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Chapter Thirty-Nine

G rim was looking at the girl opposite him.

“It’s you,” he said to Thea. “You’re the girl who’s been appearing in my dreams. But how did I never notice?”

“Oh, Grim,” breathed Thea. “I’ve been wanting to tell you—I’ve been having the very same dreams as well.”

Serena sat, rooted into her chair, and she almost could hear her heart shatter. This was all wrong—that bitch was lying . It was her that Grim had been dreaming of, not some girl he only knew because of some fake memories.

There was nothing she could do; the two were staring at each other, Grim in confused awe and Thea with open adoration.

She knew that Grim felt nothing for the girl, that it were the feelings he felt for Serena that were being manipulated by Lore, but she could not bear to watch any further.

She had to go, she had to leave for now.

Standing up in a rush, she accidentally knocked over her chair, and it broke the spell over Grim.

He looked at her and paled at whatever emotion he saw on her face.

She saw a range of emotions cross his face: confusion, shame, and finally, apology.

That was the one that undid her, and she rushed out of the room, wondering how her feet were not spilling crimson liquid with every step she took.

“I warned you,” came a voice behind her. “You should have taken my offer to surrender yourself to me sooner. Now you’ll simply turn to seafoam in this world, when your lover fails to profess his emotions.”

She turned to look at Lore’s face, expecting to see his usual smirk. Instead, she simply saw hatred on his face; clearly he had not forgiven her for the words she had uttered in the cave.

“You must be wondering what will happen to your precious Grim after you’re gone,” he said, stalking toward her.

“I was going to simply get rid of him. But then I met that charming young lady in there, and I thought of a better idea. Would you believe that I revealed my true form and the reality of this tale to her, and she still didn’t care?

She wants that lover of yours badly—says she doesn’t care if the memories are fake, she still wants him to be hers.

And I realized, that is the perfect ending for him .

“To live in a state where your mind and heart are forever at odds about the person you love. His mind will convince him that she is his true love, enough for him to pledge himself to her, but his heart, oh his heart will always rebel and torment him with the possibility that he was wrong.

“And he’ll remember you, the little silver-haired foundling of his who disappeared, and his heart will whisper to his mind every day, What if we were wrong, what if she was the one . But it will be too late, because you will have long since disappeared.

“Eventually his memories will come back, and he’ll realize the truth. But once he grasps the whole truth, and he remembers not just Selene but also Serena… Well, do you truly think he will be able to remain sane?”

She lunged at him in rage, and he easily sidestepped her with a dark laugh.

“Well, time for me to go.” He hummed. “See you in two days, little mermaid.”

She spent the next day holed up in her room, while Molly fussed over her. But even she was subdued, for news of the engagement of Prince Grim and Lady Thea had become almost official, and the Summer Solstice ball was now being called an engagement ball by the servants.

“I’m sorry, milady,” whispered Molly, as she brushed out Serena’s hair before bed. “I truly thought…But I suppose it was not to be.”

For her part, Serena went about with a dull-eyed gaze, the pain in her legs now nothing compared to the ache in her heart.

She couldn’t believe that after everything, this was how it was going to end.

It wasn’t something she had admitted before, but she had always thought that if they ever failed, at least they would be together in the end.

In so many ways, this was worse than she could have ever imagined.

She thought about the dreams the prince had told her about, the girl he was in love with.

There was little doubt in her mind now that the Grim she knew had loved her.

She simply had been too much of a coward to say it first and find out if her feelings were reciprocated.

Her fear of rejection had lost her the love of her life.

A few times, she received summons from the prince, which she ignored as she lay on the bed, soaking the sheets with her tears. Maybe a stronger person would have gone out fighting, but she was so tired; she just wanted it to pass.

On the morning of the seventh day, she received a surprise visitor. Grim burst into her room, his face flushed.

“You haven’t answered any of my summons,” he said tersely.

