Page 1 of Jewel of the Sea

Chapter 1

361 Years After Landing

Aymee smiled as she walked along the beach. The sunlight warmed her skin, sand squished between her toes, and she knewhewas watching.

Arkon.

Her mysterious, otherworldly admirer was out there, hidden in the undulating cerulean water.

She shifted the weight of the metal canister to her left arm and picked her way through a patch of rocky ground to the lower beach. It was a familiar place, little changed by the passage of time. The place she and Macy, her best friend since childhood, had called their own — before a tragic accident had taken the life of Macy’s sister.

After that, Macy refused to go near the water. Aymee had little reason to go to the sea without her friend.

Now, the ocean sang to her, and she counted the days between these exchanges. It was worth the wait just to get little glimpses of him.

She’d met Arkon only once, three months earlier. Their encounter had been hurried, and Arkon remained hidden throughout — except for the fleeting moment during which he’d shown her his face. She’d painted his violet eyes, with their alien pupils, many times since, had seen them in her dreams, but it wasn’t enough. She longed forhim, not his memory.

The wind flipped her hair into her face. She tucked it back and glanced up at the rock formation ahead. As a child, it had reminded Aymee of a krull, an animal native to the nearby jungle. They were tall, powerful beasts with long necks, slender horns, and purple fur. Stone stretched from the seaside cliffs here and dipped into the water, resembling a krull with its head lowered to drink.

Few townsfolk came to this beach, and fewer still to this part of it. That made it an ideal location for these supply exchanges.

A metallic glint caught Aymee’s eye as she approached the cliffs. A second container sat nestled amidst the rocks. With anticipation thrumming through her limbs, she quickened her steps.

Settling onto her knees, she stood her canister in the sand beside her, and lifted Arkon’s container from the recess in the cliffside. Something rattled inside.

Warmth blossomed across her chest.

She tucked her canister in the empty space, gathered the container Arkon had left, and stood.

The loose material of her blouse and skirt fluttered around her as she dragged her gaze over the restless, sparkling waves. He was out there, waiting, but she’d never spot him unless he wanted to be seen.

Why didn’t he approach her? Why did he hide from her?

Releasing a wistful sigh, she went inland, giving the ocean — and Arkon — her back. She paused near a rock and slipped her sandals on before resuming her walk. Soon, soft sand gave way to dirt and vegetation. The briny scent of the sea mingled with the smell of plants and earth.

She followed the footpath leading back to town for fifteen or twenty meters before stepping off. Weaving through tall, vibrant indigo capeweed flowers, large, green-and-violet-leafed bushes, and tangled vines of crimson creeper, she placed her container down and knelt near the edge of the cliff.

Her heart raced as she reached forward and parted the vegetation in front of her.

The beach stretched out in either direction below her; to the right, it snaked along the coastline, narrowing into a pale ribbon with distance. To her left, it widened until it hit the bulge in the cliffs that ended in the krull-rock, where the strand passed beneath the hollow in the formation.

While the beach was finite, the ocean stretched into infinity, incomprehensibly large. The water darkened to navy blue and then to midnight as it neared the horizon. The evening sun would be swallowed by the sea within a few hours. Its soft orange glow met the blue of the sky in the beginning of a nightly struggle against encroaching darkness.

It was beautiful, and that beauty would only intensify as sunset neared. But it couldn’t hold her attention now.

“I know you’re there, Arkon,” Aymee mumbled, sweeping her eyes over the rolling surf. Beads of sweat trickled between her breasts and down her back, the humid air made more suffocating by the vegetation around her.

Finally, her waiting paid off.

The incoming waves broke around a vague shape. A moment later, the form gained definition — Arkon’s leanly-muscled arms and broad shoulders emerged, followed by his tapering torso, and finally…his tentacles.

“There you are,” she whispered.

He grew more distinct as the water retreated and he moved inland. His skin changed to match the sand, but his camouflage was imperfect in open air and direct sunlight. She wished he’d revert to his natural color — the loveliest blue-gray she’d ever seen — but understood why he didn’t.

There was no telling how the people of The Watch would react if they knew a kraken came ashore so close to their town once a week. The townsfolk gossiped incessantly about the night Jax — one of Arkon’s kind — had broken free of a holding tank in the warehouse and escaped into the darkness of the sea with Macy. That only a handful of people truly knew what’d happened didn’t stop anyone from talking.

Most were unable or unwilling to understand that Macy hadchosento go with Jax. All they’d seen was a monster. If only they knew of the intelligence, beauty, and prowess Aymee had witnessed. Would it have changed their minds, or instilled more fear in them?

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