The Rising (The Rising #4) - Kristen Ashley Page 0,104
was pulsing.
“This is natural for me,” I said soothingly.
“It is cold,” he replied.
“And Ha-Lah and Jorie have assured us that I will not feel that,” I reminded him.
“A being can die swiftly in this cold,” he said, as if I had not spoken.
“A being could, if they were not mermaid.”
He cast his gaze down to the water.
I lifted my hand and pressed it to his cheek.
He gave his beautiful eyes to me.
“I will be fine,” I promised.
“I find suddenly I would wish for a wife who was less dauntless and bold,” he muttered.
I started giggling.
He, too, put his hands to my face, both of them, before his head descended, and he took my mouth in relentless kiss.
I was clinging to him when it ended.
“Now go,” he murmured. “Before I commandeer this ship and take us back to Sky Bay.”
I nodded, his hands still on my face moving as I did.
Mars removed them but wrapped his fingers around one of mine and led me down to the others.
Jorie watched me the entirety of this short journey.
“You are ready, little sister?” he asked when we arrived.
I nodded to him too.
His gaze went to Mars’s.
“I will be with her every length,” he stated. “And Ha-Lah will be with us.”
“Do not keep her down there long,” Mars grunted.
For a moment, Jorie didn’t say anything.
Until finally, he spoke and did this solemnly.
“My brother, you can trust me.”
They locked eyes, and I waited.
I was glad it didn’t take my husband long before he jerked up his chin, gave my fingers a squeeze and let me go.
“Right. Ladies, for your convenience,” Frey murmured.
He then unlatched and swung open a gate in the railing which was where they put the gangplank.
Ha-Lah and I moved the few feet to that as Jorie called from behind us, “Do not turn around.”
Regardless of his words, I began to do that, but Ha-Lah grabbed my arm and whispered, “He’s disrobing.”
Faith.
I nodded to her earnestly and absolutely did not turn around.
I was wearing a heavy dressing gown over a light shift that ended just over my bottom, slippers on my feet.
Ha-Lah was in much the same.
We heard a splash, and I peered over the railing to the waters and watched until Jorie’s head surfaced, his dark hair slicked back.
He smiled encouragingly up at me.
I drew in a deep breath.
“Now remember,” Ha-Lah started, remaining close. “We are in The Deep. It will happen nearly instantly when you hit the water. A knitting. You won’t be able to control it. Don’t panic. It is natural. Just relax into it and let it happen. Jorie and I will be right there. Yes?”
“What if it doesn’t happen?” I asked.
“It’ll happen,” she assured.
“But what if it doesn’t,” I pressed. “What if, in the joining of a human and a Mer, the human wins out?”
“That has never happened, Silence, and you will not be the first. Trust me.” Ha-Lah took my hand then demanded, “Tell me you don’t feel it.”
I drew in another deep breath.
“Tell me it doesn’t call to you,” she continued.
I could not do that for just being in Sky Bay, all the way up at the Citadel, I was still close to the sea.
And it called to me.
“It calls to me,” I whispered.
And standing on the deck of that ship, the water but steps away, I realized it had been doing so all my life.
A yearning I’d grown used to denying, for I didn’t know what it was, thus had no idea how to assuage it.
She tipped her head to mine, resting her forehead to my own.
And there, she smiled happily.
“You’re about to go home, my sister,” she whispered.
Then she stepped back, undid the tie on her dressing grown, dropped it to the deck (and yes, she was wearing the same as me, a small shift, hers marine blue). She flipped off her slippers, and with taking but the time it took to aim a smile at Aramus, she dashed to the opening in the railing and executed a graceful dive into the sea.
I moved to the opening, stood there and watched the waters until she surfaced.
She did so beaming.
Home.
I looked up to Mars.
He nodded his head.
I so loved my husband.
I then took several paces back, divested myself of dressing gown and slippers, stood in the cold for a moment in my red shift, drew in one more very deep breath.
Then I raced to the opening and dove in.
I sluiced through the waters and the panic came instantly, for I felt the cold.