back. With her last exchange with Tieran still too fresh in her mind, she was not about to fight the magic.

“Enough!” Tieran snapped at the wave.

It released her, and he pulled her farther up the shore before collapsing beside her, panting.

“How did you do that?” she asked, staring at the sea.

“Drag you for a league to reach the shore?”

“Command the sea. And you didn’t drag me that far!”

His disinterested look towards the water was enough to tell her he neither understood nor cared what he had done. Tieran sat back on his heels, hands on his thighs as he caught his breath.

“Only a mage can do that,” she persisted. “Only a mage can kill another mage. You are no normal mage-warrior, Tieran.” But had she not always sensed that about him? His blood contained a hum of cool magic faint enough she thought she had mistaken it when she initially sensed it. Was this the source of their strong bond, of his ability to read her mind when Karav never could? Had some ancestor of Tieran’s been a water mage?

The more she thought, the more she began to believe this had to be true, as impossible as it seemed to be.

“I wouldn’t know.” Tieran stood and took her arm, pulling her up. “I believe we’re a day on horseback from the Inlands. We need to leave.” He started up the beach.

Sela remained, her gaze lingering on the waves crashing onto the beach. It had been too long since she felt the ocean in her blood. Her eyes went from the sea to Tieran. She had longed for this moment for so long, only to leave too soon.

He halted, understanding her unvoiced request. After a pause, he faced her.

“One night. No more,” he said firmly. “But we stay there and not on the beach.” He pointed to several caves at the base of a cliff wall overlooking the black beach. “You can swim or talk or whatever you do with the water once the sun has set.”

She nodded eagerly and hurried up the shore.

“Can your water bring me my sword?” he asked.

She conveyed the message to the ocean with a thought. “It’ll be here by dusk.”

He nodded brusquely and strode towards the cave. The shaded hole in the cliff was cool and the length of several horses deep. Tieran entered but did not sit, did not relax.

Seating herself on the rocky floor, Sela’s gaze lingered on him. “What is it?” she asked. Was he troubled by the kiss? Because she certainly was unable to shake the experience from her mind.

“We need allies,” he said at last.

“We do,” she agreed. “But aren’t you worried about placing your uncle in danger?”

He faced her, pensive. “I’m not certain I have a choice.”

Sensing he was shaken by the experience of being drugged and thrown in the ocean, she spoke gently. “You may be right about staying in the Inlands,” she said. “The king who has me will declare war on the others. In the Inlands, where there is no ruler, I cannot become the weapon they wish me to be. We may not need to involve your uncle in the struggle just yet.”

His tension left her on edge. She stretched a hand out towards him, beckoning him to accept the cool magic needed to relax him.

Tieran eyed her hand before crossing to sit beside her. His side pressed to hers. At once, his muscular frame relaxed. She had noticed his reaction to her touch before without appreciating how he yielded to her. He needed her as much as she did him.

Not that he would ever admit it. She gave him a sidelong look, her eyes falling to his lips. Hers tingled from the kiss they shared.

“You believe the war will not start until you are kidnapped by some king,” he said. “When men prepare for war, they make it inevitable.”

“Then they can fight it without me,” she said. “Before coming here, before you, my fate was to serve my king. But if I have a choice, I don’t want to destroy whole armies of men or the cities where they come from.”

Tieran snorted. “It’s not in your nature.”

“But it’s supposed to be,” she said, troubled. “My kind have long been used to fight battles, and did I not threaten the sorcerer I met last night? And destroy his ships?”

“What did the sea do with the men on those ships?”

She did not answer.

Tieran glanced at her. “You don’t want the destiny your kings and priests chose for you anymore than I do,” he said. “I am a warrior, and you are a mage. Neither of us fights at the command of another. You fight for me. I fight for you. That is how it should be.”

“Now,” she said before she could stop herself. “That’s not how it was, before you had your vengeance.”

“That’s how it is until one of us dies.”

She felt herself relax. Tieran finally understood his duty.

“I am sorry about your sisters,” she said quietly.

“It is done. They are at peace.” The resolute expression on Tieran’s face warned her he had said all he would on the topic.

Disappointed, Sela’s gaze went to the wall of the cave opposite her. The sea’s gentle rhythm ebbed and flowed within her, and she closed her eyes.

“Did I not tell you I am powerful?” she asked somewhat defensively.

“I never claimed otherwise.”

“You did so!”

“When? What were my words?”

Sela paused to think. She could recall no instance when he said she could not control the ocean.

“You cannot survive the Inlands alone, and I made no secret of that,” Tieran continued.

Sela grumbled a curse, focusing once more on the pull of the ocean.

Tieran ignored her.

They sat until midday, before Tieran left to scout the area around them for signs their enemies had found them. When he returned, he carried a water bladder and food wrapped in a cloth. He passed her half the bread and a hunk of cheese.

She frowned. “Did you steal this?”

“Do you want to starve?”

“The sea contains coins from sunken ships. I will ask it to bring us some, with your sword,” she said.

Tieran nodded and sat, eating quietly.

Sela watched him, wanting to ask about the kiss. Unable to work up the nerve, she ate the small meal and returned to the place of peace, listening to the ocean. She did not know when she would next visit the sea and intended to enjoy it while she could.