One of the guards, Barney, looks sympathetic, like he wants to believe me but it’s my word against Prax’s. “I’m sorry, Miss Peri, but with an accusation like that we really need to take them both in.”
“She’s right,” Lily says, swimming to my side. “I saw the whole thing.”
Barney looks from Lily to Prax and then back to Lily. “Yes, Princess. But I’m afraid we’ll still have to escort both young mermen from the dance.”
She looks at me and I nod. That’s better than them arresting either of them.
They head for Riatus, but as they reach him he shrugs them off. “I was leaving anyway.”
I watch, helpless and confused, as he swims off over the crowd, motions to his sister, and they head for the palace gates.
I’m still shaking my head when Lily says, “What are you waiting for? Go after him.”
I’m kicking away before she finishes.
9
What the clamshell is going on?”
Riatus stops moving but doesn’t turn back to face me. “Nothing.”
He starts to move again, his sister at his side.
“No,” I say, speeding up to swim around them and plant myself in their path. “Not nothing. I’m tired of whatever game we’re playing. I’m tired of you stepping in to warn me or protect me or perform whatever misplaced act of chivalry you think you need to do, and then telling me to go take a swim.”
“Peri, this isn’t the—”
“Oh yes it is.” I swim close enough so that we’re practically nose to nose. “This is exactly the time. This is exactly the place. You’ve ruined my evening and I want to know why.”
His eyes look unfocused, like he’s trying not to see me.
Next to him, his sister shifts. “Ri, tell her.”
“No,” he insists.
“Fine,” she says, transferring her attention to me. “I’ll tell her.”
I shake my head. “If he can’t tell me himself, then I don’t want to hear it.”
She wraps her arms around his arm. “Tell her.”
We’re far enough away from the palace that we can’t hear the music. The streets of Thalassinia are deserted because everyone is at the dance.
He floats, frozen for several seconds. I’m holding my breath because this feels like a turning point. Either he gets over his problem and tells me what’s going on or . . . he doesn’t. If it’s the former, then we have a chance. Otherwise, this is the end of the road.
If he can’t even trust me enough to share whatever is keeping us apart, then there’s no hope.
He’s silent too long. He’s not going to tell me, and I’m going to have to be strong and swim away with my head held high. I’ll have to finally give up this ridiculous fantasy that maybe, one day, if the stars align and the currents cooperate, we can actually be together.
My shoulders slump. This is it. I never really thought I’d give up on him, but I won’t be like Lily, convincing myself I’m in love for three years with nothing in return. I won’t play the fool.
He turns and starts swimming away. Coral looks back at me over her shoulder, the look on her face a clear indication that she doesn’t agree with her brother’s actions.
Her and me both.
The distance is growing and I’m either too stunned or too tired of chasing to go after him.
It’s over.
Lily serves giant globs of plumaria pudding into two bowls and sets them on my kitchen counter. I pull one toward me and dig a spoon into the blobby goodness.
“Boys,” I say before shoving a huge bite into my mouth.
Lily nods. “Boys.”
But she doesn’t mean it. She and Quince are perfect—like made-for-each-other perfect. Her boy troubles are behind her.
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I announce. “I’m swearing off boys. For good.”
Lily giggles and I know she doesn’t believe me. But I swear, after the Riatus roller coaster I’ve been on the last few weeks, I’m pretty sure I’ve had enough boy drama to last a lifetime. I will just dedicate myself to a life of service to the crown. After all, when she becomes queen, Lily will need me more than ever. I have to be ready.
The doorbell rings. Mom is upstairs passed out in her bedroom. She never goes to the Sea Harvest Dance because she’s too exhausted after making all the dresses for it. I don’t have the energy to drag myself to the door.
“I’ll get it,” Lily says, sounding way too chipper for my grumpy taste.
I keep eating my pudding and trying not to let thoughts of that boy whose name I don’t want to think enter my mind.
A moment later, Lily calls out, “Peri, I think you want to come see this.”
I slump. I probably don’t. Judging by the way my luck has been going, it’s bad news. Definitely not worth the effort of swimming through the house.
But as I swim into the front hall, I have to agree with Lily.
Floating there in my front door is Riatus’s sister. I definitely want to see this.
I lean through the doorway and follow her gaze. Only to find Riatus floating a few feet away.
I scowl.
“After what happened,” Coral says, “I didn’t think you’d open the door for him.”
“You’re right.”
I start to float back inside, but she grabs my wrist.
“Please. I know you’ve given him lots of chances.”
I snort at the ridiculous understatement.
“But give him just one more.” She smiles a huge, hopeful smile. “For me?”
I sigh. She is very convincing. I throw another scowl his way.
“Fine.” I narrow my eyes at her. “One more.”
She claps and waves him closer. “I’ll just wait inside,” she says, swimming past me and pulling Lily in with her. “With the princess.”
An instant later, they’re shut inside and Riatus is swimming to my side.
I bite my lips to keep from saying anything. I’ve said enough for ten conversations already. It’s his turn. If he wants to say something, he’ll have to say it.
