Marina

Part Ten

This chapter is rated R-16 (Heat Level 2) for a sensual, open-door love scene.

A starry twilight sky and rolling waves capped with foam greeted Caspian as he made his way back to the bluff. The thin layer of snow covering the dirt road squelched under his shoes. He was glad to finally be going home so he could get out of the cold.

He stomped his shoes on the cottage's stone steps, then he opened the door and deposited his empty baskets beside it.

Hurried footsteps rushed from the next room over. A heart-shaped face with the most beautiful smile Caspian had ever seen peeked through the doorway. "Welcome back!"

"There you are." Caspian walked over to his wife and embraced her. "It feels good to be home."

Marina wrapped her arms around him, then drew back to point to their parlor alcove with her thumb. "I drew the bath for you. I figured you'd be tired after a day of hard work."

A warm bath sounded heavenly on a chilly day like this. He needed it after going back and forth from the cottage to sell first the dried fish, then the winnowing baskets and wreaths Marina had made. Luckily, a traveling merchant had taken one look at the baskets and offered to sell them through the caravans.

The great thing about Marina's having been a mermaid with long hair was that she'd honed the skill of braiding and weaving other materials.

Marina's new idea wasn't as lucrative as her previous one, but he preferred it more than the other. She didn't need to use her essence to gather pine needles. There were so many of those things littering the nearby bluffs that Marina would have to stay overnight if she wanted to gather them all.

Thankfully, his wife had no plans to work for that long. She would always be around when he came home, often working on the last weaves of a basket or preparing for their dinner. And sometimes, like tonight, she'd be laying out towels for a bath.

"Join me?" Caspian asked as he shed his coat and threw it over the nearest couch.

Marina beamed as she unlaced the knot securing her skirt and kicked her shoes from under her feet. "Can you wash my hair?"

It wasn't long before they were soaking themselves in the tub, surrounded by tendrils of steam from the warm water. Marina sat on his lap, sighing blissfully as he combed his fingers through her soapy hair. She leaned into his touch, and he rinsed her off before putting his arms around her.

"How did your day go?"

His wife looked over her shoulder and smiled. That alone told Caspian that her day had gone well, which pleased him. "It didn't snow, so the laundry dried quickly. And the winds weren't as brisk as usual, so I managed to gather plenty of pine cones and needles from the next bluff. I boiled the needles the way those instructions in your sister's book said to."

"Excellent." He helped rinse the rest of her as she turned around. "Please make sure to keep your word and stay far away from the edge. I don't want you diving into the water."

"You do remember that I used to live in the sea, right?" she said as she returned the favor. "I may no longer be a mermaid, but that doesn't mean I can't swim anymore."

Caspian raised one brow. Marina had told him about her past in the days following her recovery. She'd been wary of revealing too much at first, but he'd assured her that nothing was going to change between them no matter what.

In his younger years, he might have shunned her because of her origins. But he was a grown man now, with enough sense to understand that Marina was the best thing that had ever happened to him. Caspian couldn't imagine himself or anyone else turning her away.