Fins Are Forever by Childs Tera Lynn

Author:Childs, Tera Lynn [Childs, Tera Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal
ISBN: 9780062084484
Goodreads: 11255757
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Published: 2011-06-28T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

I wake early the next morning to find Daddy sitting on the edge of my bed, gently nudging my shoulder to rouse me from sleep. I blink him into focus before wrapping my arms around him in a fierce hug.

“Good morning, Daddy.”

He smiles, making little crinkles around his eyes. “Good morning, daughter.”

“How have you been?” I ask, even though I’ve only been gone a couple weeks.

A distant look starts to drift into his eyes, but he shakes it away. “I have been missing you, of course,” he says. “But I understand you have had your fins full with your cousin.”

I groan and roll my eyes and make a tsking sound with my tongue, all at once. “Holy Capheira, yes. You know how she can be.”

“I do.”

There is an ocean of subtext in that tiny phrase, and I can guess what it’s about.

“Why did you send her to me in exile?” I ask. “What did she do? It’s not like she hasn’t broken rules before.” And laws, I add silently, because Daddy might not know about those. I’m taking the high road again. Doe owes me double.

“This was . . .” Again he shakes his head. “I think this is a matter best kept between Dosinia and me.”

“Okay.”

Daddy has on his king-of-the-seas persona, which means there’s no negotiating. Besides, the way everyone is fin-dipping around the issue, I’m starting to think I’d rather not know what Doe did. It might scar me forever.

“Cid tells me you have brought another boy for separation,” Daddy says.

“He’s not mine,” I explain, even though Daddy should know I would never cheat on Quince. “Dosinia kissed him.”

Daddy heaves a deep sigh, his chest rising and falling beneath his uniform jacket. “I guess I didn’t take away enough of her powers to keep her from getting into trouble.”

I’ve seen that sigh before. Doe lives with our aunt Bells and uncle Portunus in a big manor house at the center of Thalassinia’s historic district. But she’s spent enough time in the palace that Daddy and I have both experienced plenty of her antics. Like the time she burst into the throne room in a panic, claiming there was a great white on her tail. Or when she hid stinky lobsters beneath the mattress of every bed in the palace—everyone had to sleep in the halls for a week. Or, most famously, the time she convinced the male members of the palace staff that Daddy wanted them to appear shirtless at a royal ceremony involving the heads of several other kingdoms. I was amazed Daddy didn’t fillet her alive then.

So hearing that, within her first week on land, she’s gotten herself bonded to a human boy is not exactly a shock.

“Meet me in my office,” Daddy says, pushing away from my bed. “Bring the boy so we can discuss how to proceed.”

I spend a few minutes getting dressed and freshening up before going to find Brody. Margarite, the palace housekeeper, placed him in the South Pacific room—a casual space decorated in black pearls and giant abalone, with wallpaper made from woven sea-palm fronds.

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