Three Rings (The Fairytail Saga) (6 page)

‘So Link...you got a girlfriend?’ Sherri asked as she returned, sliding the tray onto the bar and then walking around the other side.

‘Girlfriend?’ He repeated, hearing the squeak in his voice. Had she read his mind? ‘Why do you ask?’

Sherri pulled a bottle of water off the counter and took a sip, then screwed the cap back on. ‘Because if you don’t, I think the buxom blonde at table twelve would like to fill out an application. She hasn’t taken her eyes
off
you since she got here.’

‘Ahh…’ Lincoln said, pocketing his phone, embarrassed. ‘You’ve noticed that too?’

Sherri nodded boldly. ‘I’m tempted to go offer her a towel for the seat.’

Lincoln snorted. ‘She’s a bit of a wildcat that one. I dare say that her attention will be diverted by the next bloke who walks through the door.’

‘And I dare say that you’re one of those men  suffering low self-esteem, despite the fact that they’re entitled to the highest.’ Sherri said with a quick grin. ‘I’ve seen at least six girls check you out since you got here-
including
the chick in the function room.’

Had Lincoln been a dog, he would have wagged his tail at the news. Six? That was...almost unthinkable.

‘Well…’ he mumbled, flattered, wishing Ivyanne was there to notice others noticing him. He
wanted
her jealous and nervous, even if she had no reason to be. Lord knew he was feeling both emotions on a daily basis in almost unmanageable degrees-especially in the wake of Tristan’s cry for attention. Would Ivyanne grant it, or leave Tristan to stew? Lincoln prayed it was the latter.

Everyone joked about what a lady killer Tristan was, and though Lincoln made sarcastic remarks about his rival being a man-whore, secretly, he wished that he was the one everyone assumed was a tiger in the sack. He wanted Saraya to make a joke about showering with
him
like she’d offered Tristan numerous times, or have other men ask
him
for work-out advice. Lincoln knew he looked good-and he was getting more and more defined every day, which made his initial weight-loss (bloat-loss?) Seem laughable. But he still had a long way to go before he literally made women shed their clothes on the spot, like Ivyanne had for Tristan.

Pain twisted in his stomach like someone turning a knife.

‘Whoa...where did you just go?’ Sherri asked, waving a hand in front of his face. ‘Something I said?’

‘No. I was thinking about the question.’ He answered. ‘No I don’t have a girlfriend, but I am working on it. A lot. And I have some
stiff
competition.’

‘Uh-oh.’ Sherri said, leaning on the bar. ‘That’s gotta suck. What are you going to do about it?’

‘The other guy is taking off for a few days.’ Lincoln said, absentmindedly gazing down at his arm, seeing the hair there thinning, as Tristan had warned him it would. Apparently, the mers lost all of the hair that wasn’t on their heads. The idea was an unsettling one-but when he applied the same rules to Ivyanne’s own skin...a shudder of arousal ran through him.

‘And...and I was wondering what I could do to you know, work that to my advantage without pushing her.’

Hairless.
He thought, wetting his lips.
Sweet, soft and bare…
His fingers twitched.

‘There’s lots of things. Flowers, sexts, ask her on a date, arrange an accidental one…..’ Sherri shrugged, not noticing his glazed expression. ‘Cliches work with girls. That’s how they
become
clichés. Just put a personal spin on it.’

Lincoln thought it over, snapping out of his oversexed mental haze long enough to absorb what she was saying. Flowers? For a
mermaid
? He’d have to do it today, while he had the boat. But what else could he do, now that he had cause to return as a designated driver? Take a boat with a midnight picnic and have it ready for when he finished work that night? Make her forget that she cared about Tristan’s feelings at all, by kissing her into oblivion while no one was around?

Kissing her where it’s bare…?

Lincoln grinned at the thought, and more ideas came to mind. What if he made Ivyanne flowers from things that were more
her
? Shells, pearls, driftwood…? An expectant smile came to his face. This could be fun! And all of a sudden, he didn’t want to put it off another second.

‘Hey Sherri…’ he began.

She smiled at him. ‘Go. Get the wheels in motion. I can hold down things for an hour or so while you work it out.’

Lincoln could have kissed her. ‘Thanks so much!’ He turned and immediately headed across the room, towards the beach entrance. He’d go collect things for the bouquet first and try to fashion something. He wasn’t the most artistic man on the planet, but what if Lydia helped?

‘Hey…’ a hand closed around his wrist as he passed the mermaid table. One look confirmed that Lux had him, and her face was glowing with that ‘drank beyond a mermaids boundaries’ glow he’d seen on Ivyanne’s own face once. ‘Where are you fleeing to, sexy?’

Lincoln grinned and politely disengaged his arm from her grip. ‘Off to plan a surprise for Ivyanne. I’ll be back in time to take you home, don’t worry.’

‘Take me home?’ Lux purred. ‘Promise?’

Lincoln wagged his finger at her. ‘I’m watching you, young lady.’

Lux laughed. ‘That makes it mutual then.’

