RIPPLE

{Twenty One}

Poseidon granted Lachlan permission to the Island of Monsters, and my father's deal, out of pure amusement. He also granted Lachlan permission to return to the surface world for his father's funeral tomorrow evening before he would be sent to the Island of Monsters, which means we have one more day together.

        Our last day.

        As Lachlan lays beside me in bed, I study every line and contour of his face. I listen to the way his breath rises and falls. His sea-salt scent has only gotten stronger and his sun-kissed features have gotten slightly darker. In these moments before the sun rises, it's easy to melt away from the world and pretend it's just him and I. Its easy to get lost in Lachlan, and I want to be lost.

        How ultimately perfect would that be?

        What kind of beasts are waiting for him on the island of monsters?

         I snuggle up back beside him, and he pulls me close to him. No interruptions. Nothing that needs our approval or our saving. Lachlan pulls his hand up, smiling, playing with my hair as his eyes slowly open. “I could get used to this.”

       “I wish it could be like this every day.”

        “Soon it will be,” Lachlan kisses my cheeks. But there's a sadness in his gaze that can't be undone. He doesn't want to leave me behind when he returns to the surface world tomorrow, and I want to be by his side at his father's funeral.

        Thirty days without him will feel like a lifetime. We're designed to feel every moment separating us, so we could use it as our motivation. But seeing his father tomorrow will tear Lachlan into painful little pieces, and I hope that his family will be on board with this, otherwise the 30 days will have been for nothing.

        We shared every moment together today, no matter who tried to separate us and ignored the constant stares. Being with a human wasn't particularly something Poseidon and dad were fond of, especially one so fearful of water now, but there was no stopping us.

       The conversation was kept at a dull minimum, with Merrick making the occasional snide comment to anyone that might listen. My father would soon return to Atlantis, and my mother kept her distance, wanting more than ever to be returned to the mermaid exhibit. But she could no longer escape responsibility this time.

        Each of us at our table felt some type of loss, but each Caraway girl knew about Aquamarine, and nothing felt the same now that she was gone. My sisters were permitted to stay the 30+ days until I wed. What could we do for 30 days other than wait this out? None of them looked or felt particularly happy that we were being made to wed.

       Just like Mikhail.

        But thankfully the boys have a choice, and they don't have to be married until they turn twenty one — and both twins are just before their twenty first birthday.

        Two months shy of turning twenty-one, Mikhail almost died from blood loss and stab wounds. Two months shy of Lachlan's twenty first birthday, he would be spending one month in the Island of Monsters attempting to get the approval of a father and a God — almost died by drowning — and I saved them both.

       One thing was for sure: I want to be married on the beach where Mikhail and I first met, overlooked by my sisters and Lachlan's siblings and our parents. I received the King's blessing to be with both of his children, and that was something special . . . if only Ronan were here, what would he tell his son when he goes to the Island of Monsters?

       Lachlan and I spent our day exploring Poseidon's sanctuary. We couldn't find the basement room he was trapped in, and we didn't want to. But we did did several locked doors we weren't allowed through and an entrance onto a private island only Lachlan was allowed on. There wasn't much in Poseidon's three-floor sanctuary that we were allowed to actually see.