Bound (Bound Trilogy) (26 page)

“I didn’t see anything. Just you going under.”

“It felt like a hand.”

“Did it?”

She held her leg out and turned her ankle from side to side. “No claws, no teeth. Grabbed like fingers.”

That’s impossible
, I thought, trying to ignore her exposed skin.
They wouldn’t
.

Without warning, something popped up from the water beside me—or rather, someone. His skin had the same faintly grayish cast to it that I remembered, barely noticeable in the overcast light. His black hair was shaggier than it had been the last time we met, but nothing else had changed.

Rowan jumped back and pulled her towel tighter around her body, but she quickly stepped forward again and held out a hand to help me out of the water.

I spoke more loudly than I meant to. “What the hell are you doing?”

He pushed his wet hair out of his eyes. “I came to ask you the same thing. I was going to be nice about it, though. And I thought there might be a girl here.” He looked up at Rowan and gave her a wide, friendly grin. “Hello!”

“Watch it,” I muttered, and he looked back to me.

“Aah, I see.” He pulled himself up and rested one arm on the splintered wood of the dock.

“Do you welcome everyone to the lake by trying to drown them?” I demanded, gesturing toward Rowan and nearly dunking myself in the lake in the process.

“Is that what the commotion was?” He frowned. “Huh.”

“What?”

“Nothing. I’ll take care of it.” He relaxed and smiled again, as though nothing had happened. “So it’s been what, seven years?”

“About that.”

“Seven years. Damn. I mean, darn. All that time and I just get a ‘what the hell are you doing?’ No hug for your best friend?”

“Not wearing any clothes at the moment.”

He laughed. “You humans are such prudes.”

Rowan knelt on the wooden boards, holding the towel so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. Or perhaps it was the cold. She was still shaking. “Excuse me—‘you humans?’”

“Sorry,” I said. “Rowan, this is Kel. He’s not human.”

“And thankful for it,” Kel added. He pushed back from the dock and flipped over to dive deep into the lake, showing off a muscular, human-looking torso with gills across his sides that closed in the air. His smooth, iron-gray tail flashed above the water, broad flukes splashing as he disappeared.

Rowan gasped.

Kel turned underwater and surfaced next to her a moment later. “Completely warm-blooded though, I promise.” He winked.

He really hadn’t changed. I rolled my eyes and pulled myself out of the water. Rowan turned away and held out the second towel, and I dried myself and stepped into my clothes, which still lay in a messy pile where I’d dropped them. I sat at the end of the dock and dipped my feet into the water.

Rowan stood with her arms crossed. “Not to spoil the reunion, but could we please talk about what happened? Someone grabbed me and dragged me under. If it wasn’t you, then who was it?”

I winced. She wasn’t familiar with mer ways, their discomfort with speculation, gossip, and potential false judgment. Kel offered a reassuring smile. “I have my suspicions. No one you’d know, I’d say. Rest assured, fair lady, you’re safe now.”

“Thank you.” Her eyes passed over what she could see of him again—quick, but not fast enough that he didn’t notice. He flashed another flirtatious grin, and got a little smile in return. “Excuse me. I’m going to go over there to get dressed.” She went up the path far enough to find some bushes to change behind. Kel watched her until she disappeared.

“Nice,” he said. “So you two are…”

“No.”

“Huh. So would you mind if I…”

“Yes.”

He shook his head. “I’ll never understand you people.”

“Nor should you want to.”

Rowan came back with her towel wrapped around her hair and crouched with her bare feet tucked under her skirt. The shock of her near-drowning seemed to be wearing off. “Am I interrupting?”

“I don’t think so,” Kel said. “We have a lot of catching up to do, though, and it’s getting cold up here. I don’t suppose you have any more clothes up at the house?”

“I think so,” Rowan said. “I’ll go look.” She started to walk away, then turned back. “Um, pants?”

Kel laughed. “If you insist. Human magic-users aren’t the only ones who can change forms. Want to see? He hauled himself out of the water and laid on the dock, the flukes of his long tail just touching the water.

