“Do you ever find,” he said to Hawthorn, his eyes following the merman about, “that whenever you’re around someone you adore, you act like a complete fool?” Hawthorn’s eyes spread across the dancefloor, and Juliana wondered who he was searching for. “Tell me about it,” he said. “You always act like a fool,” she interjected. Hawthorn jumped, but recovered quickly. “Is that so?” he said, not looking at her. “Please don’t think too much about that.”