Dragoncrest Cliffs dlo cho

"pepper." sirensbody shifted in the ice-gray lapping, and she pushed aside shards of frozen white to better see his face. "i be very cold. but each time i go out like dis, i bear it better."
a twirl in the waves. she went beneath and bobbed up closer to the sandstone. "you should have seen my maman. i do not believe she ever went a day wit'out being in de water. rain, storm, ice, lightnin'. whole, injured, pregnant." her face was streaming, the emerald eyes earnest. "i cannot do less den she."
oh, val. he would not be father to these she carried. he would not even be there to see them grow. a great horrible ache crawled inside her marrow and waited.