Rowan’s gaze flickered to the end of his tail and back. “That’s fine, thanks. I’ll just see about those pants.”

Kel slipped back into the water, and we didn’t speak again until Rowan had disappeared into the house. “How’s everyone?” I asked.

“Good. Everyone’s good. We heard about your father disappearing. So… Sorry, I suppose.” An awkward silence followed.

“It’s been too long, hasn’t it? “

He looked up and studied me. “Maybe not. Depends. I’m certainly surprised to see you.”

“I’m sorry, I know I said I wouldn’t come back. I wouldn’t have if—”

The door slammed shut up at the house. I excused myself, and went a short way up the path to meet Rowan. She carried a pair of work pants, a heavy flannel shirt, and a pair of clean wool socks.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “Kel is a good person. Better than most humans I’ve met. He has an odd sense of humor, though. Also, he likes human women. A lot.”

“Legs are fun!” Kel announced from the other side of the bushes, and Rowan smiled.

“Don’t worry about it,” she whispered. “He seems nice.” She handed the clothes to me. “But I don’t need to see him change. I’ll go find something to eat.”

“I’ll help.” I tossed the shirt and pants over the bushes onto the dock.

“Hey!” Kel yelled. “That almost landed in the—”

I threw the socks.

“Quit it! There had better not be boots coming!”

Rowan laughed again, and we started walking, taking our time. Kel caught up before we reached the cabin. He looked completely human, the gray in his skin having warmed to brown. If Rowan was surprised by any of it, she hid it. I thought she was handling everything well considering how little experience she had with magic, and felt a completely out-of-place sense of pride.

Rowan went to check on the horses, who had come back from the woods during the night. I added wood to the fires while Kel poked through every cupboard in the house. He found a belt and was threading it through the loops on his pants when Rowan returned. “You people make your clothes so complicated.”

I brought a bowl of fruit over. “You don’t usually make any clothes.”

“Too right. Only in this form. This sort of body tends to leave sensitive equipment just hanging out in the wind when you’re not dressed.” He turned to me. “You’re an odd lot, you know that?”

“You may have mentioned it before.”

Kel declined the food, but was happy to spend time answering Rowan’s questions about the merfolk, the myth about them having scaled fish tails, where they lived and how they traveled between inland lakes, whether they could all form legs.

Kel smiled at that question. “Most can, and those who can often do. We have a beautiful place called the Grotto where we dance and cook food, and where we keep our library and beautiful things collected by those of us who choose to brave the human world.”

Rowan stared past him. “I would love to see that.”

“Maybe you will someday. We do occasionally invite human visitors. Do you have any other questions?”

I snorted at that. “She does, believe me.”

Rowan gave me a good-natured glare. “What about the stories of mermaids intentionally making human sailors crash their ships?”

“Absolutely not,” he told her. “That story is a common one, but I’ve never met a mer who would want to cause that kind of harm to anyone who wasn’t an enemy. I know some who might approach lonely sailors, or sing beautiful songs to them to get them through the lonely nights. It’s not our fault that human men can’t steer straight when they’re aroused.” He seemed to think this was hilarious.

I soon realized that Rowan had been holding back when she asked me about magic. She wanted to know everything, and Kel was happy to share. I should have been glad to have someone else to do the talking, but I wasn’t. I hated how interested she seemed in him, how her eyes shone as she listened, how she laughed when he made a joke. Another out-of-place emotion. It was none of my business what she did.

She decided to go out and catch a chicken for supper. “Aren, can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked, and walked out the back door. She waited for me just around the corner. “These are the people we were looking for, aren’t they? The ones who might be able to help me?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I would have,” I said, “but they’re good at not being found. If they sensed that a stranger was searching for them, they’d have disappeared completely. Sometimes they’ll investigate if they’re curious, though.”

She rested her hands on her hips and glared at me. “So I was
bait
?”

“What? No! Not exactly. But you did make them curious.”

“If they know you, why wouldn’t they have just come to see you?”

