Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 1

typically human, after all. But even as he thought it, he knew it wasn't true. Under the circumstances, Seree really could not blame him. Only miss him.
    Finally exiting the palace, Seree traveled around the city and then down to the miles upon miles of beach until he found the secluded little nook where he had first come from the water. He removed his knives, then stripped out of everything save his breeches, and retained those really on the unlikely chance someone came along. Modesty, he had found, was better to have when explaining one's strange behavior to humans.
    He pulled his sheath back into place, happier to have it against bare skin, the supple straps moving with him. Wading into the sea, he stopped when he was about hip deep. First, he drew his orange-bladed knife, pricked his thumb and let blood drip down to coat the blade. Then he drew it through the water, channeling his magic into a spell to calm the waters so that all was still around him.
    The spell took and poured through the blade, spilling orange spell-water into the sea, spreading out, and the water shimmered as it let itself be bound to stillness.
    Sheathing the orange knife, he drew the violet one and cut his palm. As his blood spilled and swirled in the water, he sliced the blade through it and said, "King of the Deep, a word if you please."
    His father's image appeared in the silt, a much older version of Seree: the blue-black hair was threaded heavily with white, the dark green eyes much deeper, much more lined with age. But he was still a long way from dying, still proudly and ably wore the crown of the ten seas. "That's not how that summoning goes."
    "I'm not saying 'I beg you hear my plea' to my father," Seree snapped. "If this is how you're going to act, then never mind. I don't need your help."
    "Oh, stop thrashing," Meris said with a laugh.
    Seree stepped back as his father accepted and finished the spell of calling, strongly reconsidering summoning his grandmother instead. Water splashed about, nearly knocking Seree over despite his precaution, and then the King of the Deep was before him. He looked concerned and amused, and Seree definitely should have gone with the grandmother who hated him. "Seree, the last time you came to me with a problem, you were still a boy and had to be dragged in by my guards and forced to hold still."
    "I still maintain I could have managed that giant squid on my own," Seree said tersely.
    Meris' slow grin spread across his face, and he reached out to pat Seree's cheek affectionately. "Nothing at all like your sisters, hmm? So whatever is the matter that you would actually call me all the way up here to discuss it? Has something gone awry with the curse you're breaking for Lana?"
    "I can't kill him," Seree said. Despite himself, he immediately felt better just being able to discuss it. "He's not the kind of human that deserves to die."
    "Oh, I see," Meris said. "Those are words I do not often hear from you— though I hear them from you more often than from your cousins."
    "I don't kill every human I come across, and I can't help that most of the ones I come across deserve to die."
    "So what makes this one special?"
    Ignoring the amused look on his father's face, Seree began to explain, ending with, "And he knows about us. His great grandmother was Beltana."
    Whatever Meris had been braced to say when Seree finished was immediately forgotten in his surprise. "Beltana? Are you certain?"
    "He told the story exactly, and he is not the kind to lie. He's the great grandson of Beltana."
    "But even before that, you did not want to kill him," Meris said pensively. "Your story got a bit murky there when you got to the night on the beach." His eyes glinted knowingly. "Clear that up a bit for me."
    "You are a sun-addled bastard," Seree said flatly. "This is precisely why nobody likes you."
    Meris snickered. "This is why my children all dislike me, which I am reasonably confident means I am doing my job as a father."
    "If you're just going to make fun of me, then I'll find someone else to talk to," Seree said, losing all patience and feeling slightly hurt. He was going to die and his father was making fun of him. Typical. His entire family had gone sun-mad. Or maybe they were drinking squid-ink wine again.
    He started to turn away, but Meris' large, firm hand wrapped around his forearm and stayed him. "Calm your waters, son. I do not want you to die, and I would never tease you so if I truly thought you were in such