Pg. 131 when Lily is explaining The Bond

Quince was taking his time with his underwater breakfast when Lily suddenly jumped up from the table, kicking her fin away and insisting, "Are you ready to go?"

He opened his mouth, about to answer that he hadn't finished eating. He didn't have the chance to, as Lily grabbed his arm and yanked him away from the table. He undoubtedly looked shocked at her strength and ability to drag him out into the hallway. Can you be dragged, when you're floating underwater? Quince wasn't going to take the time to ponder the semantics. However, he was going to ask what this was about.

"In a hurry, princess?" Quince asked, Lily's arm still on his as she continued to pull him along. He didn't think he'd been too intolerable at the table with his food, he was sure to sit up straight and keep his elbows off the table to be respectful. Maybe he'd violated some unknown mer-rule that he couldn't possibly be expected to know.

"Sorry," she replied flatly. "I just couldn't sit there while everyone watched every tiny thing we did. I don't do well in the spotlight."

Quince raised his eyebrows curiously, "Aren't you used to it?" After all, she was the princess of the kingdom. That seemed like a spotlight to him. "I mean, you're their princess. Haven't they always watched you like that?"

Once into the front hall, Lily's grasp relaxed on Quince's, letting him loose as she drifted away from him. "Not like this. They're all super eager because of the bonding."

Quince was surprised about that, uncertain what to make of it. Maybe there was a lot more to the politics of this whole mer-bonding thing than the Sparknotes he'd been given. Lily started to comb her fingers through her blonde locks, just floating around her head.

If Quince wasn't distracted by the topic, he might've taken a moment to once again take in the fact that he was in an underwater kingdom with Lily, who was apparently a mermaid princess. Instead, though, he asked, "Why does that make a difference? I mean, it's not like it was your first kiss."

Even though she didn't reply, Quince could sense her discomfort. Her body language froze, even if her tailfin did not. He winced slightly, thinking back to that evening in the library just two nights ago where he'd just impulsively kissed her. This whole time, he was thinking something... or maybe he wasn't thinking. After all, if a mere kiss sets off this crazy whole mer bond thing here, why would she have kissed someone before him? Not like he knew that the other night.

"Well, hell."

Lily completely froze in place, and Quince couldn't help the thoughts rushing into his head as he was still paddling to catch up to her. That absolutely remarkable kiss with her that night was her first kiss. He was shocked. His first kiss was nowhere near as...well, that good.

"I had no idea, Lily. If I had known, I would have-" he wasn't really sure how to put his feelings into words, and she interrupted him before he had to decide.

"Forget it. It's over. Done. We can't change what happened," she said, then her voice lowered, she added, "No matter how much we want to."

Quince still didn't know how much he wanted to change what happened, and he was trying not to dwell on it, since he couldn't change it, after all. Maybe he would go back and talk to her properly instead of setting off this ridiculous chain of events that put him in the mer world for such a blip in time. In just a few short hours, supposedly, he'd be back on land and Lily would be back to her persistent drooling over Bennett. Just as Lily kicked through a large entrance at the front of the room, he reached his arm out to stop her.

"Why did the bond make them watch you more intently?"

Quince could feel the swirl of emotions going through her, the weighing of options for a few moments before she answered.

"Because in this world, a bond is the equivalent of marriage," she started. Quince had sort of gathered that much by now, even though it did seem rather intense to enforce upon a seventeen-year-old. "And because I'm a princess and the heir to the throne. One day I will be queen. They think I've chosen you as our future king, and they're trying to decide if I'm crazy or in love or just full-out stupid."

Quince looked deep into her eyes for several moments, himself feeling so drawn to her. Ruling a mer kingdom by her side sounded absolutely absurd to him, in every way, unfathomable, but he felt like it was possible when he looked into her eyes. Lord, he wanted to be the one with her to do it. She shrugged to pull her arm away and kicked to the front door of the castle, pulling it open.

"And you wanted Brody to be the one at your side," Quince stated, matter-of-factly. He already knew the answer. Even saying that was something that Quince didn't want to admit or acknowledge, his jealousy for Brody bubbling inside of him. Why did he have to be the complete object of her infatuation and attention? He needed her to see past Brody.

If only he had shown up in the damn library so she would have realized what a total prick he was.

As a royal guard swam into the room, both of their attentions were drawn over to him. "Princess Waterlily! Wait! Your father asks that you join him in court today."

"Oh, well, I was just going to show Quince around," Lily answered, weakly gesturing in his direction. "He wanted to-"

"Don't sweat it," Quince was quick to interrupt, waving her off. "I'll amuse myself. Hang with your dad."

He needed some time to think without the pressure of the princess around, anyway. And to cool down after confronting the fact that he was just an accidental Brody, and she didn't really care about him. What was he supposed to do, with the imminent plans of permanently severing their bond in just a few short hours? Lily still nearly hated his guts. Even if he could've treasured a personal tour of her kingdom, it's not like he was really an important person in Thalassinia.

"His highness arranged for an alternative, Master Quince," the guard spoke up, pulling Quince's attention back out from his own personal problems. "The princess's cousin has volunteered to give you a tour."

Quince turned when he felt an arm wrap around his, a rather pretty, young mermaid smiling at Lily. She didn't acknowledge him at all. "It would be my pleasure."

He felt a twinge, a tiny hint of something from Lily, and he chose to lean into it. He smiled at her cousin, "Sounds great," he answered, allowing Dosinia to pull him through the front door of the castle and out into the kingdom.