“They‟re all children of the sea,” Regina continued. “Selkie and finfolk both. But the selkie only take one form in the
ocean. The finfolk can change into anything. Have some more wine.”
“I rule!” piped Emily‟s excited treble from the open door of Nick‟s room.
“Shit. No way,” Nick said.
Regina winced.
“It‟s all right,” Liz said. “She has an older brother.”
“That explains why she‟s winning.” Regina refilled Liz‟s glass. “Anyway, the third kid, Lucy, Caleb and Dylan‟s sister,
was supposed to be human. Nice girl. Island school-teacher. Taught Nick. Anyway, turns out she‟s selkie, too, a big deal
magic worker. She ends up as consort to Conn ap Llyr, who‟s kind of like their king. Are you following this?”
“Caleb, Dylan, Lucy. One human, two . . .” Not. She gulped her wine. “Did you know your husband was . . .”
“Selkie,” Regina supplied.
“When you married him?”
“When I married him, sure. Not when I got pregnant.”
“You, too?” Liz blurted.
“Is that what happened with you and Morgan?”
Liz nodded.
“Must be something in the water,” Regina muttered.
“Excuse me?”
“Joke,” she explained. “So now he‟s found you again.”
Liz stared broodingly into her wineglass. She was very, very grateful to Regina for finding her and bringing her home. “He
said it was destiny. That fate brought us together twice.”
Regina snorted. “Whatever. I heard he was here to haul Conn‟s ass back to Sanctuary.”
Liz blinked. “Conn?”
“The sea lord.”
“Right.” A headache threatened behind her eyeballs, compounded by stress and Montepulciano. “Why are you telling me
all this?”
“Who else am I going to talk to? Who else would understand? We are a small and extremely exclusive club.”
Liz smiled wryly. The wine helped. Talking helped even more. “Women who have sex with merfolk.”
“Oh, there are lots of those around. No, we belong to the much more exclusive club of women who got knocked up by their
merfolk lovers.”
Her smile died. “But if they have sex with so many women . . .”
“Low birth rate,” Regina explained. “Sort of the downside of immortality. Their population is declining. That‟s why
children are so important to them.”
“ My son, ” Morgan had insisted. “ My seed. ”
Pain sliced her heart, pounded in her head. She willed her hands to steady on her wineglass. “How many are there?”
“A few thousand, maybe. But no kids. Not for years. And three of their youngest were lost less than a year ago.”
“I meant how many on the island.”
“Well, we get visitors. Not just summer people, you understand. We‟re right between the Arctic current and the Gulf
Stream, which is convenient for merfolk making the north crossing. But living here? Dylan. Lucy, until last fall. Oh, and
Margred.”
Liz thought of that awkward moment of recognition in her waiting room between Morgan and beautiful, exotic, pregnant
Margred Hunter, their two faces so different and yet somehow alike. “She‟s one of them.”
“Yes and no. Margred chose to live as a human with Caleb,” Regina continued. “She‟ll grow old and die just like the rest of
us. But she has her own magic. And I don‟t just mean the way every man on the island falls over himself when she walks into
a room either.”
“She chose to live as human.” Liz grabbed the phrase like a life raft.
“That‟s right.”
“What about your husband?”
“Well, sure.” Regina considered her a moment and then said, “Look, I don‟t know what Morgan told you about your son,