Maybe calling it a night isn’t such a bad idea. After all, I have a lot of information to take in, process, and then dump in order to fit in more info tomorrow. I wonder how many mind-boggling facts a person can handle at one time. I have to have set some sort of record already.

Reed walks us to the car and watches us leave with his hands shoved in his pockets. His expression is full of all sorts of doubt.

* * *

The car ride back to Sylvia’s is thick with silence. The way the air gets thick and humid right before a storm rolls in. It gets sticky and heavy and suffocating. Galen walks me to my room, and I motion for him to come inside. He hesitates. It’s then that I realize he’s holding something back. Something bigger than what happened at dinner.

“What’s wrong?” I say.

He still doesn’t come in. By this time, I’m already throwing my purse on the bed. He’s acting like a complete stranger, and it’s setting me on edge. “You’re not coming in?”

Leaning against the frame, he sighs. “I want to come in. You know I do. But … I just feel that before we go further, we should talk.”

“Further? Into what?” I peel off my ballet flats. The carpet is high and feels luxurious between my toes. Or maybe the carpet is average, and I’m trying to distract myself from looking at Galen’s troubled expression.

He shuts the door behind him but doesn’t come any closer. “Further into our plans, I guess.”

“Plans?” Plans? When a guy says plans, he’s usually talking about the next meal or movie or game on TV. When Galen says plans, he’s talking about Plans.

He runs a hand through his hair. Not a good sign. “The truth is, I’ve been thinking about our deal. How we said we would wait until our mating ceremony until we … And that our mating ceremony would wait until after college. Is that … Is that still what you want?”

I pull my hair around front for fidgeting convenience. Twisting it, I say, “I’m not sure what you’re asking me right now.” Is he saying he doesn’t want to wait to be mated? Just the thought of it, and the intimacy of the “romantically designed” room in general, makes my cheeks smolder. Or is this about Reed? Is he asking me if Reed has changed our plans to be together? Surely, that can’t be it. Surely, he’s not that insecure about his ability to make me swoon.

Galen laces his fingers behind his head, probably to keep from fidgeting himself. I’ve never seen him this nervous before. “Triton’s trident, Emma, I don’t know how much longer I can keep away from you—I really don’t. No, no, it’s not even about that. This is coming out all wrong.” He lets out a slow breath. “What I’m asking is this: After all that’s happened, do you truly want to stay on land?”

Whoa. What? “Everything that’s happened?” And staying on land as opposed to…?

“You know. Finding out that your mother is the Poseidon princess. That at the first chance she got, she mated with Grom, and now they spend most of their time in the water. I mean, if it weren’t for—” Galen shifts to one foot and leans against the antique dresser.

“If it weren’t for what?” My insides suddenly blister with anger. “First chance she got?” I guess that could be the short, rude version of what happened.

“Nevermind. I told you, it’s coming out all wrong.”

“You were going to say, If it weren’t for me, Mom would live in the water permanently, weren’t you?” He doesn’t try to deny it. He can’t. It’s all over his face. Along with some appropriate guilt. But the worst part is, he doesn’t just mean that she would live there permanently. He means that she would be happier if she did. That she should live there permanently.

Is he saying that I’m somehow standing in the way of my mother’s happiness? Is he saying that I’m standing in the way of his happiness? Or am I reading this all wrong? I try to rein in my feelings and filter them into useful conversation. “You don’t want to wait until after we graduate college to be mated? Is that what this is about?” And if it is, how do I feel about that?

But my brain won’t answer the questions my heart is asking.

He sighs. “I didn’t mean to upset you. We can talk about it later. We’ve both had a long day.”

“You know you don’t have to attend college, Galen. We already talked about this. I can take classes, and you can … We can get an apartment off campus, remember?”

He grimaces. “No. Yes. Sort of.” He crosses his arms over the dresser and rests his chin on them. “Look, I’m not asking for a decision right now, and I’m not trying to pressure you.”

“Pressure me into what? Galen, so far I haven’t heard you ask me to do anything. I don’t know what we’re talking about here.” And I’m getting pretty frustrated with it. He must be, too, because he buries his face in his arms.

Finally he looks at me again, meets my eyes. “I don’t want to go to college,” he says. “All I want to do is have our mating ceremony and go back to the ocean. With you. Now. Ten minutes ago, actually. The sooner the better.”

My jaw may never close again at this point. Shock pirouettes through my veins in precise, intense waves. Is that why he didn’t have a problem stopping before things got too serious on the side of the interstate earlier today? Was he trying to get me to break my promise to wait until after our mating ceremony so he could break his promise to stay on land with me? “You’re backing out of our plans?” I almost choke on the words.