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I give them both a quizzical look and turn to Ro. “What am I missing?”
Ro clears his throat awkwardly and lets out a small, embarrassed hiss from between his teeth. “My people get very… amorous when the ocean’s magic heightens. As you know, we breed in the sea, and the full moon has often been used by our females to be the most desirous time to set out their flirting grounds.”
My mouth drops open. “Are you saying that you will literally be very fertile all the time? If that is the case, when the full moon comes, and you have to go to the sea—”
He nods quickly. “I will be in a very heightened state wishing to mate.”
We both startle and look over at the loud cackle from the other side of the table. Aunt Katherine waves a hand rapidly in front of her as her eyes stream with mirth, and she desperately tries to smother another laugh while Adeon grins down at her. She makes a small, choked sound and swipes at her eyes.
“I’m sorry, dear. I don’t mean to laugh,” she gasps around a chuckle. “It’s just that you are going to have a very interesting full moon. I do hope you’re prepared to stay in the sea with your mate during those days,” she teases.
I turn pink at the assumption and glance over at Ro. “Oh. Umm, we haven’t yet decided—”
“I am still working to prove myself as a mate,” Ro interrupts as he gathers my hand in his. “My Keri should take all the time she needs to be certain of her decision and allow me to do this for her. I have no one to battle for her, only my own eagerness and desire.”
I peer over at him from beneath my lashes, warmth curling within me at how quickly he rose to defend me and this dance between us. I’m also surprised though. I figured that this was simply something he felt obligated to deal with and was doing to humor me because he wants to win me. That he genuinely sees it as something so honorable seems almost beyond belief, and yet the way he has always been so attentive for no other reason than he wanted to be makes this so real that I could cry with the guilt of keeping him waiting on me—and now half-afraid that he will swim off on a full moon to find a more “cooperative” female to mate when his instincts can’t be ignored anymore.
Katherine smiles at him with genuine pleasure before giving us both a sympathetic look. “I’m sure that having a potion to help him be less sea-bound would help. It’s hard to pin your future on someone if you aren’t certain of whether they are staying or going. I should know,” she adds with a fond look to Adeon.
“I will never leave,” Ro replies solemnly, his big, warm hand squeezing mine gently. “I do not care if I have to build our home at the edge of the water so that I can spend every minute with her that I’m able before the sea calls me home. Keri willalwayshave me. My lure has merged so much with her magic, there is no separating me from her unless she casts me aside.”
I give him a look of horror. “And what the fuck would that do?”
An uncomfortable look crosses Ro’s face. “It does not need to be spoken of,” he assures me quietly, but Adeon snorts loudly and shakes his head as he outright ignores the sharp look Ro gives him.
“If they are anything like some of the aquatic species I know of, it means that once they’ve bonded with you to that degree, they will die without their mates,” he says bluntly.
Ro’s upper lip pulls back from his teeth, and he hisses at the dragon before turning a sweet look to me as he smooths my hair back with one hand. “As I said, it is nothing that needs to be spoken of. Aquanas give their hearts, but we cannot survive without them. But this has no bearing on your decision.”
“How can it possibly not if you’re going to die without me? I kind of think that needs to be a part of the conversation. At least a little.”
He chuckles softly, the side of his hand skimming my cheek. “I would not drop dead the minute you were gone. It takes years for the sickness to overtake us and our magic returns to the sea. My lifespan will simply be much shorter—perhaps comparable to a human lifespan—and I would roam the waters restlessly to not be drawn back by my lure. That is all.”
“That’s all, he says,” I mutter, but I give him a worried look. I’m terrified of moving forward, but I don’t want to lose him!
Katherine coughs behind her hand, breaking the tension. “Well, it sounds like you have your work cut out for you then, Ro, if you’re going to convince my stubborn niece. My resources are at your disposal. My talent is more for energy manipulation, but I think I can give you a few tips on how to get the most out of your potion on that end, as well as some ideas of what we can do.” She looks over at me curiously. “Have you spoken with your parents to see if they have any suggestions their art may reveal?”
I blanch at the question and quickly shake my head. “My mom and dad? Oh no, Katherine. I couldn’t possibly. I still haven’t told them that I’ve given up divination!”
My aunt gives a characteristic roll of her eyes in response to my objection. “Oh, please, they surely couldn’t be surprised. I told them since you were five years old and playing little witch games with me that your energy isn’t aligned to divination work. If they’re shocked, they have no one to blame but themselves.”
I stare at her in shock, unable to quite believe what she’s just said. “How did I not know this?”
“You parents live in a state of denial, of course,” Katherine explains and gives me a cheeky smile. “But be assured that it is not a condition limited to just them. We all must come around sometime and see that our dreams and expectations for our children have to change as they grow and discover their own way. This,” she says, tapping on the printed copy of my notes, “is good. You are already working this out. You may be the first potions mistress in our coven yet, andthatis something to be proud of.”
“I am proud,” Ro purrs, and my pulse leaps in response as a pleased flush sweeps over my body.
I guess I’m calling my parents after all.
Ro
My Keri hasa strength to her that I admire. She doesn’t have the natural physical protections of female Aquanas, nor the magic that summons terrible currents and wicked storms, but she has the willpower to take control and manifest change in ways that my people cannot conceive. We are a people whose lives and magic are part of the tides and currents of the sea. We live from moment to moment, loving fiercely and enjoying the beauty of our moments in all their variety and magnitude, seldom with regret or looking back—unless one has been rejected by their mate. Keri is so different from everything I have ever known, and she has expanded my awareness of a world beyond our seas that is full of magic in a multitude of forms.
More than anything, I love the way her mind works. It is an endless source of fascination, the way she uses it to manipulate her magical workings with new ideas and experiments. It gives depths to my feelings for her beyond the entanglement of her magic and my lure. It makes me adore her in ways that I don’t think many males have the advantage to experience until after they are mated. This is not just the rush of magic binding us closer, bolstered by the pleasure of mating. This is something deeper, and I am so incredibly grateful that I’ve needed to spend so many days convincing my mate by proving myself and getting to know her better in the process.
My gaze fastens on her as I lean forward on the other side of the table separating us. She has something called a hot plate between us and several glass containers. Magic swirls within the essence captured in each of them, brightening in response with her as Keri lifts and examines them one by one. She gives me a focused look over the top of the container and hands it to me.
“So I take it that the phone call with your mom went well?” Adiele asks as she watches us, her elbows propped on the end of the table and her chin resting between her hands.
