Chapter 27
Finn
Iris swam tirelessly, but Finn’s arms grew tired after half an hour. He hauled himself back up onto the boat and watched as his fiancée’s head and tail dipped up and down into the water, her movements effortlessly beautiful.
Each time she looked out at the sea instead of toward him, he couldn’t help but feel guilty for stealing something so beautiful from the place she belonged. Yet he couldn’t imagine a future without her.
Maybe, once things calmed down with the campaign, once the wedding was finalized, they could look into getting a little beach house, someplace close to the ocean for them to escape to, where they could leave the big city behind.
He was sure he could sit on the shore and watch her swim for hours and never get tired of it.
Iris surfaced, then hauled her body out onto the lower swim deck. Her green tail and sun-kissed skin glistened with water droplets.
She stretched, reaching upward to squeeze the water from her hair.
She’d never looked more beautiful.
His need grew as he watched her comb her hair, as her tail slowly disappeared, replaced by her lovely skin.
As if sensing the turn of his thoughts, Iris’s head shifted. A knowing smile tugged at her lips.
Then she crawled over toward Finn, slipping between his legs and sliding her hands up his thighs.
He’d been aching for her since she slipped out of her cover-up on the bow.
So when she reached to free him, he was hard and straining.
Her warm breath on his skin had his hips bucking up.
But Iris wanted to tease.
Her hand closed around his length, then she leaned down, closing her lips around the base of him, then running her tongue up toward the head, where she teased around the sensitive skin until his hands were fisted in her hair, until he was rocking restlessly.
Only then did her lips close around him and suck him deep.
Finn groaned as pleasure surged through his system.
Everything about her was a revelation. And he was completely and utterly devout.
She worked him slow at first, then faster as his gasps became groans.
His fingers were crushing the back of her skull as she drove him right to the edge, then took him over.
His vision went white with his release, and Iris moaned at the taste of him, working him through it until he was weak and panting.
Only then did she let him slip from between her lips.
Her head rested on his thigh afterward as he tried to bring some order back to his system.
His hands sifted through her damp hair, not ready to break the spell.
In the end, it was Iris’s stomach—starving after hours of swimming—that had him pulling away.
“I brought food,” he told her. He got to his feet, tucked himself away, then reached to pull her onto her feet.
“Thank the seas,” she said.
He led her into the galley, loving how she didn’t bother to try to cover up, happy to be bare just for him.
Finn went into the refrigerator to pull out the charcuterie board he’d prepared while waiting for her to show up at the marina.
He poured a little white wine, then the two of them sat entwined, eating cheese, crackers, fruit, and meat until they were both fulfilled. They discussed little and big things—everything from his swim lessons to their feelings on starting a family.
“Go sun yourself,” he suggested, waving toward the sun pad. “I’ll join you after I clean up.”
Iris was happy to oblige, giving him a show as she slowly moved away, her hips swishing, her round ass just begging to be grabbed with each step.
By the time he joined her, though, there was something tender in her gaze as she looked out at the sea.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Would you be willing to go down there with me?” She gestured out toward the water.
He’d follow her down to hell if that was what would make her happy.
“Down where?”
“To the palace. To see my home. My childhood home,” she was quick to amend.
“Is that possible?”
“It’s a little complicated. But yes. You’d have to go down with me, of course.”
“How would I breathe?”
“It’s something that would be easier to show you than explain.”
“Then show me.”
“Really?” Her tone was hopeful.
“Really.”
“Now?”
“Right now.”
He offered her his hand and they moved back to the swim platform, then jumped into the water together.
“Are you ready?”
“Absolutely.”
Iris lifted her hands, and the water between them shimmered. With a whispered word, too low for Finn to hear, the surface tension stretched, gathered, and folded inward—becoming a delicate orb near her mouth.
Her hand lifted, and her fingers brushed his jaw as she moved closer.
They were close enough to kiss.
Then Iris breathed out. Just once. And the whole world changed.
The shimmering sphere spread from her lips, then cupped his face, held.
With it, he could hear her heartbeat. He could smell her citrus and salt.
The bubble was her breath, her life force, and she was loaning it to him.
“You have to stay close,” she told him. Her fingers tightened on his. “Or it will stop working.”
Finn, not sure he could speak through the bubble, nodded.
“Ready to try it?” she asked, voice soft.
Then they were dipping underwater.
Finn’s first instinct was to hold his breath. Iris pressed her hand to his chest, a silent reminder to breathe.
Stomach tensing, worried about sucking in water, he took a short, quick breath.
And got oxygen.
He tried it again, deeper.
Then again.
Iris smiled at him.
Then, hand tightening on his, she threw her body into a swim, pulling him down with her.
The water grew colder and darker as they swam deeper.
All around them, the ocean came alive.
