Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
The question was … did she want to? Was it sustainable? Would it be a constant fight between the real parts of him and the persona he wore like a shield?
If he won his election, he would need to be that shell of a person every day of his life. What were the chances that he would be able to hang up that part of him when he walked in the door and give her the man that she genuinely enjoyed being around?
She wasn’t sure she liked the odds.
Iris cradled the shellphone in her hands in the courtyard behind the apartment building as she watched the bees flirt in and out of the flowers she would never see again if she said to hell with this engagement and went back to the sea.
Her heart felt torn in two as she lifted the shell to her ear, hearing the whooshing sound of the sea, and closing her eyes as her blood sang along with it.
“Shelly?” she called.
“I should have known it was her.” Juna’s voice met Iris’s ear.
“What was her?”
“Who stashed a shellphone in with the normal shells in our sitting room. She sent you one too, then?”
“Don’t turn her in to Mother. It’s been nice to be able to connect with you guys here and there.”
There was a slight pause before Juna spoke again. “Why haven’t you spoken to me?”
“Well, gee, because I hear you are out spending all your free time with a certain merman.”
“Oh. About that. I know you figured he might be your future betrothed, but—”
“I’m happy for you,” Iris cut her off. “Truly.” And maybe a little jealous at how easy the connection between her sister and her new partner seemed. “You deserve a little fun.”
“Are you having some fun?”
“Are you asking me that? You, Miss All-Duty-All-The-Time?”
“I’ve been finding more balance. I’ve been keeping an eye on you and Finn. It seems like things have been getting busy as you get closer to the … election.”
And the wedding.
“They have been. I think there’s some big event every week moving forward.”
“What else have you been doing? It seems like that pelican of yours has been a little too busy rubbing elbows to hang out with you as much.”
“Yeah, Monty has been busy. I’ve made some friends, though. A witch named Selene, who owns a bookstore.”
“That sounds like a tailor-made friend for you.”
“I know, right? And then there’s Arden, our wedding planner.”
“I adore Arden.”
“Wait, what? You know him?”
“He’s going to be planning my wedding as well.”
“Oh, wow.” So much was going on below the surface without her.
“How do you feel about surface life?”
“Conflicted,” Iris admitted.
Because, yes, there were many things she missed about the ocean, but she had fallen in love with just as many things about the surface.
It was to the point that she was considering even staying after the engagement broke off.
Without her mother’s good graces, she would need to find her own way. She could do like all the other surface-dwellers did: get a job, an apartment, build a life. One free of any sort of royal or political responsibilities.
“What is it, Iris?” Juna asked. Her voice was gentler than Iris had ever heard it.
“What do you mean?”
“You seem … unhappy.”
“I’m conflicted,” Iris repeated.
“About your engagement? Or your fiancé?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Has he not been good to you?”
“No. No, Finn has always been thoughtful and kind.”
“And yet?”
“There is a part of him that I have begun to really like. But the other part of him, not so much. And I’m beginning to worry that the other part of him is bigger than the part I have grown fond of.”
Juna gave that the usual amount of careful considering Iris knew her for, before speaking. “I know it’s hard to see while in the thick of something, but it really hasn’t been very long. If there are parts of him you’ve come to like, don’t you think that more time would make you like him even more?”
“I don’t have a lot of time. The wedding is being planned as we speak.”
In fact, Arden had been texting her pictures of various options for their reception dinner. She needed to pick one so the two of them could go and do a tasting menu in the next few days.
“I’m sure you can find time to carve out for just the two of you. I’m sure Finn is a busy man, but surely his campaign manager can give him an evening off here or there.”
“The power is in Finn’s hands. It’s his choice to go to all these events.”
“Perhaps. But have you expressed your desire to have more alone time with him?” Iris’s answer was her silence. “Maybe start there,” Juna suggested. “It might help you make up your mind once and for all.”
“You’re right,” Iris agreed. If she wanted to make an informed decision, she needed more than some fantastic sex and one interview where they vibed. “Thanks, Juna.”