My ’qa had fully taken her in—and we were mated. I was suffused with her, and she was closer to me than the water I breathed. I knew her name was Elle. She was thirty-five years old. I knew she was very smart, very sad, and I was to be with her for the rest of my life—while at the same time, I ached with the knowledge that that was literally impossible. She was of the air and I was of the sea.
