Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
With a sinking stomach, he wondered if she’d gone back home. To the palace. To her mother and sisters. To the one place where she wouldn’t have to tolerate the curious gazes of people who wanted to know about her relationship with an up-and-coming politician.
The look on her face right before she’d turned and walked away had been gutting him endlessly ever since.
“We need to talk about that disaster last night.”
“The disaster that you created.”
Henry held up his hands, palms out. “Wait. Hear me out.”
“I don’t think I want to hear you out after that kind of betrayal, Hen.”
“I might be an ass,” Henry admitted. He ignored Finn’s snort. “But when have I ever deliberately set out to hurt you?”
That gave Finn pause.
Yes, Henry could be dogged, ruthless, even. That said, everything Henry did was to help Finn, to benefit his campaign and, by extension, his life. Did he occasionally say something off color? Give him hard truths? Yeah. But he was never cruel. He never went out of his way to do something he knew would upset Finn.
“Are you trying to claim you didn’t send the media to the docks?”
Henry sucked in a deep breath. “This is where it gets complicated.”
“How in the world could this be complicated?”
“Look, I may or may not have been … ranting a little. In the office. Within earshot of a bunch of our very eager-to-please interns.”
“Ranting about what?”
“About how you were wasting a perfectly good chance for an incredible photo op because you wanted some time alone with Iris. I was just … talking to myself. But I guess one of those well-intentioned interns got an idea in their heads. Then ran with it without running it past me.” Henry paused, his shoulders sinking low. “I wouldn’t do that to you, Finn. And I kind of hate that you think I was capable of it.”
Finn had known his campaign manager for a long time. He’d never seen him look so defeated, so unsure of himself.
“They did so much damage.”
“Yeah,” Henry agreed. “The news is having a field day with how Iris ran off to—”
“Can you blame her?” Finn cut him off. He raked a hand through his already messy hair. “Iris wasn’t even dressed, for God’s sake.”
“To be fair, she’s a mermaid. They’re always almost naked.”
“Not Iris since she came to the surface. I think you forget that she’s a person sometimes. With her own thoughts, feelings, and boundaries. While I believe you don’t set out to hurt me, it feels like you don’t extend that same curtesy to Iris. All you have done is push her.”
“To help her become the political wife she agreed to become.”
“She was pressured into this marriage, Hen. She spent weeks trying to sabotage it. And both of us were too self-involved to see it. She didn’t make any kind of agreement.”
“She clearly made some kind of arrangement with you.”
“It wasn’t an arrangement. It was a relationship. A delicate one. And now …” Finn waved a hand, too frustrated to go on.
“This might not be the best time to say it, but if she is going to be with a public figure, she’s going to need tougher skin.”
“Henry, now is not the time for that. I don’t want to hear about optics. I want Iris back.”
Finn dropped down on the couch, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands.
“Where is he?” another voice joined the room. “Where is the monster who made my charming sea fairy look like this?” Monty came waddling into the room, a phone in his hand. “There you are,” he said, making a beeline for Finn. “What did you do to her?” he asked. The pelican shoved the phone into Finn’s hands.
He glanced down at the screen, seeing an image he hadn’t come across yet.
It was taken near the parking lot. Iris was looking back toward, he assumed, him. Her arms were still wrapped around herself. And her eyes looked completely heartbroken.
His own heart ground to dust in his chest.
“I trusted her with you,” Monty said, snatching back his phone. “I encouraged her to give you a chance. And this is how you repay that trust? Shame on you. I’ll be gathering my things and leaving.” He was making his way toward the hall as he spoke. “You can have Iris’s things packed up.”
“Finn, we need to do some damage control,” Henry, not knowing when to let something drop, pressed on.
“No.”
“Your image—”
“To hell with my image. With the optics. With this entire damned campaign. I’m losing the love of my life.”
“Love,” Henry, a realist to his core, scoffed.
“Yes, love.”
“Love is … inconvenient.”
“It always is,” Finn shot back. “But it is worth it. To have one real thing in my life.”
He stormed away from Henry to move into the doorway of Monty’s bedroom. Where he found the bird picking up the cat and trying to shove him into one of his many bags.