Page 46 of Saved By the Selkie

Blizz’s unhappy wail forces us apart. Lir leaves me gasping, dizzy, as he picks the baby back up, brushing snow off the blankets that swaddle him.

Slowly, I sit up, my head still spinning with the enormity of what just happened. Lir kissed me. Does that mean I’m forgiven? I have no idea.

I watch as he undresses, exposing his nipple to, first, the cold and then to Blizz’s hungry mouth.

“Seriously?” I ask, blinking, and Lir glances over at me. “You’re feeding him again?”

“Yes?” Lir seems confused about my confusion.

“Didn’t he just eat?” My apology didn’t take that long, did it? It felt like we were making out for a few seconds.

Lir turns bright pink, his blush visible even in the moon glow. “Yeah. Selkie pups need to be fed almost constantly at first.”

“Oh,” I say.

Lir gives me a funny look, then focuses on Blizz again.

Anna stomps up, followed by Porthos with a bucket of slowly melting snow. I look at Lir again, then turn my attention to helping Anna gut the few fish she caught.

twenty-five

Lir

N

ight has become permanent by the time we arrive in Anna’s hometown, a tiny collection of domed shelters made from ice blocks and some boxy ones made, seemingly, from wood. There are outdoor firepits, lines hung with animal skins, and other various items, none of which I’ve ever seen before.

Anna leads us into one of the ice shelters—I’m shocked by how spacious it is inside.

There are several people sitting around a cooking fire, as well as a few dogs. They all pause to look up at us; they seem similar to Anna, with dark hair, dark eyes, and brown skin.

“Ah,” says the one, “you found them then.”

I frown, because the words this one says don’t sound anything like Aramis and Porthos, but I understand just fine.

Is this … some sort of selkie power? I have to wonder.

“Yes,” Anna replies in the same tongue.

“What did they say?” Aramis whispers, leaning toward me.

“Anna told them she found us,” I reply, and several sets of dark eyes swivel to me. The one who spoke—who seems like the eldest—squints at me.

“You’re the selkie then,” she says, then drops her gaze back to the sealskin on her lap.

My stomach drops. I clutch Blizz a little closer and wonder if I need to make a break for it.

This elder, she (I think she’s a woman, at any rate; she seems a bit like Anna) scoffs at me. “We know what you are,” she says. “You have nothing to worry about.”

I shrink back. Blizz, confused, clings.

She shakes her head. “Your kind is bad luck—it’s asking for trouble to hold you or harm you.”

I don’t know what she thinks I’m capable of. I couldn’t do anything when Johan was trying to harm me or when Aramis was holding me captive.

Or maybe I did bring them both bad luck. Aramis was hurt and his crew mutinied again. Johan wound up dead.

That seems pretty unlucky.