“Yeah, nothing beats the food. I always eat like a million street hot dogs when I go up.”
“Hot pretzels are my downfall.”
“Solid choice too. Anything else?”
“I’ve made a couple of friends. Selene, she’s this hilarious, jaded, sarcastic witch. And Arden—”
“The demon wedding planner?” Shelly asked.
“You know him?”
“I met him once a while back. He’s a trip.”
“He is. He’s planning a ‘summer season’ wedding for me. And then there’s a dryad in the building named Willow.”
“I’m happy for you. You never did have a lot of friends down here. Juna and I always worried about you.”
“Juna never had any friends either.”
“That’s not true. She’s always been close with the other children of the council members.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Because you were always doing your best to escape.”
“Escape?”
“Into your books. With Monty. On long swims by yourself.”
Shelly was silent for a few beats, seeming to sense that Iris needed a moment to absorb what she’d just said.
She’d never seen her life that way. Like she’d been trying to get away from it or avoid it. But maybe that was because she’d been in the thick of it.
Perspective was easier to gain from a distance.
And now that Shelly mentioned it, she had spent most of her life avoiding not only her duties as a princess but also the other merfolk, even—at times—her own sisters.
She’d always believed that she loved nothing more than the ocean and her life there.
But if she didn’t have any friends, close relationships with her family, or even any dreams or ambitions of her own, could she truly claim she loved it as much as she thought?
“It’s part of the reason why I was so surprised you objected so hard to going on land. I figured it was a chance for you to experience all those things in books: adventure, travel, friendship, love.”
“I love the ocean.”
“Of course you do. We’remermaids. I love it too. But I also really love the surface world. I mean, have youseenhow hot those shifter men are?” Shelly fanned herself with her hand. “No one is making you choose between them, you know. You can love the ocean and spend time in the ocean but also live on land.”
“I guess.”
It hadn’t exactly taken a lot of work to get herself driven out to the beach so she could swim and see her family. No one was preventing her from doing that each time the urge struck.
If she wanted that balance, she could have it.
The question was: did she want it?
And if she were to dig a little deeper: did she want that with Finn?
There was no denying that there was some physical chemistry between the two of them. That said, she knewthat attraction didn’t mean anything. It was just chemicals, just bodies that recognized they might do some fun things together to a mutually enjoyable end.