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She smirked. “You’re sweet, Samuel Rosser.”
“And,” I added pointedly, “you are a daughter of the Fleetbreaker, the Wold and the Dark Water. After a few seasons of experience, I doubt there will be anyone in this world that could threaten you or the ship you choose as your home.”
That last word seemed to catch her, and the smile on her lips faltered. “I’ve much to learn,” she warned.
“As do I,” I returned. “Olsa has barely given me a moment’s peace. But we will learn, and together? Your power and mine, and Tane and Hart?”
There were more possibilities for me, in Mere, but I did not mention those yet.
I went on, “Together, Mary? We will be a force to be reckoned with. We will fight for peace and protect our shores, and ensure those like Lirr never regain power on the Winter Sea.”
Her smile returned in a rush, crooked and a little shy. “You seem quite taken by the thought of us being together.”
I swallowed a lump in my throat. “I am.”
She folded the contract slowly, then faced me in the close quarters of the passage. Absently, she rested her fingers on the buttons across my chest and looked up into my face. I could tell she was enjoying her power over this moment, and I might have hated her for it, if I had not loved the expression on herface—soft,coy and quizzical.
“Well, then, Samuel,” she said, pushing up onto her toes. She put her lips to my cheek in the gentlest, most excruciating kiss I had ever been subjected to, and whispered in my ear, “You have a deal.”
EPILOGUE
MARY
Isang softly to the brisk, salty air. The tines of the great figurehead clad the fore ofHartas he divided the Winter Sea, and the violet-gold of late afternoon hung in the west. To the east, the rocky northern shores of Aeadine could just be seen. I’d glimpsed them several times since I signed aboardHart, but the sight still awoke a quiet ache in my chest.
Beyond that coast, beyond the craggy, sheep-strewn hills of the north, lay the Ghistwold and home. I would return to them some day, to the inn and the sunlight on the moss, and the shelter of the yew. But the Winter Sea was before me now, the wind rushed across my cheeks, and a good man stood at my shoulder in a cocked hat and a long coat.
In my bones, Tane rested content.
“They are due north,” Sam murmured. He had the distant expression he wore when he was half in the Dark Water and half in the mortal world, a look I’d come to recognize well. I slipped my hand into his, keeping him rooted with me. “Past the border into Mereish waters.”
“Then that’s where we go.” I squeezed his hand, released it, and began to sing low and steady.
The wind curled up from the south, bringing with it pale clouds of fog. It crept across the waves and slipped into mylungs—headyand sweet, bold and bracing. It tickled my cheeks and reminded me of how the leaves of the ghisten yew once rustled in a lilting, child’s song.
