Page 21 of The Naiad's Lover

It worked.

Ral, utterly mesmerised, had walked into the lake fully clothed to get to him. Mikko had been as bad.

The happily married Henrik, however, had admired Sayan’s beauty but was otherwise unaffected. Knowing Henrik as I did now, I could only imagine that he’d teased his nephews quite horribly over how they’d lost their heads.

I made the tea and pulled out the chair across from Ral. “I appreciate you giving up your free time to teach me,” I said, passing him one of the sturdy earthenware mugs I favoured. It was a far cry from the delicate tea service of finest porcelain that had graced the breakfast table in my mansion in Hallevalt, and much more to my personal taste.

“Happy to help. I amverymuch capable of fulfilling your needs, and am at your disposal for as long as it takes,” he said. “Whenever I’m not working, consider me all yours.”

I held his gaze.

He grinned at me, flashing a small dimple, before taking an innocent sip of his tea.

He didn’t break eye contact.

“Hopefully this won’t take too long,” I said. “With any luck, I’ll only inconvenience you for an hour or two today.”

“Uh…it might take a bit longer than that,” he said carefully.

“Really?”

“Or a lot. Henrik said you’ve never swum before?”

“That’s right.”

“And you’re old, of course, which means it will take longer. Oh! No, no. Not too old. Certainly not. You’re mature, not old. No one would call you old. You’re a perfect example of a very fine, mature man.” He grimaced. “Sorry. Anyway. Where was I?”

“I’m not sure.”

He puffed out a short, laughing breath. “Me neither.”

“Something about me being old?”

“Mature,” he corrected at once. “What I was trying to say is that something like learning how to swim is much easier when you’re young. Young people tend to be more fearless, mostly because they’re less aware of consequences. Such as drowning. But don’t worry. I won’t let you drown.”

“That’s comforting to hear.”

“We’ll have you swimming by the end of summer, no problem,” he said.

The end of summer?

It was late spring.

“You think it will take that long?” I couldn’t keep the dismay out of my voice.

“I’ll have you splashing about in a couple of lessons, but to get you to a point where you can swim any distance with confidence, unsupervised? Yes, end of summer.”

“I honestly had no idea it was such an undertaking. I’d never have asked if I’d known I’d be taking up so much of your time. Perhaps I should find a professional instructor?”

I wondered if there was such a thing as a professional swimming instructor.

If there was, I doubted that I’d find one here in this lakeside town, where the water seemed to be a part of life for everyone other than me.

Ral waved this off. “As I said, I’m happy to help. What else would I be doing in my time off work? I have a small garden but a man can only weed for so long, and almost everyone else my age is either courting or already married and setting up house.”

I remembered what Henrik had said—Ral was young, hearty, and restless.

Still, there must be fewer opportunities for entertainment in Laskeld than I’d imagined, if walking two hours on his days off to swim in a freezing lake with a ‘mature’ man was the best of the leisure activities available to him.

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