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glossy and her cheeks as pink and rosy as ever, despite the wistful look on her face as
she gazed out to the water.  She looks as healthy as ever, he said, more confidently
than he felt. Her words had breathed into life the trace of guilt he had fought to
suppress. The selkie was an animal, his captive, he reassured himself. It was right that
he should keep her. He would look after her well.
 Her seal folks will come to steal her away in the night, and her skin with it, and
you will never see her again.
60
Rainlashed
 I wish them luck, he said calmly, thinking with some satisfaction of his foresight
in having her skin taken all the way to his Edinburgh house to be safely stored there.  I
have hidden her skin where they will not find it.
 They will tear down your house to look for it.
 Then I will build another.
 They will have their vengeance on you. They will call up the wind and the waves
against you and you will be drowned or dashed to pieces against the rocks for daring to
steal away one of their own kind.
 If I have to stay away from the ocean for the rest of my born days then so be it, but
I will not give her up. His eyes raked her silent form, a swell of possessiveness rising
into his breast until he had no room for any other emotion. She was beautiful, and she
was his.  You cannot dissuade me in this, old woman, whatever dire fate you predict
for me. She is mine, and I will keep her.
 I see she has already bewitched you, the housekeeper said, her voice shaking a
little.  A selkie s magic is powerful, when they choose to use it against us.
The suddenness of his anger surprised even him.  She has bewitched no one. No
one! I forbid you ever to speak such words again. She is a woman now, and naught but
a woman. I will teach her all she needs to know about human ways, and she will learn
them to please me. She will never be a selkie again unless I wish it.
 That is not wise, Master, if you will forgive an old woman for saying so. A selkie is
a powerful 
He would not forgive her words, or her speaking out of turn.  I will not have that
word spoken in this house again, do you hear me? He put every ounce of anger and
frustration he was feeling into his words.  Maya is a woman now. A woman. Nothing
more and nothing less. You will forget that she was ever different, and you will never
speak of it again. Never.
61
Leda Swann
The housekeeper shook her head in mute protest.  You will live to regret it, young
master, she said, as she slowly turned away.  On my life, you will regret this. She
sighed, as if she would dearly love to remonstrate with him further, but dared not.
He dismissed her with a wave of his hand. Her words meant nothing to him. They
were the foolish ramblings of a superstitious old woman and he would pay them no
heed. He would even be magnanimous enough to forgive her for uttering them in the
first place, provided she never repeated her offence.
The housekeeper hobbled to the door on her crooked feet, turning her head in the
doorway to utter one last word of foreboding.  Never say I didn t warn you.
62
Rainlashed
Chapter Six
Dinnertime was always a trial for Maya. In the five days that she had been out of
her seal skin she had learned many new human ways. Some came to her as naturally as
breathing, but others were still a struggle. Eating in particular&
She sighed as she looked down at her plate. She was hungry as can be, but humans
made even the simple act of satisfying their appetite for food needlessly complicated.
Carefully she took her knife in her right hand and her fork in her left and steeled herself
to begin.
She could feel the master s eyes on her as she attacked her food, ready to correct her
if she made a misstep. The sound of his voice startled her when he finally spoke.  You
miss the water?
She nodded dumbly, chasing a piece of salmon around her plate with an inexpert
fork and wishing she could take it into her hands and take a large bite, or simply put
her mouth to her food where it lay. She was so hungry her stomach hurt and the rules
humans made for themselves about how they had to eat their food had never seemed
sillier. Still, her master had decreed that to please him she must learn the use of a knife
and fork, so learn it she would.
He took a sip of his wine and looked at her with a critical eye.  I cannot let you back
into the sea. The danger is too great.
She had finally speared a hunk of fish on the tines of her fork and was munching it
hungrily.  Danger? she inquired around her mouthful of salmon.
He grimaced at the sight and she fell silent. Humans did not talk while they were
eating either, she remembered. She swallowed down the salmon in such haste that she
almost choked and had to gulp a mouthful of water from her glass.  What danger?
63
Leda Swann
Even in her human form she could swim well better than most humans for sure. The
sea knew her as one of its own and would not deliberately hurt her.
Besides, though she had reluctantly resigned herself to the bitter knowledge that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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