“I’m sorry.”
For the first words out of his mouth, they’re pretty good ones. I release the bite on my lips.
“Coral pointed out that I might have been acting like a jackfish.”
“You have,” I blurt, then quickly bite my lips.
Finally, he looks up and meets my eyes.
“Prax is a bottom-feeder.”
“Yeah, I figured that out,” I say, “when he tried to grope me on the dance floor and have you arrested.”
Riatus twists his head to crack his neck. “We used to be friends, for years. Before I . . . left. At least I thought we were friends.”
“What happened?”
Riatus runs a hand back over his hair. He looks frustrated, like he’s still struggling with the idea of telling me what’s going on.
“Whatever it is,” I say, “you can trust me.”
He looks up, his eyes intense. “I know.”
“Then tell me.”
He closes his eyes, and when he opens them I can see he’s ready.
“He’s always been one of those guys who likes skirting trouble,” Riatus begins. “Being just outside the problem when the wave hits the shore. At first, I was amazed he wanted to be my friend. He is a couple years older and, I thought, so much cooler.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell Riatus that’s ridiculous—I can’t imagine anyone cooler than him—but I don’t. This is not the right moment.
“At first I just wanted to please him. I did whatever he asked. Little things, like covering for him at school or lending him lunch money. Graffiti on the palace walls. Staying out all night, swimming the streets.” He looks pained at the memory. “The older we got, the more serious . . .” He trails off, shaking his head. “One day, a little over a year ago, he decided to escalate to robbery. He told me the house was abandoned.”
Even though the answer is obvious, I ask, “It was
n’t?”
He shakes his head. “The police came. Prax slipped out the back.”
“And you got in trouble?”
Dark hair swirls around him as he nods.
“Sounds like a real starfish,” I mutter.
“Getting arrested was a wakeup call.” He rolls his shoulders, trying to relieve some of the tension.
“You—” I begin, but as the words form, the puzzle pieces fall into place. “You didn’t spend the last year on some grand adventure, did you?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “I was a guest of the Thalassinian Juvenile Detention Facility.”
I suck in a deep draw of breath. Now it all makes sense. Why he disappeared so suddenly. Why he seemed so much more mature—more serious—when he came back.
“Since I got out, I’m doing everything I can to avoid getting in trouble. I can’t make my mom and Coral go through that again.” His gaze lifts and there is so much pain in his eyes, I want to hug him. “That included avoiding Prax.”
“Bet he didn’t love that plan,” I say. “Guys like that don’t like being rejected—as I learned on the dance floor tonight. If you hadn’t stepped in . . .”
“It was nothing,” he says with a shrug.
I swim a little closer. “It wasn’t.”
He looks uncomfortable.
“Just say you’re welcome,” I tell him.
His mouth lifts up in a half smile. “You’re welcome.”
I beam. “Now, please continue.”
Some of the tension leaves his shoulders.
“A few weeks ago, right after that first day I saw you in the market, Prax started flirting with my sister.” His fists clench. “She’s too young to see him for the trouble he is.”
I imagine the worst. “He didn’t hurt her?”
He shakes his head. “He’s not interested in her. Not in that way. He only used her to get to me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Ever since I got back and refused to hang out with him, refused to be his easy get-out-of-jail-free card, he’s been trying to get back at me.” He takes a deep breath. “He finally found a way with Coral. He threatened to bond with her, just to spite me. To blackmail me.”
“She’s such a sweet girl,” I say. How could anyone try to take advantage of her?
“She is,” Riatus continues. “When I found a note asking her to meet him at the edge of the Kelpforest, I was ready to kill him.”
Oh no! “That night I followed you?”
Riatus nods. “I was on my way to stop them.”
And I stopped him. “They didn’t. Did they?”
“Turns out Coral isn’t as naïve as I thought,” he says, shaking his head. “She knew it was bad news to meet a boy she didn’t know in the most dangerous part of Thalassinia. She never planned to meet him.”
“Smart girl.” I swim forward and place my palms on his shoulders.
I look at Riatus—really, for the first time, look at him. I see the boy he was and the man he is working hard to become. He’s full of guilt over his past mistakes and trying not to repeat them. His dad has been gone since forever, and he’s shouldering the responsibility for his mom and sister. Protecting them.
Protecting me, too.
“So, tell me something,” I say, letting my hands slide down his arms. “When you told me you couldn’t like me . . . ?”
He looks down as I entwine my fingers through his.
“You thought you were shielding me? From Prax?”
Riatus doesn’t look up, but his fingers tighten around mine. “He tried to use Coral against me. If he thought I even might have feelings for you, he would have tried to use you, too.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me the truth?” I dip down so I can meet his lowered gaze. “Why just give me vague warnings about Prax?”
“I told him to tell you,” a voice calls out from inside the house. “You should have listened to me!”
“I know that now,” he shouts back to his sister. He shares a conspiratorial look with me. “She has ears like sonar, I swear.”
“I heard that!” she yells.
I grab him by the wrist and swim away from the house, out of even sonar earshot. I don’t want any company for the rest of this conversation.
