Rainlashed Read Online Free Page A

certainly failed to keep herself out of danger. The realization that she had done the unthinkable hit her anew, making her shudder uncontrollably. Her skin was in the hands of a human. She was in his power now. How often had she been warned that no human ever gave a selkie back her skin by choice. She was under his control until she wrested her skin off him by force or stole it from him by guile.
    She eyed him up warily as he stood in front of her on the rocks. Physically he was more than a match for her. There was little point trying to attack him and take the skin from him by force—he was too strong for her and would easily subdue her. Besides, another tussle over her skin might damage it, and then she would be maimed for life, unable to hunt for her own food and dependent on the good will and generosity of her fellow seals to survive. In times of plenty that would not matter so much, but in times of bad weather and few fish… She shuddered. A maimed seal could be a grievous burden to its folk. That risk was too great for her to take.
    No, it would be far better to take it from him again by stealth. He could not carry it with him always or watch over it without ceasing. Sooner or later he would slip and reveal its hiding place and then she would steal it from him and be free once more.
    One day, be it ten days or ten years from now, she would swim in the ocean again in the body of a seal. One day she would again surf the rolling swell far out in the middle of the ocean, and glide through the clear blue waters of a quiet bay. She would know once again the thrill of the hunt as she chased darting schools of fish and the warmth of the sun on her brown fur as she basked on the rocks on a hot summer’s day.
    She looked at her seal skin with longing and with determination. One day it would be hers again. There was no need for despair.
    Just as she was steeling herself to fight and to survive in the grim days ahead, the man spoke to her. “I will give it back to you.”
    His promise startled her back into the present. “What did you say?” she burst out, not believing the words she had just heard. Every selkie knew that a human never gave back a seal skin. Not willingly.
    “I will give you back your seal skin.” His words echoed her desires so closely it was as if he could read her thoughts.
    “You will?” She could not believe him. He was tricking her, trying to make her trust him so he could meanly take advantage of her trust.
    “I will.” His voice was rich and warm and he sounded so sincere, as if he really meant what he said. She must not forget that he was a human, however, and not to be trusted. Pure-blooded humans were tricky beasts at best, without the kindness or generosity of their selkie cousins.
    Still she held out her hands to him, the desire to touch her skin strong in her. “Give it to me now, then.”
    He smiled at her, the skin firmly grasped in his arms. “Not now. I’ll give it to you later.”
    A little bit of her life departed at his words. She was still his captive. “When?”
    “When you have pleased me enough.”
    His words were so suspiciously simple they were bound to be full of guile. She could not trust his promise—she needed an oath. Humans, she had been told, took oath-breaking almost as seriously as did the finfolk. “Swear it to me. Swear to me that when I have pleased you enough you will give me back my skin.”
    He hesitated for a moment before speaking. “I swear it,” he said, his hand laid over his heart. “On my mother’s grave I swear that when you have pleased me enough I will give you back your skin and let you go free, so help me God.”
    All he wanted was for her to please him and then he would let her go free? The crushing burden of fear lifted from her shoulders. She would please him in a thousand ways and more if that would persuade him to let her go. “How do you want me to please you?”
    His smile grew wider. “You please me just by being the way you are.