Page 155 of The Nymph Prince

Fletcher looked from me and back to Lorcan. He went to say something but closed his mouth. Opened it again. Closed it. Then he slumped on the bench and reached for the mug that the wench had just placed in front of him.

“Aren’t you the nymph who followed us all those months?” he asked Lorcan.

“Yes.”

“Well, notus. I’m pretty sure it was Alek you were after.” Green eyes filled with tears, and he chugged his mead before placing it back on the table and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Sorry to be the one to tell you, but Alek’s gone. He…he fell in battle. The king sent men after him. I tried to help him, but I…” He shook his head and gulped more mead. “I hoped that he might’ve been saved by you, but I see now that it was just wishful thinking.”

There was a twinge in my chest at hearing the devastation in his voice. It seemed time hadn’t healed his wounds from losing me, either.

“Actually,” I said, taking a seat beside him. “He did save me.”

Fletcher’s eyes widened. “I-I don’t understand.”

“Lorcan saved me that day,” I explained, glancing at my nymph before looking at the man who was my best friend.

And even though I knew how insane it all sounded, I told him everything. How Lorcan had carried me away from danger, how I’d healed myself, and then how we’d journeyed to Avalontis. I described the palace, seeing his eyes light up as I did, before telling him about the seer and my cursed bloodline.

He sat quietly as I talked, looking as though he wanted to interrupt a few times, but pursing his lips before doing so. He’d always been curious and full of questions.

When I reached the part about the battle, I left out the gruesome details. I told him enough to explain why I was in a different body and spared him the rest.

“That’s everything,” I said, running my fingers through my hair. The nerves winding in my gut made me feel a bit sick. What if he didn’t believe me? “When laid out like that, my life sounds like one of your stories.”

Fletcher was silent as he absorbed it all. His green eyes focused on me. “If you’re really Alek, what was one of the first stories I ever told you?”

“The one about the nymph who fell in love with the sun,” I answered, feeling my throat clog with the emotion I was barely holding back. “But you told many, mostly about the sea. We’d lay on the main deck of theCrimsonwhile you idly strummed your lute and told them to me.”

“Al!” Fletcher threw his arms around me and started to cry.

My eyes watered as I returned his embrace. I never thought I’d see him again or that he’d even believe me if I did.

Lorcan smiled at me from across the table. The wench returned to refill his mug, and he shuddered and shook his head.

I grinned. One day I’d get him to like human spirits. He was spoiled on ambrosia.

“Is there really a palace beneath the sea?” Fletcher asked.

“Aye and it’s beautiful,” I answered, feeling the hole in my heart caused by his absence start to mend. “Maybe one day I can take you there.”

Fletcher talked to Lorcan next, asking him all sorts of questions about what it was like to be a nymph and if he had any other powers besides his voice. Lorcan was patient and answered them all.

I caught his eye several times, silently thanking him.

I asked Fletcher about Kellan, and it was my turn to listen as he talked about Kellan breaking his curse and them deciding to leave the pirating life and make a home in Emerald Cove.

“Kellan is a blacksmith now,” Fletcher added before taking another drink of mead.

He was all bubbly and relaxed, having downed close to three mugs since we’d been there. Most men wouldn’t have been affected, but he was small and didn’t hold his alcohol well.

“A blacksmith?” I had trouble imagining it.

“He’s really good with his hands,” Fletcher said with a wink.

Malik snorted and Reif shook his head.

“Gods, I missed you, Fletch.”

Fletcher looped his arm through mine and laid his head on my shoulder. “Missed you, too, Al.”