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Concern was etched all over Trill’s feature as she o hoht, as we turned back toward the shore of ether, Trill keeping ure out what had just happened On the one hand, I hadn’t felt any overt ical influence But, on the other hand, I’d learned that there were all sorts of nized

But whom have I met who has such power and wants to hurt me? Blondie was apparently an ally, as was Terk, the broorked for Capitola’s fas with noneleic, the type that ht have another new, unknown ene rather dra strangers constantly trying to kill ht, I felt Trill nudge h the water until I sahat she was showingwaist high in the water I squinted, swis were big, bedeni led at the thought I looked at Trill, who rolled her eyes

He’s all yours, sheI should swi not to smile when she motioned toward the beach quite a ways up the shore After all, I didn’t want her to think that I was abandoning her--hos before bros and all that--but I did want to ascertain that she’d be well away before I launchedofthat fact Nell had--I assumed--apparatedone eminently fuckable (and, fro betweenfor no one’s benefit, I’ve never been particularly attached to the concept of modesty

And then I swas All the worry I’d been suppressing since waking up that I’d been too slow and that Anyan was dead urgedand seeing it for s So I rushed toward hiainstthe water with a treainst Anyan’s T-shirted chest, causing hi his balance

But his aro

He held me there, partially in his ee of power from both of us, for what felt like hours but could only have been a handful of seconds I was as limp as seaweed in his arms, my head cradled under his chin,hard--in my case, from a coistered when Anyan started to h I did feel the retreat of the water from around our bodies as he walked the both of us up the beach It was only when I felt him start to sit--presumably on my cove’s resident ancient beached tree trunk--that I pulled s about his waist so I could remain in his lap

We stayed like that, me wrapped around hi and the steady drip of water fros I needed to ask his we needed to talk about But all I cared about, at thatelse could wait

"Thought we’d lost you," he said, eventually His voice ruh my body and I shivered In response, he e, warain, but for an entirely different reason

"I thought I’d lost you," I replied, feelingfrom everywhere

Anyan left his one hand on the sh queue, tugging my head back so thatinto his eyes

I gotta ad thing he did really peeled irl," he said quietly, his eyes searching my face as if he were lost and I was his one dry and tight fro you haven’t done for ed to croak out in a voice about four octaves lower than usual I hoped the barghest found e into , but I wasn’t about to bet on it

As if he knehat I was thinking, Anyan’s reply was to pull ed outward, rather than up,my chest away from his I was still astride him, our hips flush, but he’d pulled my shoulders back so thate hand, his eyes swept over said upper body, which I quickly res of crow-black hair that, having escaped his grip, fell alongside either side of ods I currently rese under his scrutiny as that long, crooked nose twitched once, hard

He ignoredthe hand that had been at the sh, raising goose buain and lord and lady did I want to nibble the tip…