Chapter 325

I glanced all around, but there was no sign of the mystic. Confused and slightly alarmed, I swam over to Veronica and Julian to join their conversation. They both stopped speaking and looked at me as I approached them. Likely my face was giving away my tumult of emotion.

“What happened?” Veronica asked, just as Julian asked, “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, and then told them both what had just happened regarding the merfolk mystic.

“She approached you?” Julian asked, when I had finished, even though I had just told him the full story. Surprise widened his features.

“Yes,” I said, and pointed toward where I had been standing. I reiterated what I felt was the most important part, “She knew about Elva’s curse.”

“I’m sorry,” Julian said. “Forgive me. It’s just that she doesn’t usually speak to anyone. For her to have come to you is quite a special occurrence.”

“So you do know her?” I asked.

“Yes,” Julian said. “I’ve met her only once, but I’ve seen her often enough. She is highly regarded among the merfolk royalty.”

“That she could so quickly discern the curse around Elva speaks to her considerable magic,” Veronica said. “Though I’m skeptical she knows a cure. It’s not impossible, but…”

“The merfolk have their own kind of magic,” Julian said to her. “If there was anyone who might have an alternative cure to the curse, it’s them.”

Veronica frowned but didn’t disagree.

“Do you think we can trust her?” I asked Julian.

“The merfolk royal family trusts her,” he said, which was an answer and a non-answer both. “I would probably trust her with my own life. But since we are talking about Elva…”

I understood his hesitation. I too would likely trust the mystic with my own life, knowing the merfolk royal family kept her in such high regards. But when talking about my child… My qualifications for trust were infinitely higher.

However, if there was even a small chance she could cure the curse that was certain to shorten Elva’s life, I couldn’t exactly turn that down.

Veronica and Julian’s own faces mirrored my concern.

“You should hear her out, at least,” Veronica said.

“She said she would approach me again when my heart was free of fear,” I said. “When and if that happens, I’d like you both to be there.”

Veronica quickly agreed. “I would like to hear what solutions she has for the curse. I might be able to tell right away if she knows what she’s talking about.”

Julian hummed. “And I might be able to tell if she’s lying. Yes, I’d like to be there too.”

“Thank you both,” I said, infinitely grateful. Trying to face such a mysterious person on my own had been daunting. I feared my hopeful heart might make me more susceptible to deception. Julian and Veronica would both be able to help me with that.

“I want to see what information I can uncover about merfolk magic while we are still here,” Veronica said. “If you’ll excuse me… I’m going to see if I can visit the library.”

We said our brief goodbyes and she swam toward one of the merfolk servants.

Alone, Julian and I turned to look out over the merfolk dancers. The music had slowed into that eerie melody, which was both beautiful and haunting. It was strange, but the unusual music did elicit a type of desire to dance within me.

Though, with everything that happened with Prince Ronan, I was determined not to participate in another dance again.

Julian seemed to understand that. He didn’t say a word about us dancing together. Instead, we just watched the dancers in silence.

Then, as we continued to watch, I recognized Bridget out there in the dancing area. She was dancing the same sensual dance that I had done with both Nicholas and, unfortunately, with Prince Ronan. She seems far more into it than I had with Prince Ronan, however.

Her eyes are closed and her body swaying with the rhythm. The merfolk man, her partner, curled his long tail around her and brought her close.

I looked at them for a while, then remembered Julian beside me, and how much such a sight must hurt him. I turned to him, though I wasn’t sure what to say.

Julian was watching them, though I didn’t see anger in his features. Rather, his expression hadn’t really changed. He watched the pair with a type of cool indifference. Something like that usually flew out the window with him where Bridget was concerned.

“I’m fine,” he said, smirking a little. His gaze shifted sideways to me. “I can hear your brain worrying, but I swear I’m fine.”

I couldn’t really defend myself when he was absolutely right about my worrying. “Things like this usually upset you,” I said.

“Not anymore,” he said.

I didn’t want to tell him that he had said that to me before, and then gone back on it. Though he did seem more determined this time.

As if sensing my hesitation to believe him, he added, “The way she treated you on that island… I can’t see her the same way. And her excuses… God, they all sounded so much like bullshit. That non-apology she gave you, where she demanded your forgiveness… I just can’t see her the same way I used to.”

He seemed genuine, which continued to surprise me.

“This woman that she is now… the person maybe she has always been… She is not the person I thought I knew,” Julian said. “What can I think except that the person I was in love with for so long was simply an illusion? This…” He gestured to Bridget doing her sensual dance. “This is the person she is.”

I nudged him with my shoulder. “I’m proud of you.”

He seemed embarrassed by that, brushing me off and looking away. “Yeah, well… Took me long enough, right?”

God yes, but I didn’t tell him that. “You’re on the other side of it now. That’s what matters.”

He shrugged some. “I still feel some… sadness. Grief, maybe? For a person who never existed and a relationship that never could have been possible.”

“I think it’s okay to mourn for that,” I said. I thought a moment. “I’d probably be more concerned if you didn’t, after having held out hope for as long as you did.”

“Honestly, I’m tired, too,” Julian said. “It was exhausting, never really being sure where I stood. The false hopes only to be torn down in the next second really took a lot out of me.”

I hummed in understanding. It had been hard enough to watch him constantly put his heart out for Bridget only to have her smack it back to him. I couldn’t imagine having actually lived that life.

“Well, it’s over now,” I said. “Now you can recover, and then find someone else. Someone more deserving of the person you are.”

Julian grunted, dismissive. “Love probably isn’t for me. I doubt I’ll ever find someone.”

“Love is all around you, Julian.”

If only he could see how often he talked with Veronica, and how open she was to him. Tiffany, too, was ready to love him for the person he was, not some made up version of him that they displayed on television.

“All you have to do is be open to it,” I added.

He turned and looked at me. His expression was guarded.

Whatever he was thinking in that moment, it was a mystery to me.