Ranan shakes his head again, dismissing what I’ve said. “I’m not good with words.”

“Words aren’t everything.” I give him an encouraging smile. This is the closest I’ve been to him since our last swimming lesson, and I wonder if he feels anything for me. If he truly is as shy as he claims to be, it’s going to be impossible to tell.

I’ll be the one that has to make all the moves.

So I shift my weight, moving a little closer to him. “Aren’t you curious about kissing me?”

His eyes widen and he stares at me for a long moment. His strange, flat ears twitch, the muscles laying flat against his head. Ranan’s gaze dips to my mouth and then back to my eyes again. “I have considered it,” he says slowly. “But we are new to each other. You are seeking to anchor your place at my side by pleasing me. It is not the best environment in which to ask for a kiss.”

“You’re wrong. The asking is the important part.” I slide my fingers up his arm, exploring his skin. “Like now. I’m touching you. If I ask to touch you more, and you say no, that’s the end of it, right?”

“It is…different.” There’s a rasp to his voice, his gaze locked on me.

I wonder if anyone ever touches him. I wonder if he needs it. I have had days in the past where I have felt so achingly lonely that I’ve sought out a lover just to feel something. Yet I imagine Ranan lives like a monk out here on the waves.

“How is it different?” I ask, my finger dancing along the inside of one arm. “Would you like for me to stop?”

His nostrils flare. “No.”

“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” I smile at him and run my fingers along his skin. It has a slightly different texture than mine that I find fascinating. Is it because he’s in the water so much? Because his body is hairless? Whatever it is, I like the feel of it.

“It is different, because I hold all the power,” Ranan replies. “You will not tell me no simply because you want to please me. You will let me do whatever I want to you and you will not complain a word, because you are afraid of offending me.”

I still, because he’s not wrong. It’s how a slave survives. If the master’s happy, everyone breathes a sigh of relief. I can’t just simply change the way I think because he promises he will be kind to me. But I suspect he’s been avoiding me, and this is no way for us to build upon our marriage. We cannot be strangers forever, and the longer we leave distance between us, the more difficult it will be for us to conquer later.

I consider all of this as I study him. In the end, all we have are words and deeds. For now, I will have to accept his words. “Ranan, are you going to put me aside? Or send me back to the human settlements? Or make me a slave again?”

His lip curls as if I have offended him. “Of course not.”

Words are easy, though. I need more than that. “Swear it. Swear it upon the gods. Swear it upon Lord Vor.”

Ranan grabs my chin, our eyes meeting. “I swear it by Lord Vor and all the gods in the heavens.”

“That might not be many of them, given that there’s an Anticipation going on,” I tease, pulling free from his grip.

“You know what I mean,” he all but growls at me.

“I do.” I reach up and tap a finger on his nose, because when I’m comfortable, I like to be playful with my partner, and I want to see how he responds. He recoils in shock, rubbing the tip of his nose. “Very well then, I shall believe you. I will tell you no if I don’t feel like kissing you or touching you. And you should tell me no if I do something that makes you uncomfortable, like me touching your nose.”

He continues to rub the end of his nose, his face drawn in lines of disapproval. “I am not uncomfortable.”

I want to laugh because his words say one thing and his expression another. I am going to have to go by his words, then, and assume that Ranan’s scowls are just normal for him and not to be taken that he is in a poor mood. I reach for him again. “So I can tap your nose as much as I want?”

He snags my hand before I can do so. “I did not say that.”

There’s a teasing note in his voice that I like. It makes me a little bolder. “I know right now, I’m not at my best, but I would like to kiss you at some point. Just so we can see what it is like between us. It will be a strange marriage if we have no spark, after all.”

“And do you think that will happen? That there will be no spark?”

I give him a sly smile. “No. I’m good at making sparks.”

His ears go back against his head again, and I wonder if that’s the Ranan version of a blush. “I would like to kiss.”

Now we’re getting somewhere. I lean in close, full of curiosity and anticipation.

His gaze drops to my mouth again…and then he jumps to his feet. “Perhaps tomorrow we will try it,” he says, tone brusque. “After you have had a chance to rest and feel better. Explore the grotto. I will get some fish and make sure Akara is situated.”

Before I can say anything else, he dives into the pool and disappears, and I’m left surrounded by riches. I cross my arms over my chest and frown at the ripple he left. By all the gods, are all sea-ogres skittish or is it just this one? I wait for him to come back, to tell me that he changed his mind and he wants to kiss me now after all.

I wait for a long time.

Chapter

Thirteen

RANAN

My heartbeat pounds in my ears as I swim into deeper waters. Vali is safe in my grotto, and so I can hunt for the bigger fish, the larger fin-backs with the tough hide and chewy meat. They reside in the darker waters of the sea, where the reefs drop off to colder temperatures, and they’re dangerous, but they also have the best skin. It dries and makes a flexible, waterproof leather if treated properly. Vali will need clothes and gear of her own. Belts, shoes—she needs everything.

I should be thinking about hunting a fin-back right now, but it will be impossible to do any sort of hunting with both of my cocks standing at attention.

All because she touched my arm.

I ignore it at first. There’s nothing to do but ignore my body’s reaction to her. I’m not going to return to her side and demand that she touch me. Just thinking about her, though, makes my cocks stay erect, and when the ache continues despite the chill of the water, I grit my teeth and take myself in hand. I tread water with two slashing arms while my other two hands frantically work my cocks. It’s not a satisfying release, and I swim away from the ropes of seed I’ve left behind, ashamed of my actions.

She’s my wife. She has agreed to be my female, and I have decided to keep her. Why am I being like this? If I went to her right now, she would welcome me with open arms.

And that is exactly the problem. Vali is far too eager, and we barely know each other. For her to fling herself at me feels…false. She is eager because she is anxious, not because she wants me. I know I am not a great speaker, and that I can be abrupt. I am more silent than talkative around her. We are strangers. Bedding her seems wrong.

Yet the more I push her away, the more I hurt her feelings and make her fret. There has to be a solution that will satisfy both of us.

I ponder this endlessly as I swim, looking for a school of fin-backs. I find nothing, though, and return to the cave empty-handed and chilled.

Vali has been busy while I was gone—a large area near the fire pit has been cleared out, the bags I toss carelessly into the grotto neatly organized and tidied. Statues have been lined up along the cave wall and golden dishes stacked in a semblance of organization. The fire is nothing but coals, but the scent of food lingers in the air.

My human wife is asleep in the pile of blankets I’ve left for her, her arms curled around one of the pillows. Her hair is combed out and neatly plaited, the ends tied with some of the ribbons I gave her. A few strands have come loose, the dark curls fanning over the blankets. My fingers itch to touch one, to see if it’s as soft when dry as it looks, but I don’t want to disturb her. She needs her sleep.