Page 372 of Kingdoms of Night

Then, I cast the images of the spell I’d executed during her feverish slumber to her consciousness.

She gasped, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head until al I could see were the whites of her eyes.

She sobbed, watching the magic return to a balanced state in the sea-folk realm. When I removed my hand, she looked at me through a veil of tears.

Now, she took my hand and kissed it. “Thank you,” she whimpered. “Thank you, Elian.”

I couldn’t help the smile that came to my face.

Had I been tamed by a mermaid? The infamous Captain Elian Westin?

As she looked at me with those big doe eyes, I couldn’t deny it.

She’d done more than that.

She proved to me that I could indeed love again.