Mara’s heart thumped painfully in her chest, traitorously, and she pushed aside the urge to chase after her lover. What would she do then? Beg Roxanne O'Toole to come to bed andcuddle?
Wash, then. A true bath. The ocean would clear her mind and set her head on straight again, she thought. Picking up a basket for her things, she started carefully down the stairs and out of the brothel for the seashore.
The water in the cove lapped warm and luxurious against her skin as she floated on her back, gently kicking her feet as if theywere still flippers. Her mind wandered back to Xanne, and how those nimble fingers had felt on her skin, and for a few moments she forgot that she had come here to clear her head.
So lost she was in thoughts of Xanne that she didn't realize she had company until a sharp pinch nipped at her heel. She kicked at it with a cry, inadvertently sending Lord Scarletclaw reeling away through the water.
“What is it, you consummate gossipmonger?” she bobbed up and down while treading the water.
“Disaster, Lady Maraxilla!” the crab attendant pronounced with his usual flair for the dramatic.
“Eh bien, go on?”
“Oh dear, oh dear, my Lady,” the crab chattered with glee. “Both ships pulled asunder! Captain Pane unpantsed! His whole crew eaten! What fun!... I mean, tragic, very sad, really.”
“What about Silverfin, you dolt?” Mara circled the crab, resolved to cook him for her next dinner if he did not provide her with the information she wanted.
“Your brother is safe, oddly. And somehow managed to get his flame-haired lover past the sharks and the cavalry as well. Most likely having something to do with what befell Captain Pane. I do smell your brother in all this!” Scarletclaw waved a whisker at Mara, as if he had been shaking a finger in shame. “But... be that as it may, he is likely to die on that beach without rescue.”
“And theEstrela? Finally, you blabbering barnacle! What happened to theEstrela?”
“She is broken and run ashore. All that gold - so close, yet completely out of our reach, my Lady!”
“What a pity,” Mara smiled.
“If only my Lady had her tail...”
“Silence, you crustacean nuisance!”
Lord Scarletclaw bowed obsequiously and dove back towards the sandy bottom of the cove.
With a few sure strokes, Mara had reached the rocky shore again, heaving herself onto a slippery promontory and taking the time to ring the saltwater out of her hair. Port Royal’s crews shipwrecked. TheEstrelarun aground in Phallandia. Her brother in need of rescue. If only she had a tail? Ha! If only she had a ship and a crew willing to sail it!
Duprez, that useless lump of a man, wouldn’t be swayed. She knew he’d grown too comfortable where he was, and loathed to take any unnecessary chances. And she didn’t want to risk losing Xanne now that they’d become lovers. But there was still one avenue left open to her. One person with the means, influence, and motivation to go after that gold and help rescue her brother.
Asking would hurt. And she’d have to lie through her teeth to keep the truth of her origins from coming to light. But it wasn’t anything she had not done before.
And Silverfin was worth it.
14
Hunting Shark
Captured! Along the beach those shouts reveal
The fisherman exultant victor! Hark!
The Karcharos, from out his crystalline, dark
Blue lair by rud of flesh and lurking steel
Bewrayed, hath ravined down with his last meal
Death as a gobbet. On the hot sand, stark,
He gasps and shudders agonizing. Mark!
With horrible grin those bloody jaws appeal
