Deep Water by Josepha Sherman & Josepha Sherman

Author:Josepha Sherman & Josepha Sherman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

CHAPTER 11

“Married!” It came out as a startled squeak. “But she’s just a—” Oh, way to go, Chase. Give the whole thing away. “I mean, a human and a seal?”

Lee played with the end of his tie, already clearly regretting his outburst, and Cordelia felt a frisson of panic. She needed to know what he was going to say. If this had anything to do with Ariel—if he wanted to hurt her—

You’re going to do what? she wondered. Stamp your foot, and demand that he unhand that seal? Be realistic. There’s nothing you can do but stay out of this crazy guy’s way. Remember? No more saving the world? Cordelia first, second, and last?

On the other hand, information was power. And one needed that to get by in this town.

“I’m sorry,” she said finally. “Please. Tell me?”

He let go of his tie, smoothed it back down, and looked her straight in the eyes. “Maelen was a woman, Ms. Chase. Not human, but so very beautiful. Almost as lovely,” he added bitterly, “as she was deceitful.”

Oh. I know that tune. Boy, do I know that tune. The feeling of kinship she suddenly felt for the older man made her sympathy more real. “What happened?”

“We met on a beach one morning. Purely by accident. I was still a student, working on my graduate thesis. The sea, the sound of it, used to soothe me, calm my brain after a long night of research.”

He frowned, looking out at the sunlit day, but obviously not seeing anything in the here-and-now.

“She was walking along the shoreline, her feet in the froth of the water. I fell for her at first sight, just like some boy in a song, and she, I thought, fell just as strongly for me.”

“And?”

“I knew what she was, of course. As I said, my hobby was the study of mythology—even then, I knew more about selkies than most of the so-called scholars. But it didn’t matter to me. And it didn’t matter to her. I thought so, then. She gave up her seal-form, to live with me, to be my wife.”

“And you didn’t live happily ever after.”

“Five years. And then she left me, abandoned me without a word, without a note, to return to the waters. Her vows meant nothing, our love meant nothing. She made a fool out of me. But I didn’t care. I tried to follow her, but she was gone.”

Dr. Lee stopped, turning to face Cordelia for the first time since he started his story. His face was absolutely without expression, but his eyes were full of pain. “No reason, no warning. Suddenly, my life was meaningless. And yet no one would believe me, thinking me maddened with grief until I learned to keep silent.”

Then he looked up at her, as though half-expecting her to call out the loony police. “The ultimate betrayal—is that too fantastic a story for a young woman like you to comprehend?”

Cordelia forced a laugh. “Believe me, compared to what goes on in

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