Page 72 of Mermaid on Heels
“What?”
“You are…”
“Silly, I know, I—”
“What, no!” Luke protested, eyes widening a little. “Liriya, that isn’t what I was going to say. Yousurpriseme, you… you’re extraordinary and you leave me reeling and speechless sometimes.” His eyes and voice gentled.
“I like you this way,” he continued, “You don’t pretend like you know everything but ask your questions without shying away. You don’t wait for something to slip from my mouth so you could grab onto those and piece them together to know what they are…No,you don’t do that, you’re not like that. You don’t hide your wonder or your bafflement. And I like it, likethis—I like you as this. I want you to keep asking me questions, and I want to answer every one of them I have an answer for. I adore you, Princess Liriya, and you have no idea how much.”
“And we met only last night,” Liriya whispered, her own mind reeling as she stared at him, taken by his confession.
“Believe me when I say, I feel like I’ve known you for a long time.” Luke offered a half smile and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Now, look at those fireflies. Look closely. Tell me what you see.”
Liriya stared at a particular firefly. However, before she could get a careful look at it, it disappeared. “How…”
“Look closely with youmer-eyes, little mermaid.” Luke’s voice crooned in her ear, sending pleasant shivers down her spine. Her toes curled inside her shoes. She tried to focus on her surroundings andnottheir proximity, the sound of his voice, his hand that now rested on her back, or… Or the reminder of his lips’ softness against her fingertips.
Focus!
Liriya shook herself out of the daze and focused on another firefly, one of the many floating before her. And this time, she saw it.
“It is abug?” she exclaimed, both astonished and proud of her self-discovery. Her gaze snapped to meet Luke’s.
“You know what abugis?” Luke didn’t hide his surprise. “No offense—”
“None taken, and yes, I do. I met a few back at Bianca’s, along with cockroaches, spiders, and lizards, and I am not looking forward to meeting them again.” Liriya stifled a laugh. “So, this is why you said they smell?”
He laughed with her. “Yes. I knew you might’ve thought they were enchanted lights. You did, didn’t you?”
Liriya folded her arms across her chest and arched an eyebrow skeptically. “You arenotgood at reading me, you know?”
Luke smirked, aware of her sarcasm. “Of all the compliments I’ve received my whole life, this one is my favorite.”
“And I am not easily flattered. Many mermen have tried and failed in every single attempt, but you flatter me.” The moment the words slipped out, Liriya realized her mistake. When did each part of her body begin to have a mind of their own?
Luke tilted his head, his smirk growing. “Oh, nowI’mflattered. To what do I owe this pleasure, Your Highness?”
Liriya blushed and turned away, fighting a grin, and heard him laugh lightly.
“Well, I guess I’ve never been so grateful to be born a human before.” When she turned to throw him a baffled glance, he continued, with a heart-stopping crooked grin and voice dropped huskily. “For I alone succeeded to flatter the mermaid princess every merman in her kingdom failed to.”
“Do not think so highly of yourself, you arehalfmerman.”
“Only my blessed senses, but I am perfectly human for the rest.”
Oh.She had almost forgottenthat. “You have mer-senses?”
“The underwater breathing and eyesight, yes, but no mer-hearing.” He paused for a moment before adding, “Unfortunately.”
Liriya laughed.
They meandered through the garden, with Luke introducing Liriya to every flower on their way, and she was impressed he knew all their names. The only flower familiar to her was the red rose; Bianca had them at her house. However, here, to her stunning surprise, there were roses in shades of blue, white, yellow, pink, and a deeply dark red called asblackrose. Luke showed her to them when he learned the rose was the only flower she knew about.
Their tour of the garden ended the moment Liriya glanced up at the sky by coincidence and saw the celestial beauty. She gasped aloud at the sight of the half moon and lots andlotsof stars—more than she had seen in the past two weeks since coming to the land.
“It is… It is so beautiful, is it not?” she asked Luke breathlessly, staring up at the heavens with a grin stretched across her face, mesmerized.
“It truly is,” Luke said with a contented sigh next to her. A moment later, he spoke again, “But if you keep looking at them like that, your neck will hurt and you will have an ache in the morning.” He grabbed her hand and gave a gentle tug. “Come on, I know the best way to watch them.”