Sea Lord Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Epigraph

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Teaser chapter

  “Brilliantly sensual and hauntingly poignant, the Children of the Sea novels are on my keeper shelf.”

  —USA Today bestselling author Alyssa Day

  “Virginia Kantra’s stories . . . can make a believer out of the most hardened soul.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Patricia Rice

  PRAISE FOR Sea Fever

  “An especially fine paranormal with strong characters, logical plotting, and a great sense of place. Don’t go to the shore without this bit of selkie romance.”

  —Romantic Times (4½ stars)

  “An exciting and spellbinding addition to this phenomenal paranormal series.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “There’s no second-novel slump for this trilogy . . . Moving, heart-breaking, and beautiful.”

  —Errant Dreams Reviews (5 out of 5)

  “Kantra has to be the only romance author I’ve read whose characters are as rich as those of Nora Roberts . . . A must-read for paranormal fans.”

  —The Romance Reader (5 hearts)

  Sea Witch

  “An emotional journey of discovery and an intriguing launch into a compelling new series.”

  —Romantic Times (4 stars)

  “A paranormal world that moves with the rhythm of the waves and the tide . . . Kantra tells Margred and Caleb’s story with a lyric, haunting, poetic voice.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann

  “Full of excitement, humor, suspense, and loads of hot, hot sex. Anyone who enjoys a good paranormal should not miss this one!”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “[Marked by] the subtlety of the writing. The characterizations, the backstories, the world-building are deftly inter-wined with the story.”

  —Dear Author (July Recommended Read)

  “An absolutely fantastic paranormal/fantasy read . . . Gorgeous, complex, and fascinating.”

  —Errant Dreams (5 out of 5)

  “What a refreshing and unique world Virginia Kantra has created for Children of the Sea! Full of sensual magic, intrigue, and compelling characters, Sea Witch is a book to be savored.”

  —CK 2S Kwips & Kritiques (4½ clovers)

  “A bestseller arises from the depths of the sea and floats to the top of the romance/paranormal list! Sea Witch is enthralling!”

  —A Romance Review (5 roses out of 5)

  Home Before Midnight

  “Sexy and suspenseful . . . A really good read.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards

  “Virginia Kantra is a sensitive writer with a warm sense of humor, a fine sense of sexual tension, and an unerring sense of place.”

  —BookPage

  Close Up

  “Holy moly, action/adventure/romance fans! You are going to love this book! I highly, highly recommend it.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann

  “A story fraught with intense emotions and danger . . . Kantra clearly demonstrates that she’s a talent to be reckoned with.”

  —Romantic Times

  “Kantra’s first foray into single-title fiction is fast-paced, engrossing, and full of nail-biting suspense.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries

  “Honest, intelligent romance.”

  —Romance: B(u)y the Book

  MORE PRAISE FOR VIRGINIA KANTRA AND HER BEST SELLING NOVELS

  “Smart, sexy, and sophisticated—another winner.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster

  “An involving, three-dimensional story that is scary, intriguing, and sexy.”

  —All About Romance

  “Kantra creates powerfully memorable characters.”

  —Midwest Book Review

  “Virginia Kantra is an autobuy . . . Her books are keepers and her heroes are to die for!”

  —New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann

  “Spectacularly suspenseful and sexy. Don’t miss it!”

  —Romantic Times

  Berkley Sensation Titles by Virginia Kantra

  The Children of the Sea Novels

  SEA WITCH

  SEA FEVER

  SEA LORD

  HOME BEFORE MIDNIGHT

  CLOSE UP

  Anthologies

  SHIFTER

  (with Angela Knight, Lora Leigh, and Alyssa Day)

  OVER THE MOON

  (with Angela Knight, MaryJanice Davidson, and Sunny)

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada

  (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)

  Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand

  (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196,

  South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  SEA LORD

  A Berkley Sensation Book / published by arrangement with the author

  PRINTING HISTORY

  Berkley Sensation mass-market edition / May 2009

  Copyright © 2009 by Virginia Kantra.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form

  without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in

  violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-04747-7

  BERKLEY® SENSATION

  Berkley Sensation Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  BERKLEY® SENSATION and the “B” design are tr
ademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  To Michael .