“I’m supposed to stay away from them. Kel’s band of merfolk were friends of mine when I was young, but that changed as I grew up. They know what I am, what I do, and they don’t approve of how I’ve directed my magical gifts.” She looked away, perhaps agreeing with them. “It was fine for me to be around them when I was a kid, but when I got older it got complicated. My position in the human world made me a danger to them. I volunteered to stay away, but I think they would have told me to if I hadn’t offered. I think they’ll help you, though, if it’s within their power.”

“They’re that altruistic?”

“They’re that curious. You should get along well with them.”

She crossed her arms. “So you were just going to hand me over, and that’s it? You were going to send me to this Grotto place and then disappear?”

“I didn’t think you’d want to stay with me, anyway, and I didn’t know what else to do.” The thought that she might not want to leave was appealing, yet worrisome. “You know you’ll be safer without me. I can lead Severn away, you can get your answers. They’ll know who can help you.”

She rubbed her temple, and I wondered if it was a headache or just frustration. I thought headache. Her eyes had a glassy, distant look to them. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

My heart skipped. “You’re better off with them.”

“But you won’t be safe when you’re alone. We both know you can’t stay half-awake forever, and it’s only a matter of time until Severn finds you. At least I can keep watch while you sleep.” She pulled a sharp knife off of the wall and started toward the chicken coop before I could say anything else.

I stayed outside for a few minutes before I went back in. Of course I knew I couldn’t keep going on my own forever, but it was too dangerous to keep her with me. Possibly pleasant, if things kept going as they were, but dangerous. I turned and went into the house before I could follow that thought any further.

Kel sat on the sofa with his bare feet on the table, wiggling his toes.

“Been a while since you’ve been on land?” I asked.

“Yes. Everything seems to be working, though.” He folded his hands over his stomach and looked at me. I sat in a chair beside him and stared back. He tapped his thumbs together. “So,” he said.

“So.”

“What is this? You looked like you were going to strangle me when I showed up down there.”

“You’ll have to excuse that. I thought you’d just tried to drown Rowan.”

“Mmm. And she’s your… friend?”

“I suppose she might say that.”

“And she’s important to you.”

I understood what he was trying to get from me. “It’s not like that. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s not that.”

“Uh-huh.” I could tell he didn’t believe me, but at least he let it go. “I didn’t think we’d see you again.”

“Neither did I. I meant what I said about leaving you alone. I’m not asking you to help me.”

“That’s good. We’ve heard what’s happening. We can’t be involved with Severn.” The merfolk had reason to be aware of what humans were doing. They’d seen what we’d done to each other over the years, and they tried to be prepared in case we decided to try to harm them or their home in the same ways.

Before I could ask, he added, “I don’t know whether Severn knows you’re here, but I haven’t heard that anyone’s looking for you, if it makes you feel any better.”

“It doesn’t, but thank you.”

He wiggled his toes again. “I can keep my ears open for you as long as you’re here. I just hope it doesn’t cause problems for us.” That was the closest Kel would come to questioning my decision to come back. He didn’t have to tell me that the mer elders wouldn’t be pleased to hear I’d returned. “I’m assuming it’s no coincidence that you stopped here. And I would love to know what you’re doing with Rowan.”

It wasn’t as difficult for me to explain things to Kel as it had been to tell Rowan, either because I was starting to understand the situation better, or because he let me talk without interruptions. When I finished the story and explained why I’d helped her, leaving out any reference to my confused emotions, he smirked.

“That’s it? You just felt like you owed her something?”

My back stiffened. “Yes. And I appreciated her kindness. It was more than I’m accustomed to.”

“So if she had been an unattractive, smelly old man and had done the same thing, you’d have thrown away your life in Luid, helped him escape from that boat, and nearly killed yourself trying to convince him he was a Sorcerer?” He rolled his eyes. “Sure you would have. It had nothing to do with her being a sweet, intelligent, attractive young woman with a fantastic ass and a need for someone to save her.”

“She’s quite capable of saving herself, believe me. She just needed to be pointed in the right direction.”

“Right. And that’s not appealing to you either.” He leaned forward and took a sip from the mug on the table in front of him. “I still have so many questions, but we’ll stick with Rowan’s problems for now. You could be right about her. So why did you bring her here?”