Page 87 of The Last Wish of Bristol Keats
“You couldn’t talk them out?”
Her brows knitted together. “We tried at first, and he made some efforts. So did I. But after my encounter with my mother, and everything that happened with Glennis, we mostly stopped talking about my parents. It was easy to do, we were so busy with so many other things, and I knew it was difficult for him. Difficult for both of us. I assumed both of my parents were safe and off-limits, and he assumed something else.”
“Oh.” Julia rubbed her brow. “So things came to a head?”
Bristol nodded, like she didn’t trust her voice.
“Is it too late to talk things out now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let me pose a better question: Do youwantto talk things out?”
Bristol angled her head to the side, and Julia saw an impenetrable wall in her eyes. “He captured my father and imprisoned him, and then I blackmailed Kasta to get him back out. We’re on opposite sides of this issue, and we have been since the day we met. I’m not sure we can find a middle ground.”
Julia couldn’t hide her reaction. She whistled out a surprised breath. “Well, when you two do it, you do it up big.”
“Big in a bad way,” Bristol agreed.
So Kierus was captured again, Julia thought. She had known he wouldn’t take her advice about returning to the mortal world. He was not a man who gave up, even when facing insurmountable odds. It was a trait he had passed on to his daughter, and Julia admired him for that.
She eyed Bristol staring up at the ceiling, like she was studying the intricate floral designs, but she knew Bristol was only seeing the painful breach between her and Tyghan. It was one time Julia wished she had been completely wrong, that the couple’s differences wouldn’t matter, that they would just miraculously disappear. Sometimes it didn’t feel good to be right.
“Bri,” Julia said, drawing Bristol’s gaze back to hers. “From the beginning, the gods gave you two an impossible mountain to climb. It doesn’t mean you can’t do it, assuming you still have a common goal.”
“Don’t worry, Julia, nothing will get in the way of me stopping Kormick.” Julia saw the steel return to Bristol’s eyes, the resolve she always managed to summon no matter how bad things were. Julia had seen it on their first day of field training, when Bristol was pushed and tested harder than the others because of who she was. It hadn’t deterred her. Bristol had hidden scars in her that made her tough, and yet she never abandoned her soft side. It was the ballast that kept her on course. “My goal hasn’t changed,” she continued. “Kormick started something the day he took a broken girl from a forest and manipulated her for his own purposes, and I am going to finish what he started.” Her hazel eyes narrowed like she was already envisioning it. “Trust me, I haven’t given up on Elphame just because of Tyghan. My goals don’t revolve around him. He’s just one more man and relationship gone wrong, and I’ve had plenty of them.”
And this was the hurting side of Bristol. The defensive side ready to tear apart the world. Julia stared at her, waiting for more, and Bristol blinked, glancing at the ceiling again as if she felt every heavy second.
“All right, he is not just one more man,” She admitted. “I say things when I’m angry, and so does he.”
Julia still waited.
Bristol sighed. “You are so damn good at this,” she grumbled, like Julia was forcing the words out of her. “Yes, I want to talk things out. Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Listening is what makes the talking part successful,” Julia replied. “It’s completely up to you. And him.”
“I suppose so,” she said, still resisting the thought.
“I want to help, Bri. You know that. I can step in if you need me to. You only have to say the word.”
Bristol’s gaze settled on Julia’s. She nodded. “You’re helping now, Julia. You’re listening. Thank you.”
“Always here for that,” Julia said. She was about to venture a hug, even in the crowded ballroom, when her eyes darted past Bristol’s shoulder. “Okay, he’s walking over.”
“Tyghan?”
“Yes.”
There he was again, almost instantly, a wall of heat burning her back. “Kasta’s about to announce the parley,” he said. “Officers and commanders are lining up in formation. Two lines. We should be standing together as they enter.” An intense sadness inched up her throat at the cool distance in his voice.
She swallowed and turned to face him. “Appearances. Of course.”
They walked elbow to elbow across the room. “Esmee gave you something for your stomach?” he asked.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be delaying any proceedings.”
“Did I say I was worried?” he replied. “Smile. People are watching.”