“She’s right,” I say softly when we’re far enough away to be safe. “You should have told me.”
“I didn’t want you drawn into the situation.” He tries to release my hands, but I don’t let go. “Thanks to Prax—thanks to my own stupid mistakes—I’ve already hurt too many people I care about. I didn’t want to hurt you, too.”
“News flash,” I say without sarcasm, “pushing me away hurts way more than anything Prax could do.”
This time he manages to pull his hands away. I float closer, but he drifts back. As the space between us grows, I feel the progress we’ve made tonight slipping away.
“You’re giving him all the power,” I insist. “You’re letting him and your past ruin whatever we might have together.”
Riatus shakes his head, like he can’t let go of this idea that he’s protecting me by keeping me at a distance. If there’s anything I’ve learned from seeing Lily and Quince, it’s that two people are stronger together than they are individually.
It might take some convincing to make Riatus believe that, but I’m sick of dancing around the issue. Time to lay it all on the line. I close the distance. “I like you, Riatus. A lot.”
His brow furrows in pain.
“Do you see this?” I sink down to meet his gaze as I gesture to the pearl hanging around my neck. When I’m sure he sees it, I say, “I told you it was a gift. Do you know who gave it to me?”
I fully expect him to say no because . . . well, why would he remember? It was my guppihood crush. To him I was just a little mergirl.
So I’m beyond stunned when he nods and says, “I did.”
“You—?” I scowl. “You remember?”
His laugh is fierce and unexpected. “Of course I remember.”
I smack him on the shoulder.
When his hand wraps around my wrist, holding my palm against his chest, I want to melt. There is something boyish about the small smile spreading across his lips.
“You were the sweetest girl,” he says.
“Past tense?” I ask.
He looks up at me. “You still are. You were nice to Coral, even when she was annoying. And I—” His cheeks turn a little pink. “I knew you liked me.”
The horrifyingly humiliated part of me wants to gasp, but the sincerity in his tone tells me I don’t need to be embarrassed. Okay, I’m still a little horrified—who wouldn’t be?
Looking me straight in the eye, he says, “I’m not good enough for you.”
“You’re right,” I say, and I can tell he’s stunned by my answer. “The way you’ve been acting, you aren’t. But I’m willing to forgive and forget everything that happened since you came back, if you will answer one question.”
“Okay,” he agrees warily.
“Do you”—I sink down to meet his gaze—“like me?”
“What?”
“It’s simple,” I insist. “Do you like me or not?”
“Peri, I—”
“Yes or no, Riatus.”
He winces like it will hurt to say the words.
“Yes. Or no.” I repeat when he looks like he wants to argue again. “Yes or no. Yes or no. Yes or—”
“Yes!” he blurts. “Okay, yes.”
“What was that?” I can’t hide my smile.
“Yes,” he admits, sounding relieved. His smile grows bigger until his dimples show. “I like you.”
Finally!
“Was that so hard to say?”
He gives me an are-you-kidding look.
“You want to know a secret?”
“Sure.”
“That’s the only thing that matters,” I say.
“What is?” He looks confused and I like it—it’s about time those tables turn
ed.
“I like you. You like me.” I link my arm through his and swim back for the house. “In the beginning, that’s all that matters.”
His dark brows slash down, like he’s not sure if he can believe me.
“It’s a place to start,” I explain as I push open the door, sending Lily and Coral scurrying out of the way. “Who knows where we go from here, but for tonight just liking each other is enough. Now”—I lead him toward the kitchen—“I have one more very important question to ask you.”
“What’s that?”
I release him and float over to the cabinet. “Do you like plumaria pudding?”
“Yeah,” he says, jerking back in surprise. “It’s my favorite.”
I smile as I pull out another tub. Lily and Coral swim in to join us and soon we all have fresh bowls of pudding and life is good. Riatus and I can’t stop smiling at each other. It’s like admitting that we like each other opened some kind of floodgate.
Nothing in life is certain, but I know that with the whole truth out in the open we have a chance. We like each other, and that’s enough for a perfect beginning.
Excerpt from Forgive My Fins
Read on for more fin-flicking undersea fun with Princess Waterlily
Plus find information about all of Tera’s series at www.teralynnchilds.com
1
Water calms me. It’s like chocolate or hot tea or dulce de leche ice cream. After a rotten day, I lock the bathroom door, fill Aunt Rachel’s old-timey tub with steaming water and bath salts, and then sink into a world where my problems all melt away.
Some days it’s not enough.
“Did you ask him?”
Securing the phone against my shoulder, I scoop up a handful of bubble bath and blow the fluff out over my belly. I can choose to ignore the question, right? Especially since neither of us is going to like the answer.
“Lily . . . ,” Shannen prods.
When the bubbles hit the water and dissolve into a frothy film, I sigh.
The whole point of this bath was to make me forget my disastrous day—including the subject of Shannen’s question—but that seems impossible. Even though I’m feeling slightly more mellow than when I slid in twenty minutes ago, nothing can completely wash away that memory.