  I couldn’t do this without you .

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  First of all, thank you to Cindy Hwang and the wonderful team at Berkley.

  Thanks to my fabulously supportive agent, Damaris Rowland.

  Thank you to my wonderful first-draft readers, Kristen Dill and Melissa McClone.

  Huge thanks to my family, who deal patiently with blank stares, interrupted phone calls, humming, and dead-lines.

  And finally, thanks to twelve-year-old African AIDS victim and activist Nkosi Johnson for these words: “Do all you can with what you have, in the time you have, in the place you are.”

  So, in one moment,

  Or almost one, she was seen, and loved, and taken

  In Pluto’s rush of love. She called her mother,

  Her comrades, but more often for her mother.

  —OVID, METAMORPHOSES

  I tell you naught for your comfort,

  Yea, naught for your desire,

  Save that the sky grows darker yet

  And the sea rises higher.

  —G. K. CHESTERTON, “THE BALLAD OF THE WHITE HORSE”

  IN THE TIME BEFORE TIME, WHEN THE DOMAINS of earth, sea, and sky were formed and fire was called into being, the elementals took shape, each with their element: the children of earth, the children of the sea, the children of air, and the children of fire.

  After earth had flowered and life crawled from the sea, humankind was born.

  Not all of the elementals were pleased with this new creation. The children of fire rebelled, declaring war on the children of the air and humankind. The others, forced to cohabit with the mortals, withdrew—the fair folk to the hills and wild places of earth and the merfolk to the depths of the sea.

  Yet there are still encounters between the elementals and humankind. Of such meetings, souls are redeemed and lost, wars are waged, great art is created, empires are raised. Of such meetings legends—and children—are born.

  The whaleyn sing of a prophecy, that a daughter of the sea witch Atargatis will one day alter the balance of power between the elements. Over the centuries, the children of fire have grown strong, while the children of the sea have declined in numbers and in magic. The daughter of the prophecy could prove their salvation. Or the weapon of their destruction . . .

  Prologue

  CONN AP LLYR WALKED THE BROKEN SHORE OF the crescent island, just out of reach of the seductive curl of the water, ignoring the siren call of the waves and the lap of the surge like the tempo of his blood. He needed the sea like he needed a woman.

  But he could control his needs. He must. Let his father, Llyr, wallow in the ocean’s seductive embrace. Conn had held himself above such things for a very long time.

  Yet sometimes in the evening, he left his tower to walk with his hound among the rocks and tide pools at the water’s edge.

  The sun slipped in the bronze sky, staining the pewter water to gold and veining the clouds with fire. Conn lifted his face to the raw western wind. He could have sought or summoned a partner. There were females on Sanctuary eager to satisfy the moods and needs of its prince.

  But that was indulgence, too, another slide into sensation, another plunge into loss of control. Unlike his father the king, Conn could not afford to expend himself and his energy on passing pleasure.

  The dog ranged up and down, head low. The water shrugged. A line of foam rustled to shore, whispering for Conn’s attention. In the time before Conn’s father’s time, when the flood of magic ran full and hot, the sea kings had grasped and wielded power like a sword. But the gifts of the merfolk had declined with their numbers. Conn’s own magic was a subtler thing, pale and shapeless as water, that trickled through his clenched hands.

  Which was why the vision burning in the tide pool at his feet almost tripped him up.

  Light struck the surface of the water and blazed. The pool caught the colors of the sky, orange and gold. Power shimmered in the air. The hound whined.

  Conn narrowed his gaze as the glare resolved itself into a female shape. A girl, with long bones and strong shoulders and hair as thick and pale as straw around a lean and quiet face.

  Well.

  Conn frowned. Not selkie. He would have known one of his own. There were only a few thousand of his people left, enough to recognize, barely enough to rule.

  Not even particularly beautiful.

  Human, he thought. And therefore unimportant.

  But then why had his gift shown her to him?

