“It’s only too late if you decide it is,” she said. “The full moon’s in three days. You have three days to figure out if you want to keep the bond or let it break.”
“I know what I want. I want to trust him again. I want to believe he can change.” Marina looked away. “I just don’t know if I can.”
“That’s fair.” Bea kicked at the sand. “He hurt you. He dismissed you. He made you feel invisible in your own home. Those aren’t small things.”
“No.”
“But he’s also the first person in years who made you feel seen.” Bea’s hand found her shoulder. “You’re allowed to be hurt. You’re allowed to need time. But you’re also allowed to choose hope, if you want to. Neither choice makes you weak.”
“He’s never going to be perfect,” she said.
“Nobody is.”
“What if he dismisses me again? What if the next time something’s wrong, he doesn’t believe me?”
“Then you remind him. Loudly. With the full force of your selkie fury.” Bea squeezed her shoulder. “And if he still doesn’t listen, then you leave. But you don’t have to leave preemptively just because you’re scared of what might happen.”
“I’m tired of being afraid,” she said.
“Good. Fear is boring.” Bea grinned. “Now come inside before your jeans get completely ruined. Dante made pancakes. They’re terrible, but he’s so proud of them that I didn’t have the heart to say anything.”
Alessandro came to her that afternoon.
She felt him approaching: a steady presence moving toward Bea’s shop, each step deliberate and careful. He wasn’t rushing for once, and he wasn’t demanding anything. Just walking toward her with the patience of someone who had finally learned to wait.
She met him at the door.
He looked terrible. Dark circles under his eyes. Clothes rumpled. A streak of ash still visible near his collar from the hotel destruction. But his eyes, when they met hers, were clearer than she’d ever seen them.
“I’m not going to ask you to forgive me,” he said.
Marina didn’t respond. Just waited.
“I’m going to show you I can be different. However long it takes.”
“Words are easy.”
“I know.” He didn’t reach for her. Didn’t step closer. Just stood there, three feet away, giving her all the space she needed. “That’s why I’m not asking for anything. I’m just telling you what I’m going to do.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to help break the curse. Not alone, with Estelle, with Dante, with everyone who’s willing to contribute. I’m going to get your pelt back from Malachar. And I’m going to ask you for your input at every step because your instincts have been right from the beginning and I was too arrogant to listen.”
His sincerity pressed against her awareness like warmth through glass.
“The curse-breaking recipe needs selkie song,” she said. “Freely given.”
“I know.”
“It also needs dragon tears. Genuine grief.”
“I know that too.”
“So you need me. You can’t do this without me.”
“I know.” He swallowed. “But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because even if you say no, even if you let the bond break and never speak to me again, I still want to be better. For me. For my family. For everyone I’ve hurt by being so determined to control everything that I couldn’t see the damage I was causing.”
Whether he could stay different was the question.
