Lukas cleared his throat. But before he could answer, I stepped out in front of him.
“Your mother has permitted us to leave,” I said plainly. “Please take us back to the shore now. We’ve endured her party long enough.”
Adriana’s bright mood faded. “Oh… Yes, of course.” Leaning against the doorframe, her gaze fell to the floor. “I suppose I can take you back.”
“On a dolphin this time,” I added. I wasn’t actually sure if Lukas would be alright with a dolphin, but it couldn’t be worse than a shark ride, surely?
Adriana lifted her head, smirking. “As you wish, pretty human.”
An hour or so later, we were back on dry land. Or at least as dry as the land could be in the blue glowing cave that surrounded the rock pool. Wringing out the skirt of my chemise, I watched as water dripped onto the stone floor, making a puddle around my feet. Behind me, Lukas grabbed his shirt from where he’dtossed it earlier and pulled it over his head, shaking out the dampness from his hair.
“You’ll come and visit again soon, won’t you?” Adriana called up to us. As promised, the princess had escorted us back through the merfolk kingdom and returned us to the cave. Now, she watched us both, her long red hair slick against her shoulders as she propped herself against the edge of the rock pool – despite all of Lukas’s protests.
“I asked you to leave and yet you’re still here,” he grumbled, pulling on his boots. “Do you have a death wish?”
Adriana smiled far too sweetly. “No, just oceans of love for you, dear cousin.” She pressed her chin into her palms, making no effort to disappear back under the water. I couldn’t help but giggle at the exchange.
“You’ll bring him back to us, won’t you, Naria?” She turned her grin towards me while I attempted to wriggle into my gown.
“Keep my fiancée out of this,” Lukas snapped.
“But she’s so much lovelier than you…” she sighed in a sing-songy tone. “You’ll have to at least take my shell.” She straightened her shoulders. “My sisters will murder me if I don’t give you a way to contact us.”
“No.”
Adriana’s grin faded, but then it pulled into a smirk. Reaching for something around her neck, she tugged it off before dangling it out in front of her. A golden necklace swung from her hand. Attached to the necklace, a pink shell glimmered in the light of the cave. “If you take my shell, I’ll leave,” she offered slyly.
Lukas paused until eventually, he stomped over,snatched the necklace from her hand and forced it over his head.
“Happy?” He scowled.
“Very,” she trilled, then leaned back, resting her chin on her palms and making no effort to return to the ocean.
“You said you’d leave,” Lukas argued.
“I did…” she hummed thoughtfully, before splashing him. “But I’m afraid I never saidwhen, cousin.”
“Why you absolutely infuriating little—”
I laughed as chaos erupted around me. Lukas lunged forward, but Adriana was quicker. Over and over again he lunged for her, only for her to dip below the surface and pop up again somewhere else. Each time she use to her mouth to squirt more water into his face, cackling with every direct hit.
I’d reached the lacing of my gown by the time he gave up and stalked over to the other side of the cave. At the same time, Adriana pushed herself onto the ledge of the pool and turned her focus to me.
“Human clothes look awfully complicated,” she said with a yawn.
“You’re not wrong,” I said, struggling with my laces. When I first left the rock pool, it was as if all the magic had dripped off me to return to the water. My once-smooth fingertips were wrinkled. My hair, which was so soft before, now crunched with salt from the sea. Even my limbs felt heavy, as if I’d spent the entire day swimming instead of effortlessly strolling through the ocean like we’d been.
When my corset lacing slipped through my fingers for the fourth time, I dropped them with a snarl – only for them to be caught by a completely new pair of hands.
“Allow me.” Lukas loomed over me.
My breath caught.
Not waiting for a reply, he began to thread my laces, working quickly and confidently as if I was far from the first lady he’d helped back into her gown. I swallowed down the awful taste that thought left in my mouth.
But then my gaze caught on something, and my lips parted. Despite just being soaked with sea water, his hair was already dry and his hands were smooth. It was as if he’d never stepped into the ocean, at all.
“How are you already so dry?” I stammered, shivering from my wet underlayers.
