Asylum (Causal Enchantment #2)(21)

I turned to look at Max. “Where’s Leo?”

Resting for the day.That much magic drained him.

“Okay.” I turned back to see Julian’s wide eyes and the same “Is she crazy?” look his sister had worn the day before. “Yes, I can talk to him telepathically,” I supplied. “I have no idea how. It just happened.”

Julian’s brown eyes shifted between Max and me. “Well,” he said after a long moment, “tell him thanks for me. It was colder than I anticipated.”

“You just did. He understands you,” I said. I glanced down at the floor to see my pictures scattered everywhere. I must have dropped them when Max came in with Julian. Rolling off the couch to my knees, I started gathering them.

“Are those your . . . friends?” Julian asked.

Friends. That word again. It was sounding more odd as time went on. I only nodded.

Julian eased himself off the couch to crouch on the floor and help collect the photos. He held up a picture of Bishop wearing a goofy grin and one of Caden, his face typically pensive. “So which one are you in love with?”

I snatched the picture from his hand, heat rising in my cheeks. He chuckled and continued picking up pictures, pausing on one of Amelie and Fiona. I noticed his eyebrow arch. “Who’s the blonde?”

Despite my dour mood, I grinned. “That’s Amelie. She’s really cute, isn’t she? You’d like her.” Except that she’s a vampire, and she’ll likely kill you.

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” he murmured wryly. I caught the fleeting look of disapproval before he consciously made it disappear. “I’m sorry about earlier,” he said. “I’ve been a complete jerk to you. I deserved what Max did.” Max let out a small grunt of satisfaction. Julian glanced over before continuing, likely a little disoriented by the dog’s uncanny ability to understand him. “It’s just . . . I know my parents were mixed up with some bad things. But they were still my parents and now they’re dead. One minute I’m visiting them for a weekend trip away from med school and the next thing I know, I’m . . . I don’t know where and . . . ”

“Med school?” Julian, the son of a Colombian drug lord, saving lives? Sofie hadn’t mentioned that.

“Yeah, my first year. I fast-tracked my undergrad,” Julian explained.

I watched him obliquely as we collected the rest of the pictures in silence, wary of this new calm, polite version of Julian. Had Leo magically fixed him to be . . . nice?

“Why aren’t they here, with you, if they’re your friends?” Julian suddenly asked.

“It’s a long story,” I muttered. I had no idea where to begin.

He handed me the stack he had collected, then prompted as he climbed back onto the couch, “Well, I’m clearly not going anywhere . . . ”

I glanced at Max, who only shook his head. Not surprising. This world of secrecy was all the big dog knew. Lies and manipulation. Of course he didn’t trust a soul.

“Please?” Julian coaxed, staring back at me with earnest brown eyes that looked more like those of an innocent seven-year-old than a twenty-something med student from a corrupt family. It was probably the same look I had in my eyes when I begged for the truth from Sofie. For once I held the answers, and I couldn’t bear to leave an innocent person in the friendless darkness where I had dwelt.

For the next hour, I gave Julian the Cole’s Notes version of my life as I had learned it over the last month, much to Max’s mortification. Julian sat cross-legged on the couch and listened quietly, all signs of his previous offensiveness gone, replaced with a mixture of appreciation and sympathy. Once in a while he asked a question, querying the venom issue or where Veronique was hiding, but otherwise he just listened, seemingly absorbing my words. He was a wonderful listener, I had to admit. Once I started, I found it effortless to talk to him. It was easier than talking to Caden—but that was likely because I couldn’t focus on any thought for too long around that face . . . Though Julian was becoming more appealing with his new demeanor, it was different.

I spoke briefly about Caden, stumbling over my words and blushing furiously. I left out anything that sounded like “love” and “soul mate” but the knowing look in Julian’s eyes revealed that he’d quickly deduced what Caden meant to me.

At some point, a servant set a tray holding weak tea and lightly buttered toast on the nearest end table for Julian, which he accepted with a polite nod. “It sounds like you’ve forgiven them,” he said, his face incredulous as he stirred sugar into his tea. “After everything they’ve done to you?”

“I wouldn’t say I’ve forgiven them,” I began slowly, feeling foolish again. I couldn’t even answer that truthfully. I had in fact forgiven Sofie. Completely. And there was nothing to forgive on Caden’s end. “Being angry won’t change anything. It will only turn me bitter. Maybe it will surface later and I’ll go on a psychotic rampage.”

“But . . . ” Julian paused, searching for words, “they tried to kill you and you still call them friends. You don’t see there being anything wrong with that?”

“It’s complicated,” I mumbled, shrugging. “There’s plenty wrong with everything that’s going on. I hope that by the time I see them again, they’ll have learned to control themselves.”