“People in general are stupid, Izzy.” He laughed. “Everyone has an opinion, but I’ve found the only one that matters isyourown.”
Her head tilted at the nickname, and she said, “You’re pretty confident. What doyoudo?”
Adrian hesitated. What was he supposed to tell her? “I uh… mostly help my dad,” he said. “Familybusiness.”
Wasn’t a lie, exactly. But the truth was somuchmore.
“Oh, my family has one of those, too. A dolphin tour boat,” Isasupplemented.
She assumed he had a tourist joint. It was reasonable to consider. Most locals down here did. Adrian hated lying to his mate, but he figured it wasn’t for long, so he said, “Somethinglikethat.”
He changed the subject quickly. “So… if people didn’t want you to be a marine biologist, what did they think you were goingtodo?”
“I don’t know.” She stared downward. “My dad’s in the military. I think everyone expected I was going to marry some powerful official. Stay inside.Bekept.”
Adrian felt a wave of rage rise and fall within his chest. How dare anyone think of imprisoning Isa like that. She deserved to be free. Yes, Adrian knew that he would someday be king of the sea, and if she said yes, she would be hisqueen.
But beside him, Isa would have equal power… and even power that went beyond his own. She wouldn’t be locked up andkeptas a pretty pet for him to have onhisarm.
“That’s dumb.” Adrian sat beside her. “You totally made the rightdecision.”
Isa gnawed on her lower lip. “Idon’tknow.”
He nudged her. “Come on. You seem hungry. What do you say we go out for a latelunch?”
Her eyes brightened, but she hesitated. “I don’t know. I have a lot of work togetdone.”
“You can do it later. Have a bitoffun.”
At his prodding, Isa gave in. “All right.” She put the book back in her backpack and slung it over her shoulder as she stood up. “Whereto?”
“I know this awesome seafood place. You’re going to love it,”hesaid.
They wandered through the aquarium to get to the back exit. As they passed through the various exhibits Adrian pointed out fish after fish, naming them all and explaining to Isa all the little things he knew about them. He was sure she had an idea of what they were, as she was studying to be a biologist, but there were some things about the sea not even the most experienced human knew. He couldn’t help it. He wanted to impress her, and it was obvious she was intomarinelife.
“You sure know a lot about fish,” Isa said. Her tone was riddled with a hint of suspicion, but what could she guess? The reality was something she couldn’t imagine, not even in her wildestdreams.
“I grew up in the sea. It’s all I know,” he answeredcryptically.
Isa stared straight ahead and didn’t answer. They entered into the sunlight, and Adrian cringed as it hit his skin— he didn’t like feeling so dried out, so hot. It was uncomfortable. He wanted to be wet. But he would put up with itforher.
They wandered to Isa’s car, light blue in color. Adrian got in and she drove out of the university, back toward the ocean at Adrian’s direction. The closer they got to water, the more relievedAdrianfelt.
Adrian noticed she listened to K-Pop. Isa was quiet… it was like she didn’t even realize itwason.
“You like K-Pop?” Adrian asked, as just a question. He’d hardly heard it before, but some of the mermaids who lived in the bodies of water around the Korean peninsula were obsessedwithit.
“Oh, yeah, sorry.” She fumbled to change it. “I’ll put onsomethingelse.”
“Don’t.” He grabbed her hand. “Idon’tmind.”
When they touched, Adrian had the feeling of being knocked over by a powerful wave— it sent him inwardly reeling backward. Isa could feel it too, he could tell… by the astonished look in her eyes, she had felt the powerful feeling that had ricocheted up both oftheirarms.
The bond was only getting stronger. Adrian was ready for it, but Isawasn’t.
“Pull off here,” Adrian pointed, and Isa did as she was told. When they got out of her car she avoidedhiseyes.
There was the ocean, and on the beach was a tiny yellow shack with a gray shuttered roof, surrounded by picnic tables shadowed by blue umbrellas. The shack was barely held together, and had hardly survived the last hurricane, but Adrian was glad it still stood. For all his hatred of humans this was the only place Poseidon would come on land for. He’d often brought Adrian here as a small child, but they hadn’t been here together since Adrian was around ten. Overfishing was getting bad and the pollution worse, so Poseidon had ruled that no one was to venture to the surface. Adrian had broken his rule and come here many times alone, though he often wished his father stillaccompaniedhim.
