Iris
She’d gotten a little turned around in the crowd.
It seemed like everyone wanted a minute or two with her after the official questioning was over.
One or two of them genuinely wanted to discuss things like the ocean and pollution.
As a whole, though, she mostly felt like they just wanted proximity to her.
Was it because she was royalty?
Or simply because she was a mermaid?
She had no idea.
But after the fifteenth face got in hers, she was finding it hard to maintain that fake smile.
Suddenly, she had a lot of respect for Finn for being able to fake it so well. Even if she deeply disliked it about him at the same time.
It took a lot of self-control not to roll her eyes or sigh at some of the things people said, the wild accusationsthey threw, the borderline conspiracy theory ideas they’d cooked up in their heads.
Finn faked peace and understanding perfectly.
She, as much as she hated to admit it, was going to need more practice.
When she’d finally untangled herself from that werewolf she’d been momentarily fascinated by when she’d first seen him, but quickly found him a little pushy and inappropriate one-on-one, she’d gone in search of Finn.
She was ready to go home, get comfy, and get to sleep early for once.
She’d just been moving toward the staging area when Henry’s voice carried out to her.
“This town hall was not about her,” he said. Her stomach clenched at his words. Because she thought she’d done well. It wasn’t like she wanted to be there. She’d been forced. And she’d done her part. “None of this is about her.”
Iris froze.
Say something,she implored.Defend me.
But all she heard following Henry’s words was silence.
With a strange catch in her throat, she turned and ran back through the front of the building, then out onto the street.
She walked aimlessly for a few moments but felt a tug in her heart, a sensation that pulled her in, crashed, released, then pulled again.
The tide calling her home.
She nearly ran back to the penthouse, stripping out of her clothes, then throwing on a simple, lightweight cotton dress.
She only paused after changing when her ring caught her eye.
A cry caught in her throat at seeing it there—an anchor tying her to a man who couldn’t be bothered to defend her.
She ripped the ring off her finger, unable to see it sitting there for another second. No matter how much she loved the thing.
She placed it back in its box and set it in the bathroom, where she knew Finn would find it eventually.
And understand the message.
She was done.