Finn caught sight of another mermaid’s brilliant white tail, the bright red of an octopus swimming past; schools of colorful fish parted around them, welcoming Iris home.
She led him past an endless, colorful coral reef, introducing him to things he’d only read about in books: the tiny, mischievous dragonettes, the singing eels, the stunning, almost fake-looking glimmersharks.
Iris paused their swim to nuzzle a few dolphins who seemed eager to see her, though he had no idea if she could understand their clicks, whistles, and squeaks.
Eventually, she pulled him deeper still, until he could reach out with one finger and brush his hand across the sand at the ocean floor.
Before he knew it, she was leading him through a whalebone gate, then toward a towering castle with coral spires and glowing towers.
They swam down the halls of the palace, sat on the coral throne, and slipped into her childhood bedroom.
“Iris?” a voice called, making them both turn.
Then there was another mermaid in front of them, looking like a younger version of Iris, but with a slight bit of blue in her blonde hair and a deep navy tail.
“Shelly!”
Iris flew at her sister, dragging him along with her with their joined hands. It had him as a one-armed part of a three-way hug as the sisters bounced up and down and twirled in a circle before finally breaking apart.
“And you must be Finn!” Shelly threw both her arms around him, squeezing him like they were old friends. “I’m so happy to finally meet you.”
“You too,” he said, testing his underwater voice. It had much more of an echo than his land voice, but he didn’t choke on the water or anything.
“Finn took me out on a boat today. And I convinced him to give this a try.”
“It didn’t take much convincing,” Finn said.
“I just got the invitation to your wedding yesterday. Mother and Juna are so excited.”
“They’re coming to the surface?” The shock and hope in her voice had Finn squeezing her hand tighter.
“Of course they are, silly. Arden said he would be by to measure us this week for gowns.”
“Has Mother ever been to the surface?”
“That’s the same question I had. She didn’t want to answer.
But Aunt Molly said that when she was a young mer, she would sneak to the surface all the time, drinking and partying with the surface folks.
She was constantly in trouble with her parents about it.
It only makes me all the more annoyed that she never wanted me to go up. ”
The bemused look on Iris’s face made Finn believe that the queen must be a very serious woman, and Iris was finding it hard to reconcile the woman she knew with the girl she’d been.
“Anyway, I’m so glad you came. I can’t wait to come up for the wedding. Please tell me our gowns won’t be hideous.”
“Have you met Arden? He doesn’t do hideous.”
“That’s true.”
“I have to admit that I’ve loved every idea he’s had, even when I wasn’t happy about the arrangement.” She squeezed Finn’s hand to soften the blow of her words. “Is Mother here? We should probably say hello.”
“She’s not. She had to go tour that new school.”
“And Juna?”
“She and Osiren have taken off on a little holiday.”
“Juna. On a holiday?”
“I know. She’s really softened since her engagement. You seem happier too.”
“Things have been good,” Iris agreed. She leaned closer to Finn. “You should come visit.”
“I have a lot of responsibilities here.”
“You?”
“I know,” Shelly said with a little eye roll. “Things have changed for all of us so quickly. But for the better, I have to believe.”
“Princess?” someone called, making Shelly’s posture stiffen.
“Sorry. I have a meeting. If you want to stay, I can tell the staff to prepare more for dinner.”
“I wish we could, but I don’t know if we could figure out how to get back to shore in the dark.”
Finn was thankful he didn’t have to be the one to admit that.
“Well, it was nice seeing you,” Shelly said. She pulled her sister in for another long hug. Then wrapped an arm around Finn. “And to meet you.”
Once Shelly was off on official business, Iris led Finn around the rest of the palace, before she declared that Finn’s lips were starting to turn blue.
“Humans aren’t meant to stay down here so long,” she explained as they moved past the spires, the gates, the coral reefs, the shipwrecks, and past all the beautiful fish, turtles, whales, and stingrays.
When they surfaced, the bubble that had been providing him breath burst.
“What is it?” Iris asked from the swim platform. He hadn’t realized he’d been staring. But he also wasn’t surprised.
She reached for a towel, quickly drying her tail, and he watched as her skin split and transformed into her long, shapely legs.
Finn hauled himself up, dropping down, and looking out at the water.
“How can I ask you to give all of that up?”
She lifted her hand, pressing her palm to his cheek. “You’re not asking. I’m choosing.”
“But—”
“And I’m not giving anything up.” Her hand slid to the back of his neck. “I can have both. You wouldn’t keep me from the sea.”
“No. I want to buy us a house on the beach, so we can head over anytime we want to escape.”
“Your backstroke could use some work,” she agreed, leaning in to press her forehead to his.
Then she tilted her head, sealing her lips to his.
The kiss was long and deep.
Like she was staking her claim.
And, gods, he was happy to be hers.