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  * * *

  When I returned to the palace I was led up to Lord Breylan’s bedchambers. Milton, still dressed in those robin egg blue robes, was waiting at the door.

  “Go inside, undress, and warm your husband’s bed,” he commanded. “My lord will be with you momentarily.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Arlin go into the bedchamber next to Lord Breylan’s. He didn’t give me a second glance.

  Milton opened the door and ushered me in before he closed it again and locked it. I was alone in Lord Breylan’s room. I walked over to the bed and ran my hand across the silken threads. I heard a noise in the room next-door and I spun around to face the wall.

  “What did you do Arlin? Why couldn’t I feel her!?”

  Lord Breylan’s voice, filled with anger and surprise, pierced through the stone wall. A loud explosion shook the palace as the wall between Lord Breylan’s room and Arlin’s crumbled. Lord Breylan strode through the rubble over to me. I tried to dive out of the way as Lord Breylan’s arms wrapped around me and forced me onto the bed. I screamed and struggled and finally my hand gripped my goal; the leather bag with my sealskin ashes in it.

  “Arlin!” I screamed his name as Lord Breylan groped me with one hand and tried to untie his pants with the other.

  Hands gripped Lord Breylan’s shoulders and pulled him off of me. I scrambled across the bed, trying to get some distance between the fighting sorcerers and me as possible.

  “Salena!” shouted Arlin. I turned to him as he tossed his father into a wall, stunning him for only a moment. Arlin wrapped an arm around me and pressed his lips to mine. I felt his magick flow into me, filling me to the brim. As he pulled back I gasped for air, looking up at him in shock. I never expected him to share his magick with me.

  “Use it to get back home,” he whispered as he thrust another leather bag at me. It was the one with the Salver’s root in it.

  “Now run!” I heard Arlin’s words, but I couldn’t uproot myself. Magick started to flow from Arlin’s hands as Lord Breylan tried to get back on his feet. “Run Salena!”

  I ran from the palace as fast as my human feet would allow. I was on the ocean’s shore when a large fireball erupted from the palace, sending Verna up in an inferno of flames. I screamed wordlessly, pain searing me from the inside out, as I felt the connection between Lord Breylan and I break. I knew in that instant that neither Arlin nor Lord Breylan survived their battle of power. I sat in the sand, trying to deal with my pain and mourning Arlin’s death until dawn came.

  I opened the leather bag that contained my pelt’s ashes and dumped them into the ocean. Somehow I knew exactly what to do with Arlin’s gift of magick. I put my hand in the water and let the magick that Arlin had given me flow out, turning the ashes into skin and fur. I picked my sealskin out of the water and hugged it to me. I looked one last time at Verna, the city that was no more, and shifted back into a seal.

  * * *

  The search for my selkie harem didn’t take long, for they stuck close to the shores of Verna. Altan swam with them, no longer sick. He told me that during the night his fever broke and within hours he was better. I guess the rumor that a sorcerer’s curse dies with the sorcerer that created it was true. My harem wondered what had happened to Verna. I didn’t tell them about the sorcerer’s curse on Altan in order to trick a selkie onto the shore and into marriage. I told them that I got what we needed and left. We left the shores of Verna as fast as the ocean currents could take us. Just like the ocean is full of secrets, so are selkies. No one needed to know about the tragedy at Verna, just as no one needed to know of the sorcerer that had the magick to make me whole again.

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  About the author

  Heather Kuehl (pronounced "keel") was born near the Great Lakes, but made her way to South Carolina where she lives to this day. She's the author of The Sarah Vargas Series, Epiphany, Dream Lover, and Promises to Keep as well as numerous short stories and poems. For more information about Heather's published works, upcoming releases, and events visit her website.

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