Calm by Viola Grace Read Free Book Online Page B

does a woman in my position usually ask for?”
    “Jewels, property, an account to buy jewels and property with.” He shrugged. “When my mother agreed to take my father, she almost confiscated the entire Kao family fortune.”
    She laughed. “Mir does seem rather strong willed.”
    He rubbed his forehead. “You have no idea.”
    She pondered what she wanted from the rest of her life. “I want a place that is mine. That no one can take from me. Clothing that will help me blend in as well as I can and lessons in swimming so that I don’t need you to haul me around under water.”
    He blinked. “That’s it?”
    “Well, I would have to know that Niika is all right with it. She just got a father. To have another stranger in her life so soon might be awkward for her.”
    “Why don’t we ask her when we go to pick her up?”
    Meri blinked. “Just like that?”
    “You are over complicating things, Meri. The Lahash are far more practical than you give us credit for.”
    “Even the children?”
    “Especially the children. My birth mother was a charming woman who enjoyed my father’s attentions until I was five, and at that point, he and I went to the water and she married a Sivith who moved her as far inland as he could. I never saw her again, but a few months later my father met Mir and she became my mother in all ways. There has never been a moment that I doubted her love for me. I could feel it every time she helped me with homework or ruffled my hair.”
    Meri smiled and blinked away the tears that welled up. His affection for Mir was obvious and heartfelt.
    “You didn’t mind the change?”
    “No, Mir is Lahash, and she understood the calling of the water, something that my birth mother never understood. It means a lot to be accepted for what you are. Niika will know what it means to have that in her life if you join us and complete our family.”
    “That is hitting below the belt.”
    He raised his eyebrows. “An interesting phrase, if an appalling visual.”
    “It refers to fighting with an illegal move.”
    “I thought it might. Well, we pick Niika up in an hour. You have that time to decide.”
    Meri exhaled and cleared the dishes, putting them in the cleansing unit and setting it to scrub them. She then puttered around and made tea. “How is it that everywhere I go on Reepha, I find my tea blend?”
    He leaned against the counter and smiled. “I made notes and had supplies laid in.”
    She chuckled. “Over-confident much?”
    “Call me hopeful.” He moved and pinned her against the counter. “Can I do anything to convince you?”
    “Give me time and a cup of tea. I have an hour before I go swimming again.” She snickered at the reference but let her mind wander when he feathered kisses across her forehead and down her cheek to her mouth.
    She tilted her mouth to his and went up on her toes to increase the pressure between them while her body fought to keep its balance without leaning on him.
    He broke the kiss and smiled, “How about now?”
    She laughed and placed a hand in the centre of his chest, guiding him backward so she could make the tea. It was going to be the longest hour of her life.

Chapter Nine
    Walking back to the wet entrance, she tried not to let her shaking fingers give her away. It was no use, the moment they were three feet away from the water, Vehn grabbed her, pressed his mouth to hers and dove for the water.
    His mouth didn’t give her the option to breathe, her gills opened immediately, and she relaxed against him. It’s still sneaky.
    And yet it works. I hope it works for decades to come. He released her mouth and grinned before setting off to the school.
    Meri tried to emulate the swimming style of the Lahash, but she was slow and sluggish compared to Vehn.
    He turned, noticed that she was slow and came back. He wrapped an arm around her waist and swam to the school. This time, he hauled her with him into the wet entrance, and she lifted her head above the surface