A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

Chapter 16

It was odd. I had never imagined Damien to be sitting across from me at the dinner table chatting away with the king as if they had been friends all along. Xavior sat with us with a small frown as he poked at his food only glancing up occasionally.

I felt bad for him. After all I had been the one to cause his gloomy attitude. I wasn't really sure what to do about the situation and I eventually decided to leave him alone to pout, putting most of my attention on my father and Damien. Everyone seemed to like him and wanted to get to know the new comer who kept my attention last night.

"Xavior, my boy!" the king addressed in a hearty tone as his fork clanked against the dinnerware. "I do believe you have competition!" My father wore a large teasing grin, but it didn't help captain's mood.

His eyes widened before glancing over across the table at me with a small glint of determination in his eyes. "I believe I do," he said keeping eye contact. I broke it and quickly glanced down at my plate, but not before catching the look on Damien's face. It didn't show any signs of irritation or jealousy, but his eyes told me that he was curious.

"You know Elle," Aria began with a sweet smile, "I don't think Dilan has had a tour of the palace. You should give him a walk through."

"You would think that living in a place as big as a castle would let you do more than showing your potential suitors around the gardens or through the halls," I thought while nodding to Aria.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” the king replied. His face was unreadable like always, but I had a feeling he wasn’t alright with the idea. “I am curious about your opinion about the pool though,” he mused after swallowing a bite of chicken. “It was designed to mimic the ocean.”

Damien nodded. “I would love to see what you’ve come up with,” he replied politely. The king smiled as an approval and after we had finished eating, he led the pretend merman named Dilan, Blithe and I to our advanced indoor pool area.

Even I hadn’t seen it, but Blithe had explained that it was very large and was fifteen feet deep. When we arrived, I found out that he was right about the size. It was as big as half of a football field at least. It didn’t look like a room at all. There was ten feet between us and the shoreline when we walked in. The entire room was the pool, but it looked more like part of a lake or an ocean. The walls were designed to mimic the suns and moons as the day went on. It was the most magnificent thing I had ever seen.

When I looked over at my father, he wore a proud smile as he took in the room. Blithe seemed just as proud, but Damien seemed impressed. However, his expression was a contradiction to what he said.

“It’s nice.”

My father’s lips pressed in a straight line while Blithe looked unfazed. I, on the other hand, had to keep my mouth from dropping and accusing him of being blind as we all stared at him.

“But I’m just looking at it. If I were to jump in and explore its depths, I would say that it could be a home away from home,” Damien replied after a moment, bringing the proud smile back on my father’s lips.

“I think you can show him the rest of the palace,” he said simply. “Blithe will chaperone.” Once Blithe nodded, the king left the room. I watched him go a little flabbergasted. 

There was five seconds of silence before Blithe spoke. “Well are just going to stand here or what, Elle?”

I snapped out of it and led the two out of the room and into the hallway. When I started for the ballroom, Blithe cleared his throat to catch my attention.

“What?” I asked.

“You’re not really going to walk around this place, are you?”

My mouth dropped. “Well – yeah,” I replied plainly as Damien just stood and watched us with an amused expression.

He ‘tsked’ at me while shaking his head. “You have the opportunity to spend time together, use it.” I stared at him blankly. “The island.”

“Oh…” I breathed, catching on.

“We’ll meet in twenty minutes,” Blithe said. I smiled and before anyone but the three of us could see, I quickly teleported Damien and I to the island. I wasn’t sure what Blithe would do to keep out of sight, but I had faith he wouldn’t let anyone see him.

“This stuff is a little tiring,” I blurted sitting down on a log in the clearing.

“Miss your freedom?” Damien asked as he sat beside me. I nodded. “Me to.”

“But that’s the only thing I miss,” I clarified sternly. Damien put his arm around my waist and I rested my head on his shoulder.

“So you wanna tell me about this Xavior guy?” he asked after a few silent seconds. I froze, unsure how to answer, but in the end I told him how I had met him at the Air Festival Ball and the king’s matchmaking, which I had put an end to when I found out about Damien. 

“I was trying to move on,” I explained, hoping it would erase the frown from his lips. I felt like I had betrayed him.

He rubbed my back and kissed my forehead whispering, “I know.” He pulled back and kept my gaze. “You did nothing wrong, alright?” I nodded.

“So how much longer do you think you’ll have to play mermaid?” I asked, changing the subject.

Damien shrugged. “Hopefully not too much longer, but don’t worry about it. Blithe and I are working on a plan.” He flashed a reassuring smile my way before taking my hand and pulling me up. “Come on, I’ll show you some real mermaids.”