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Miyuki and Fae had grown friendly despite the language barrier, and Miyuki had haltingly convinced her to go to the beach while they waited for the ship to load.

They left their clothes in a loose pile on the sand and walked down to the water together, their laughter soft and tentative.

The sea was clear and inviting, and there wasn't a soul about.

Fae stepped in, and her toes curled at the warm water lapping at her feet.

The water cooled her calves, her knees, her thighs as she kept walking, drawn forward by the weightless pull, the way the sound of the waves muffled everything else.

A hand caught hers.

She turned to find Miyuki watching her closely. "It's not safe to go farther, Faelynn san."

Fae blinked, surprised, then nodded. "Yeah." She loosened her grip. "I'll just stay here."

The woman smiled, satisfied, and swam out with easy strokes, her body cutting cleanly through the water.

Fae watched her for a moment, considering if she should follow her.

Then she dipped under.

The water closed over her head, cool and sudden. Her ears popped. The world slowed to a distant, dull hush.

For a heartbeat, she was elsewhere.

Lying back in the claw-foot tub at home, water lapping at her chin. Sliding beneath the surface on a reckless breath. Counting silently, wondering how long she could hold it.

It had been a time when she hadn't been sure her life was worth living.

The memory flickered, sharp and unwelcome. Would she have stayed down at her lowest until life leached out of her if Sulien had not knocked at the door?

Fae kicked once and surfaced quickly, coughing, heart racing.

She stood there for a long moment, water turning her hair sleek like an otter's pelt while the sunlight warmed her shoulders.

Then she turned back toward the shore.

And when Miyuki returned, smiling and breathless, Fae smiled back and followed her out of the sea, wondering what surprise awaited her next.

Chapter 19

One moonlit night, they stood on the starboard side of the ship, gripping the railing with white-knuckled hands. The captain suggested a spot of fresh air might help, but Fae kept imagining being swept into the water by a giant wave, and while she floated, waiting for rescue, a giant monster with open jaws snapped her up from the depths.

The sea stretched, smooth and dark as polished stone, moonlight breaking across it in pale ribbons. Fae leaned against the rail, the salt air cool on her skin, and for a moment, her wolf was quiet—watchful, but not pacing, just drinking in the beauty.

She had taken to bringing Feraal out of his box in the evenings after he complained bitterly about his confinement.

The little wooden creature played dead in her hands, joints clicking faintly as if he were stretching after a long confinement. Miyuki noticed it immediately. Her gaze fixed on him with open fascination, eyes following every minute movement.

"That's..." she began, then stopped, smiling softly.

She never asked to hold him.

She only watched, as if she knew a delicious secret, as though she sensed that whatever he was, he was not a thing to be passed around lightly.

Feraal, for his part, had opinions.

'She's staring,' he muttered in Fae's mind.'Rude.''I bet she smells like sushi gone bad. I don't like it.'