She simply shrugged, not wanting to look at him. She knew it was unfair, but part of her was angry at him for not fighting harder against the spell, for not regaining his memories on time.

For looking at another woman the way he had only ever looked at her.

“Look at me,” he said, and then gentler, “Please.”

Sighing, she turned to look at him. His hair was mussed as if he had been running his hand through it, and his clothes were rumpled. There was an odd glint in his eyes, an almost feverish gleam that was at odds with his usual calm demeanor.

“Come to the ball tonight,” he said.

Her cheeks turned red with anger. How dare he play with her heart like that. Standing up she stalked toward him, wincing at the effort, and shoved his chest. Startled, he stumbled back, but recovered quickly, his hands snaking around her wrists .

“Please,” he said. “If you care about me at all, you will come to the ball tonight.”

The strength left her body at that, and she nodded resignedly. At the very least, she had succeeded in making him see her as someone he wanted around when he celebrated his happiness. Maybe that counted for something.

“Good,” he said, pleased. “I’ll ask for your dress to be sent as well, and Molly will make sure you’re ready for the ball.”

With that he swept away leaving her to collapse in the bed behind her.

The ball was to be held at sunset, and Molly appeared a few hours early to help prepare her.

After a bath, she was ushered to the vanity where the girl poked and prodded at her.

Her hair fell in a waterfall down her back, reaching slightly beyond her knees, the sides pinned back with a beautiful comb inlaid with seashells and pearls, glimmering in the golden rays that peeked through the magnificent glass windows of the room.

Molly kept working, her brow furrowed in concentration, as she weaved tiny glittering jewels throughout her hair and fastened simple pearl earrings through her ears.

There was no necklace, but she ended up wearing the same jeweled bracelets she had on when she appeared in this world.

She was turned toward a larger full-length mirror, and she gasped despite herself at the full sight of the dress.

For it was one of the most beautiful creations she had ever seen.

The color was a soft seafoam green and the white trim at the hem brought to mind the froth of ocean waves.

The top half of the dress had seashells and pearls woven into the floaty silk like material, that shone like ripples on water.

The midriff was almost scandalous; it was a nude color that looked almost like skin, and there were ribbons of the same color laced through it.

The skirt hugged her curves, falling in layers upon layers of gossamer material with starry sequins woven throughout it.

The sheer sleeves began in the middle of her upper arm, fastened by a jeweled cuff, and opened to a bell-like shape that reached down and covered almost her entire hand.

“Oh my,” said Molly, her eyes glinting. “That is quite a dress.”

She looked like a mermaid. What an odd coincidence.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” said Molly and bustled out the door.

“Well,” drawled Lore. “I thought she’d never leave.”

She slowly turned to see him sitting on her bed, twirling a familiar looking dagger in his hands.

“Sorry for barging in,” he said smoothly, “but I quite forgot about the final test in your story.”

He presented the dagger to her in a flourish, and she realized with a sick feeling that it was the same one that her aunt had stabbed herself with. But there was something else too, something about the dagger that was familiar, that she could not place her finger on…

“Little mermaid, here is the choice I offer you.

If your beloved does not profess his love for you, then you shall lose your earthly form and become nothing but the seafoam that kisses the shore.

However, if you choose to admit that your love for your life outweighs the love you have for your prince, then take this dagger and plunge it into the heart of the man you claimed to adore.

Let his crimson blood spill over your feet and relieve them from their ache, and you can choose to return home.

You must make your choice soon, because either you or he must die before the sun sets on this day.”

With those forbidding words, he disappeared, and she was left clutching the dagger he had left behind.

It was a little while before sunset when she entered the ball, and the revelry was in full swing.

She spotted Grim and Thea sweeping through the room in a waltz, and she looked away, her fingernails digging into her palm.

Instead she wandered around, flinching with every painful step, simply waiting for the inevitable.

The ball was taking place in the courtyard of the palace, which was a stone’s throw from the beach.

She had decided she would simply steal away when it was time and disappear.