‘So,’ I said. ‘I hope nothing is amiss?’
‘Very much so,’ said Tai. ‘It’s—’ She stopped, and thought, eyeing me with an expression I found unreadable. Wariness? Doubts? ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have come to you,’ she began again. ‘I wouldn’t have if it weren’t an emergency.’
‘You begin to worry me,’ I said.
She nodded, and went on. ‘I— don’t know any other selkies besides you, except just the one, and that’s the problem.’
I straightened, suddenly alert. ‘What?’
My reaction took Tai aback; she blinked. The wariness deepened. ‘If this is going to be a problem, I can just go—’
‘No,’ I interrupted. ‘It isn’t that.’
‘I know it’s a sore subject for you, and I don’t want to—’
‘Tai.’ The word emerged more harshly than I’d intended, and I regretted it at once when I saw her eyes widen. ‘Please,’
