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“No, I only swapped to the boat once I reached the magical barrier around Vazula,” Heath explained. “The ship couldn’t pass through. It’s hopefully waiting just out there, although not for much longer. Two of my cousins are on board, and I asked them to stall the captain for three hours if they could manage it.”
“Your cousins are just past the barrier?” Merletta demanded.
Heath nodded. “I wish you could meet them.” He hesitated for a moment, then rushed on, his voice coming out a little thick. “You could, you know. What’s to stop you coming with us? You’re human now—you could live in Valoria. You’d be safer than in the triple kingdoms.”
Merletta stared at him, her lovely brown eyes wide and shocked. “Me? Live in your kingdom?” She swallowed visibly, and her voice wasn’t quite natural when she added, “I doubt I’d be welcome. Aren’t your people already suspicious of magic? How do you think they’d react to a mermaid in their midst?”
“Of course you’d be welcome,” said Heath fiercely. He leaned forward and seized her hand, unable to help himself. “No one would have to know you were a mermaid, and if anyone raised trouble, I’d protect you.”
Merletta stared down at their linked hands for so long that Heath began to feel self-conscious. He let go, wishing he knew what she was thinking. It wasn’t like her to have that type of reaction to the contact. She was usually disconcertingly casual about touch.
“Thank you, Heath,” she said at last. “But I can’t come with you.”
Heath deflated slightly. He wasn’t surprised, but he’d had to try. “When will I see you again?” he asked.
Merletta shrugged. “That’s more up to you than to me, isn’t it? I’ll try to come back to Vazula on rest days, because I want to keep learning to use my legs. I’ll only stay away if I’m being too closely watched for it to be safe.” She gave him a hopeful look. “I’m sure I would learn much more with a teacher.”
Heath forced a smile, although his stomach was still churning with unease at the thought of Merletta returning to the Center. “It may not be as easy for me to come as it used to be,” he admitted. “I’m expected back in Bryford soon. I can’t afford to take a several day voyage too often.”
“Can’t you come with Reka next time?”
“Maybe.” Heath frowned, steeling himself as he muttered, “I’ll just have to convince him.”
He saw Merletta’s puzzled look, and bit his lip. He hadn’t told her the extent of his falling out with Reka, and he didn’t want to get into it now.
“I’d better go, I suppose,” he added hurriedly.
Merletta nodded. “I’ll swim with you. I want to see this ship, and I think I’d better make sure it’s still there before I leave. We can’t have you finding yourself alone in the middle of the ocean, can we?”
Heath couldn’t bring himself to match her bantering tone. His heart was growing heavier with every passing moment. Impossibly, Merletta had been returned to him, as if from the dead, and now he had to leave her, knowing she wasn’t safe, not knowing when or if he’d see her again.
“It’s not me you need to worry about, Merletta,” he said.
Her eyes softened as she took in his furrowed brow. “You say that now.”
She reached out, casually tugging his shirt halfway up his chest to reveal the scar from where the spear had pierced his side. Her fingers were gentle but not at all hesitant as she ran them over the raised skin.
There was that unnerving—and exhilarating—unconcern about touch.
Heath found that he was holding his breath, nowhere near able to match her apparent indifference at the contact. Her touch was warm in her human form, but not enough so to explain the fire that raced out from her fingers into his every nerve. It was magic of a different kind, and it seemed impossible that she could really be oblivious to the effect of her touch, and the intensity of their connection.
But perhaps she wasn’t oblivious. Merletta’s hand lingered on the scar longer than necessary, her expression shifting, and her demeanor no longer so casual. As her hand hovered over his side, Heath was suddenly certain that she felt some flicker of his own protectiveness—she didn’t want to let go, to let him out of her sight again. Not after last time.
“I was afraid you’d died, too, you know.” Merletta’s voice wasn’t entirely steady as her eyes moved slowly up to his, holding him in thrall. “And I don’t ever want to live with that feeling again.”
What he saw in her eyes was anything but indifferent, and for a moment Heath struggled to find words. Merletta’s fingers were still stretched over his skin, and he clamped his hand suddenly over hers, trapping it in place.
“I’m not in danger anymore, Merletta,” he said earnestly. “But you are. And I would do anything to protect you.”
She met his eyes, and for a brief moment, something potent crackled in the air between them. Heath’s breath hitched in his throat, and he found himself unable to look away from those expressive brown eyes.
Abruptly, Merletta pulled her hand away, smiling ruefully.
“Well, you can’t do anything to protect me. And you know it as well as I do.”
Heath sighed, the moment broken. She was right, of course.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the impulse, though,” she said, her voice a little wistful. She turned away from him, and her tone became brisk. “Now, let’s get this boat back in the water.”
