A Thousand Salt Kisses Forever (Third Book in Salt Kisses series)

Mother Of Seuds

We had swum to shore and walked up towards the lines of gems. They were further up the beach, away from where the tides could snatch them. I now wore my white crochet bikini, and I wrung out my long blonde hair as we went.

It was quiet, asides from the sea, gently lapping at the shore and there was an ambiance of tranquility.

Llyr took my hand as we walked, he had fallen silent and as I glanced at his handsome face. I could see that he was now deep in thought.

We passed big chunks green stone, which gleamed in the sunset. I squinted and could see that there were markings in the stones. It looked as though it were in the mer's native language, which I had come to privately call 'Mermese."

"These are Evergreen graves," Llyr murmured, as we passed the emeralds. I nodded. Evergreen was the beautiful earthy kingdom which neighboured Llyr's own kingdom The Jewel. Those from Evergreen considered nature itself their deity. They lived a peaceful and harmonious existence in their realm.

I continued to look over the graves. I was getting to know my gemstones well, thanks to Llyr, and I knew that the ancients believed all the green of nature was concentrated within the emerald's luscious tones. It was therefore perfectly fitting that this was their stone.

I bowed my head as we walked by the graves, and moved towards a purple gathering of crystal headstones.

"I wanted to show you off to my mother," he said, as we began to weave through them.

I smiled. He's so sweet.

Eventually, we stopped before a magnificent hexagonal stone. It was mainly colourless in the centre apart from gentle magenta flushes but then the perimeters burst into strong blocks of mauve.

"Is this it?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, looking sadly at the stone.

"What does it say?" I asked, looking at the jagged Celtic engravings.

"Oh, it is pretty simple," he said. "Mother of Seud."

Seud meant 'Jewel', and was Llyr and his family's tribal name. She must have meant a lot to the people to be named 'Mother', I thought. I had never heard Ri, her husband and The King, be referred to as 'Father'.

"This is my Crystal," he said to the stone.

"Hi..." I said, before trailing off. "What was her name?" I asked Llyr.

"Aine," he said.

"Hi Aine," I finished, squeezing Llyr's hand.

It was a bittersweet moment; moving but at the same time, an introduction beyond the grave was not really one to be desired.

I suddenly felt a light tingle in my hand. At first, I ignored it, thinking it was a twitch, a very gentle muscle spasm. However, it persisted for several moments, and so I glanced down.

I frowned, looking at the purple ring on my forefinger. Was it coming from here? It once belonged to Aine, and Ri had asked Llyr to give it to me to help me in some way when I was under the waters.

For a strange moment, I felt like she was communicating to me, as I felt a warm presence wash over me. I could feel something, or someone, filling my mind with their thoughts. She approves, I realised. She's very happy Llyr has found me, but there is something she's worried about.

I wanted to know more, I too had my anxieties, but as soon as the feeling came, it went again. I looked at Llyr. He was watching the grave, lost in thought. He had not picked up on any of this.

We stood there for a long time as the sun set behind us. I didn't know what to make of what had just happened. Maybe I imagined the whole thing. I did have a wild imagination and could have just gone and dramatized the whole moment in my head. I looked down at the ring again and frowned.

It was smooth and still around my finger, just like before.

"What's wrong?" asked Llyr, now looking at me.

"Oh, nothing," I said, looking away. I didn't want to trouble him on this important day, with something that I could not even be sure was real. I smiled and allowed him to lead me away from the cemetery and into a passageway through the amethyst cliffs.