Page 181 of Sorrow & Strangers

She touches the earrings reverently as the merchant hands them over, and I pull out some shells I brought to barter with, exchanging them for the earrings. Taking them from her hand, I place them into her ears.

“Beautiful,” I murmur.

Her smile flutters and dies at my touch, but her eyes darken with need.

I turn back to the stall and trade for the ring that matches the earrings. Sliding it onto my smallest finger, I hold it up to show her. “There,” I say, loving the outward physical symbol of being connected to her.

Linking our hands, we continue down the stalls, and just like in Hell, I lean over and whisper into her ear about the bartering system and translate the Mermish signs. She tries her hand at bartering, but the merchant winces, responding in the common tongue and giving her the item for free since she’s so bad at it.

She laughs, and I kiss her hand, smiling.

“Anything else catch your interest?” I ask as we reach the end of the market.

She looks me up and down, and I catch the sparkle in her eyes. “Maybe.”

My lips twitch, and I glance toward the surface. “We should head up soon. We have the dinner tonight.”

She nods, but darts away from me, heading toward a small clearing where some of the mere folk are doing some shell harvesting. They startle a little, but she smiles at them reassuringly as she collects some black and white shells. Thankfully, she is picking the common ones that are worth nothing.

“Collect away, princess.” She smiles brightly and places the shells she has already collected into the mesh bag I conjure for her. “Are you planning to make something from them?” I follow her, holding the bag and watching over her, just enjoying her excitement.

“Maybe,” she says secretively, concentrating on her task.

Once she has filled the bag, I place my hand on her hip, stopping her from collecting more. “Princess, it’s time.”

Summer nods and takes the bag from me, holding it tightly. As we start back toward the surface, I keep my hand on her hip as we swim. When we breach the surface, the bubbles pop, and the runes fade from our skin. We swim for the shore until we can stand in the shallows.

She slicks her hair back from her face, running her fingers through the long mass, revealing the delicate points of her ears.

“Sit with me tonight,” I nearly blurt, any finesse I claimed to have burning to ash in the wake of the jolt of lust that sizzles through me.

“Isn’t the seating assigned?” she asks, her light blue eyes locking with mine.

I cup her cheek. “Sit with me anyway.”

Her breath shudders at my touch, but her eyes never leave mine as she nods.

“Go,” I whisper, sliding my thumb over her bottom lip before slowly dropping my hand. “I’ll see you soon.”

She pulls away and walks back up the beach to collect her cover-up, glancing back at me a couple of times as I stand in the shallows watching her.

Our eyes connect one last time before she vanishes into the hotel, leaving so many words left completely unsaid.

Chapter Seventy-Nine

Summer

The butterflies in my stomach are still fluttering wildly as I arrive back at the room, and I feel giddy from my time with the stranger. We still haven’t talked about the awful thing I said to him, but we did have fun together. I actually allowed myself to have fun with him. It felt odd at first, being in person with him, but it quickly melted into a unique kind of excitement I’ve never felt before. I found myself feeling nervous. My cheeks remained warm even while we swam through cool waters, my skin tingling with every brush, hold, touch.

“Have you been at the beach this whole time?” Alice asks me, her skin glowing after her time at the spa.

“Sort of . . .”

Alice lifts an eyebrow but decides not to push it for some reason. “Well, dinner is in forty-five minutes.” She claps her hands, and she goes into her bedroom. “Hurry, hurry!”

I sigh and go to wash the sea out of my hair, and forty minutes later, I am dressed in a floor-length red gown with a slit on the right side that goes to my hip. I attach a delicate chain to hold it closed, with enough give so it rests against my upper thigh when it opens. As I am finishing up my makeup, Alice comes in wearing a long black gown that hugs her deceptively delicate frame.

“Ready?” she asks me, putting an earring in.