  Her image shimmered, trapped in the safe, shallow little pool like a fish caught by the retreating tide, oblivious to the rich dark depths of the ocean teeming yards away.

  She meant nothing, Conn told himself.

  She was nothing.

  But her vision refused to go away.

  1

  CONN AP LLYR HAD NOT HAD SEX WITH A MORTAL woman in three hundred years.

  And the girl grubbing in the dirt, surrounded by pumpkins and broken stalks of corn, was hardly a reward for his years of discipline and sacrifice.

  Even kneeling, she was as tall as many men, long boned and rangy. Although maybe that was an illusion created by her clothes, jeans and a lumpy gray jacket. Conn thought there might be curves under the jacket. Big breasts, little breasts . . . He hardly cared. She was the one. Her hair fell thick and pale around her downturned face. Her long, pale fingers patted and pressed the earth. She had a streak of dirt beside her thumb.

  Not a beauty, he thought again.

  He knew her name now. Lucy Hunter. He had known her mother, the sea witch, Atargatis. This human girl had clearly inherited none of her mother’s allure or her gifts. Living proof—if Conn had required any—that the children of the sea should not breed with humankind.

  But a starving dog could not sneer at a bone.

  His hands curled into fists at his sides. In recent weeks, the girl’s vision had haunted him from half a world away, reflected in the water, impressed upon his brain, burning like a candle against his retinas at night.

  He might not want her, but his magic insisted he needed her. His gift was as fickle as a beautiful woman. And like a woman, his power would abandon him entirely if he ignored its favors. He could not risk that.

  He watched the girl drag her hand along the swollen side of a pumpkin. Brushing off dirt? Testing it for ripeness? He had only the vaguest idea what she might be doing here among the tiny plots of staked vines and fading flowers. The children of the sea did not work the earth for their sustenance.

  Frustration welled in him.

  What has she to do with me? he demanded silently. What am I to do with her?

  The magic did not reply.

  Which led him, again, to the obvious answer. But he had ruled too long to trust the obvious.

  He did not expect resistance. He could make her willing, make her want him. It was, he thought bitterly, the remaining power of his kind, when other gifts had been abandoned or forgotten.

  No, she would not resist. She had family, however, who might interfere. Brothers. Conn had no doubt the human, Caleb, would do what he could to shield his sister from either sex or magic.

  Dylan, on the other hand, was selkie, like their mother. He had lived among the children of the sea since he was thirteen years old. Conn had always counted on Dylan’s loyalty. He did not think Dylan would have much interest in or control over his sister’s life. But Dylan was involved with a human woman now. Who knew where his loyalties lay?

  Conn frowned. He could not afford a misstep. The survival of his kind depended on him.

  And if, as his visions insisted, their fate involved this human girl as well . . .

  He regarded her head, bent like one of her heavy gold sunflowers over the dirt of the garden, and felt a twinge of pity. Of regret.

  That was unfortunate for both of them.

  Lucy patted the pumpkin affectionately like a dog. Her second g
raders’ garden plots would be ready for harvest soon. Plants and students were rewarding like that. Put in a little time, a little effort, and you could actually see results.

  Too bad the rest of her life didn’t work that way.

  Not that she was complaining, she told herself firmly. She had a job she enjoyed and people who needed her. If at times she felt so frustrated and restless she could scream, well, that was her own fault for moving back home after college. Back to the cold, cramped house she grew up in, to the empty rooms haunted by her father’s shell and her mother’s ghost. Back to the island, where everyone assumed they knew everything about her.

  Back to the sea she dreaded and could not live without.

  She wiped her hands on her jeans. She had tried to leave once, when she was fourteen and finally figured out her adored brother Cal wasn’t ever coming back to rescue her. She’d run away as fast and as far as she could go.

  Which, it turned out, wasn’t very far at all.

  Lucy looked over the dried stalks and hillocks of the garden, remembering. She had hitchhiked to Richmond, twenty miles from the coast, before collapsing on the stinking tile floor of a gas station restroom. Her stomach lurched at the memory. Caleb had found her, shivering and puking her guts into the toilet, and brought her back to the echoing house and the sound of the sea whispering under her window.