‘You might be right,’ Fionn said, placing his left hand over his heart. ‘But what if fate has made a mistake? It has chosen me a human, after all.’
‘Maybe there is a reason. Maybe our people need this. Maybeyouneed this, Your Highness?’
Fionn gave Neacel a sceptical look. ‘You think fate is trying to teach me a lesson about understanding humans? Is that really what you’re going with?’
To his surprise, Neacel laughed. ‘That wasn’t what I meant, but youcouldperhaps widen your worldview a little.’
Fionn folded his arms defensively but couldn’t come up with a biting comeback. He wasn’t used to criticism being dressed up with a chuckle. It was like Neacel was making fun of him, but in a friendly way.
‘I would still need to convince my father that my soul bond is fated,’ Fionn warned.
Neacel’s eyes lit up, realising he’d won Fionn round. ‘Surely you just need to present Rory to the king?’
‘Certainly. If I can convince him to join me.’ Fionn jerked his head at the crashing waves beyond the cliff edge. ‘The problem is taking a human through the ocean.’
Neacel paused before his face fell. ‘Oh.’ He coughed uncertainly. ‘I don’t suppose… the king would hold court on land, just once?’
Fionn snorted. ‘No. I don’t want to give the court any warning about it, anyway.’ His mind was already racing, starting to piece together the first shadow of a plan. ‘I need to make sure it’s somehow in public. So that there’s no way the king can deny our bond, like you said. And there is not much time.’
‘How long do you have?’
‘Maybe three weeks? Close to the full moon. It is custom for the Redfolk to give little notice and arrive in secrecy.’
He caught sight of Neacel’s wrinkled nose. ‘That sounds awfully anxiety-inducing.’
‘I think it’s just another way to put our kingdom on the back foot. They like to hold all the power, obviously.’
Fionn took off towards the beach with Neacel once again hurrying to keep up. He could put his own misgivings about the bond aside, now that he had a goal in mind. He’d have to devote all his time to winning Rory over. To convince this unappealing, argumentative human that they were indeed meant to be together. And once Rory was on board, they could tackle the next step.
‘We will employ the land Witch,’ Fionn said aloud as they stepped into the hidden cave. ‘He may have some means to let humans travel underwater.’
Neacel sucked in a shocked breath. ‘You know the Walker Witch?’
‘Of course.’ Fionn felt the way Neacel’s admiration of him shot up with that admission. It was one of his only human interactions, facilitated by Iomhar in the name of practicing formal relations with other species. Fionn squared his shoulders, a little embarrassed but preening under the attention. ‘You mustn’t tell anyone about this, Neacel.’
Neacel nodded enthusiastically. ‘Absolutely. I will do anything you need of me to help, Your Highness.’
‘You really want to help?’ Fionn couldn’t prevent a hint of suspicion from tainting his hopeful mood. Who had ever really assisted him with nothing to gain, except maybe Iomhar? ‘I still can’t guarantee a meeting with Seòras.’
‘Forget Seòras.’ Neacel waved the suggestion away with fluttering hands. He was practically dancing with excitement now. ‘You have asoul mate,Your Highness. I’ll do everything in my power to protect your bond.’
‘Thank you,’ Fionn said awkwardly.
‘It’s an honour, Your Highness.’
‘Please. Call me Fionn.’
Having stripped of kilts and other accoutrements, they stepped into the water and glided into the dark.
Chapter Nine
Rory spent a long time staring at the wall after the tatted blue monster had left. He couldn’t work out where to begin eventhinkingabout everything that had happened.
An old Katy Perry song came to mind and the wordsI kissed a guy and I liked itproceeded to dance around his brain for a solid twenty minutes.
He wassurehe wasn’t gay. Never so much as looked at another man’s package before. Muscles? Those were background noise—everyone was built tough out here.
Rory counted up the women he’d slept with. He’d scored anywhere between one and three lovely lasses per summer season, depending on his luck and the availability of similarly-minded partners. He loved the ladies, so long as they didn’t come with too many complications. And he was always clear with them about it first. Short-term affairs only. Was there anything more heterosexual than that?
