Page 126 of Mermaid on Heels

Liriya stepped away from her sisters and moved towards him, heart fluttering with euphoria. His arms came around her and he leaned down to her ear, whispering, “Shall we get married now?”

“Oh, I cannot wait for another second.”

Epilogue

“I wish I had a tail.”

An image of Luke with a tail instead of his legs sprang to the forefront of Liriya’s mind. She sputtered a laugh and clamped her mouth shut to stop from laughing again.

Ahead of them, Ella stopped swimming and burst into laughter.

“What?” Luke asked them defensively, a smile fighting at the corner of his lips.

“I am sorry, Luke, but imagining you with a merman’s tail makes me want to laugh.” Ella clutched a hand on her stomach and bent forward as she continued to laugh, as if Luke having a tail was the most hilarious image to ever flash in her mind’s eye.

“And why is that? Iama merman.”

“Halfmerman,” Ella choked out, correcting him and trying to calm down. “You are ahuman, Luke.”

“And I prefer you with legs,” Liriya added, glancing at her husband sideways. He was always a vision, both on land and underwater, but she couldn’t imagine him with a merman’s tail. Like Ella said, the image made her want to laugh too.

She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing again and stared at him. The way his dark brown hair danced with the currents over his head always reminded her of the first time that she saw him.

“And I didn’t mean it permanently, my love.” Luke returned her gaze, looking as though he was fighting the urge to roll his eyes at them. “I merely wish that, if I had one, I could swim on my own and not you dragging me—no offense, I love it. Moreover, I could challenge you into the swimming races where you constantly beat me. Though most importantly, if I had a tail, I could stop receiving the weird stares of all the merfolk down there.”

“The mermen are simply jealous of you, Luke.” Ella rolled her eyes. “The Pearltunian princess they had been trying to woo all their life is now your wife. Just ignore them.”

“And what of the mermaids?”

“They think you are the most attractive.” Liriya smirked at him, despite her utter dislike of the way the mermaids stared and whispered about him, both in Pearltuna and Oceantuna—when they visited his maternal family.

“Says my beautiful wife who is obsessed with me.” Luke smirked back and Liriya gasped.

“How dare you!” She touched a hand to her chest in faux-offense. “I am inlovewith you, not obsessed.”

“It was a compliment, little mermaid.” Luke laughed. “But, you were saying?”

Liriya dropped the faux facial expression and gave him a sweet smile. “I was saying that half of the mermaids in Pearltuna and Oceantuna are probably considering coming to land and finding themselves a partner with legs.”

“Speaking of which, I think I am going to reconsider bringingmyman into their midst,” Ella chimed in.

Luke snorted a laugh. “And knowing my brother, Ella, I’m pretty sure Cedric is not going to agree with you on that.” He shook his head with a smile. “He’s been waiting for a chance, and now he has it…”

“He does notknowhe has it yet,” Ella mused, looking at the Aqua Flower in her hand mischievously.

“Do not even think about it,” Liriya warned her not-so-seriously.

Their papa’s guards had spent months looking for the significant flower that helped its consumer breathe underwater, from a rare plant that grew only in the clear waters of the sea. Papa had requested it for Cedric when he and Ella began courting, so he could visit Pearltuna as Luke did.

When Liriya’s family prepared to go back to Pearltuna after Liriya and Luke’s wedding four months ago, upon learning that Ella was going to be declared as the crown princess, Cedric had gone frantic. He summoned his courage to profess his love to her before she left. Ella was shocked, but she confessed her love back. They had been courting since. While it hadn’t been a shock to Liriya, itwasfor a certain someone.

Sessa.

All because it left her as the crown princess, something she had never even dreamed of.

“You are going to leave our kingdom heirless!” she had said to Liriya and Ella. “So I am promising myself that I will not fall for a human like my sisters had and leave Pearltuna without an heir.”

“Perhaps you are the one born to be the crown princess, after all,” Liriya told her then.

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