Page 100 of Mermaid on Heels

Suddenly, Liriya’s screaming stopped.

Everything went still around Luke like a raging storm dissipating from the sea. His eyes went back to where Liriya was, but she wasn’t there. Panic gripped his soul and he shouted her name. There was no response, no other sound than his own voice echoing back to him.

Luke went mad with franticness and bellowed her name once more. “Liriya!”

“Looking for me, my darling?”

Luke spun around and his shoulders sagged in relief. There she was. He began marching towards her, closing the ten feet of distance between them in long, quick strides when he noticed the coldness in her eyes.

He stopped in his tracks, chest heaving.

A frown took over Liriya’s ethereally beautiful face and she furrowed her eyebrows. “Luke?”

Luke stared at her face. There was something amiss about her that he couldn’t place, though everything except that was utterly her. His little mermaid.

“Luke!”

A cold hand connected with his face in a gentle touch and Luke jerked awake, his eyes fluttering open. Wide ocean-depth eyes stared back at him in concern.Liriya.Luke’s heart picked up its rate. She was here. But how?

The elites weren’t supposed to be let into his room and the guards at his door were supposed to stop her. However, Luke didn’t care; it wasn’t him who made that law, after all. All that mattered was that she was here and she had rescued him from a horrible nightmare, pulling him up to the surface of the reality that she had turned sweet for him.

“Oh, Liriya…” He sighed in pure relief and sagged back into his bed, feeling physically and mentally exhausted from fighting and shouting in the nightmare. “I thought it was real.”

“W-what?” Her perfect eyebrows furrowed deeply in concern and she tilted her head, confused. She looked so innocent, so vulnerable like that, and it took all his willpower not to pull her down and kiss her breathless.

Memories from last night, before things went wrong, rushed back to the forefront of his mind. Their first kiss. He couldn’t take his mind off her buttery soft lips and its honey-like sweetness. She was perfect—for him.

Luke smiled at her warmly. He didn’t have to worry her about his nightmare; she was safe and here with him, that was all that mattered. “Never mind love, it’s just some bad dream. But, you came…”

Liriya’s face softened. “Of course I came.” She smiled and added shyly, “Even though it was a little risky and rule-breaking.”

“We both are rule-breakers, by the way. Don’t forget that,” Luke teased her. “And, you’re my favorite rule-breaker.”

“Must I ask why?”

“Must I repeat?”

Liriya bobbled her head like a child when asked if she wanted candy.

Luke chuckled with a shake of his head. He loved her so much.

He pushed himself upwards, thankful that he was appropriately dressed due to the cold, and ran a hand over his face and through his hair—something he realized he should’ve done the moment he saw her at his side.

But, who was he to blame? Anyone would lose their conscious mind when they saw the woman they loved at their bedside, while she wasn’t supposed to be there, looking like an angel in her nightgown and silky silver robe—as always.

“Well my little mermaid,” Luke began, “you are my favorite rule-breaker because you broke the biggest rule ever applied to Merfolk and came to me.”

“Aw, Luke… I love you.”

Luke’s chest tightened despite the warmth that filled it; she loved him despite what he had done. That was all he wanted even though he knew he was undeserving.

“I love you too, Liriya.” His hand found hers and held on tight before asking, slightly hesitant, “Have you… Have you thought things over as I asked?”

“Yes,” Liriya said, her eyes shining like the morning sun. “I have decided what I want.”

When she didn’t continue, seemingly waiting for his response, he prodded gently, “And, what is it?”

“You.” Her eyes grew intense. “And to be your queen.”

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