“But on the sea, you’re a part of things. You smell the air, you see the way the water changes from place to place, the difference in what you catch for dinner or the whales in the distance. You get to know the ship too.” She smiled. “I wager I could tell the Hawk beneath my feet even if I were blind. It’s a place to come back to, a thing you make and maintain—and I’d say that’s the mark of souled creatures, though I’m no priest. Craft.”
“Earth and water, not air,” Erik said thoughtfully.
“And not fire, God willing. Rather the opposite of your line.”
“Yours too—or rather your blood,” he amended the statement quickly.
“Ah, well, perhaps it’s the mortal in me. Drawn to what will outlast short-lived men and so forth.” Toinette waved a hand in the air.
“That could be on both counts,” said Erik, looking out to the water. The wind played with his golden hair. He had less to disturb than Toinette did, yet it still ruffled in the breeze, and strands clung to his neck. “The Norsemen carve dragons’ heads on their boats, you know.”
“They might just want to frighten their enemies.”
“We are often things to be feared,” Erik agreed, and his smile was devilish.
Toinette returned it. “Some of us more than others,” she said, “and perhaps for different reasons. Depending on who it is we’re frightening, of course.”
It would be a long voyage. With no privacy, there was also no danger that either of them would get carried away. And few people were more qualified than Toinette to play with fire.
Order Isabel Cooper’s next book in the
Dawn of the Highland Dragon series
Highland Dragon Master
On sale March 2018
About the Author
Isabel Cooper lives in Boston in an apartment with two houseplants, a silver sword, and a basket of sequined fruit. By day, she works as a theoretically mild-mannered legal editor; by night, she tries to sleep. She has a house in the country, but hopes she doesn’t encounter mysterious and handsome strangers nearby, as vacation generally involves a lot of fuzzy bathrobes.
ALSO BY ISABEL COOPER
No Proper Lady
Lessons After Dark
Highland Dragons
Legend of the Highland Dragon
The Highland Dragon’s Lady
Night of the Highland Dragon
Dawn of the Highland Dragon
Highland Dragon Warrior
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