his eyes to the heavens, his hair fell away from his tear-stained face.
Brody.
Maeve woke with a jerk and sat up. The cabin was dark, the only sounds the creaking of the ship. She rubbed her brow as another strange feeling swept through her head. It made her feel light, as if she were floating on the sea.
She shook her head. It was probably just a reaction from sleeping on the ship. But the dream had seemed so real. An island. Mist.
Was Brody on the Isle of Mist?
* * *
Unable to sleep after her dream, Maeve eventually gave up, got dressed, and went up onto the quarterdeck. Only a helmsman was there at the wheel. Captain Shaw and Nevis were both asleep, so she sat on top of a trunk and entertained herself by gazing at the stars. The two moons, Luna and Lessa, were almost full. Tomorrow night she would be able to shift at the beach near the convent. She smiled to herself. It would be good to see her seal friends again. She’d missed them.
Her smile faded, though, as she realized tomorrow would mark a full two months since she’d last seen Brody. The sun peeked over the horizon, and the sudden burst of light made her remember the dream she’d had. What if it was more than a dream? Could Brody be on the Isle of Mist right now, digging a grave? For whom? As far as she knew, only the Seer lived there.
She recalled once again how Brody looked while in human form. Nevis and Leo liked to tease him for having hair like a girl’s, but it wasn’t all that long, only to his shoulders. According to Brody, his time as a human was so limited, he never wanted to spare the few minutes it would take to chop off a few inches. Maeve had always wondered if his shaggy black hair was as soft and silky as his fur when he was a dog.
It was amusing, now that she thought about it, that no one thought twice about giving canine Brody a pat on the head or a rub behind his ears. She’d certainly hugged him, petted him, even cooed to him that he was such a pretty dog. Good goddesses, she would be far too shy to touch him like that when he was human.
But Brody never objected to being petted. Was it the only affection the man ever received? Was his life a lonely one?
Maeve sighed. A few times she had caught a haunted, sad look in his beautiful blue eyes. Whenever he became human, the black patch of fur that surrounded his left eye as a dog was transformed into a small freckle at the outside corner of his eye. The only freckle on his face. It always drew her attention, making her want to touch it, kiss it . . .
“You’re up early,” said Captain Shaw, interrupting her thoughts as he joined her on the quarterdeck.
“Oh, good morning.” She jumped to her feet. “Captain, would it be possible to take me to the Isle of Mist later today?”
His bushy gray eyebrows rose in surprise. “I suppose so. Queen Luciana asked me to take you wherever you wanted.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful. Thank you!”
“What’s wonderful?” Nevis asked as he climbed onto the quarterdeck. His brown hair was sticking out in odd directions and he needed a shave. “I hope it’s breakfast.”
“Breakfast should be ready soon,” the captain told him.
“Land ahoy!” the man in the crow’s nest shouted.
“There.” Captain Shaw pointed northwest, where a strip of land could barely be seen. “The Isle of Moon. We should reach port in a few hours. Excuse me.” He strode toward the helmsman to give directions.
Nevis scratched at his whiskers. “Good. That gives us enough time to eat.”
Maeve gave him a wry look. “You seem to think about food quite a bit.”
“This is muscle not fat.” He patted his torso. “And you never told me what was so wonderful.”
“The captain has agreed to take us to the Isle of Mist later today.”
Nevis snorted. “Why are we bothering to go there? No one lives there but—oh, I see. You’re planning to ask the Seer where Brody is.”
She nodded. “And the Embraced army.”
Nevis shrugged. “I guess it’s worth a try. Actually, I’ve always wanted to meet the Seer.”
“Me, too.” She took a deep breath. “I think Brody might be there.”
“What?” Nevis blinked. “Why would you think that?”
“I saw him there . . . in a dream.”
Nevis scoffed. “Right.”
“It seemed