‘Good luck!’ Saraya chirped, elbowing Lux. ‘And knock it off you.’

‘Okay, okay…’ Lux drawled, waving her arm dismissively. ‘Run off after the skinny blonde. Typical!’

Lincoln winked at Saraya, ignoring the slightly put-out expression on Lux’s face.

‘Never been the lucky type.’ He confessed. ‘But I’m starting to think that maybe I’ll be okay without it.’

With that, he strode into the bright sunshine and headed down the grassy hill, which was thick and lush after the recent Ardhi-induced rain. Who needed luck, now that he’d finally met a helpful blonde?

⁓

Ivyanne took a sip from her water glass as she shifted through the color photographs her mother had handed her, her heart seizing every time she encountered an image displaying a particularly bad case of coral bleaching. It was important work-important enough even to distract her from the ridiculous chapter in her life she’d decided to close the book on for the evening.

‘Those are the worst,’ Vana said softly. ‘It can’t be undone. But
these
…’ she handed Ivyanne a different stack of photographs, pointing to the GPS co-ordinates typed onto the upmost left corner. ‘These are places in the Great Barrier Reef that
should
be reversible. I’d like to go soon, and speed the process along.’

Ivyanne lingered on a photo that was familiar to her. ‘Didn’t we already treat this area?’

‘After the first El Nino,’ her mother confirmed. ‘But we haven’t been back since the second.’

‘This is right near an island.’ Ivyanne said, frowning down at the image. ‘There are tourists there constantly.’ The mermaids could heal the coral. Ivyanne had spent weeks doing it before. But it required spending a lot of time submerged, transferring her energy with direct contact-a feat made impossible with humans constantly paddling about.

‘We’ll go after the next severe cyclone.’ Her mother said. ‘They’ll evacuate like last time, and we’ll drop whatever we’re doing to get there. Could buy us a window of a day, maximum.’

‘The damage will be worse then mum. And it’s cyclone season
now
. Maybe we should just start recruiting for a midnight mission?’ Ivyanne glanced out the window. The sun had just set, and the sky was a deep, cloudless lilac. There was no wind, so the only sound she could hear was the shower running upstairs, where Tristan was preparing for his flight. He’d breezed in half an hour before, and headed upstairs without commenting, or looking at her. ‘Even a rainy day would scare the tourists inside long enough for us to make headway. It’s too bad Ardhi’s not around to stir things up a bit-’ she broke off mid-sentence, frowning.
‘It’s too bad’
seemed like a featherlight sentiment to utter over the death of her former best friend. A death he’d given himself readily to, for
her
. Guilt constricted her heart.

‘Baby, don’t.’ Vana’s warm hand pressed down on hers. ‘If I’ve learned anything in my four centuries, it’s that we have a right to every single emotion and thought that occurs to us. Even the ones we
think
we should be judged for.’

‘And Ardhi has a right for me to be weeping for him endlessly-not to rue his death when I see how his life could have benefited
me
.’ Ivyanne put down the photos and sank her head into her hands. ‘God I really hate myself these days. I don’t know what’s going through my head anymore. Six months ago, Ardhi’s death would have slayed me. But I wept more for
Nigara
, who I didn’t even
know
.’

‘You’re dealing with a lot and between you and I….you’ve under-reacted to a
lot
of things lately. The Ivyanne
I
know would be so terrified of being pregnant that she’d be locked in her room. She’d be so scared of her father that she’d be calling him to apologize ten times a day. She’d be so mad at Tristan that she’d have sent him packing two weeks ago, and she’d be on the Kayu-Api’s door, begging forgiveness.’

Ivyanne snorted a joyless laugh and looked at her mother. ‘So you agree that I’ve become heartless?’

But her mother smiled sadly. ‘
No
-I’m saying that I think you’re in shock.’ She reached out and tucked Ivyanne’s hair behind her ear. ‘You’re such an emotional girl-there’s no way that you’re dealing with this as well as you appear to be. I’m terrified that some tiny incident is going to set you off, and I’ll have a basket case on my hands.’

  Ivyanne thought it over, scanning her emotions for a possible lava pit waiting to bubble over. But all she felt was...indifference. An eerie calm, like she was observing what her life had become instead of participating in it. ‘Hmmm…’

‘But I pray that I’m wrong. You’ll be queen some day-and a little heartlessness would be beneficial to you.’

Ivyanne saw her mother’s point, and yet knowing that her inner reflection could have altered so was unsettling. ‘I can see why people find peace by acting evil. What I’d give to be indifferent to Tristan and Link, so I could just turn around and choose the best man for the job as opposed to agonizing over everyone’s damn feelings.
Especially
mine.’ Tristan’s face popped into her mind and she sighed. She didn’t doubt that as far as kings went,
he’d
make an incredible one. Everything he touched turn to gold. 

But Lincoln had a grip on her heart-and with every day he spent in her life, the vice was tightening. Besides, her being with Lincoln had clearly been Ardhi’s last wish. Her best friend had given his life, broken his own heart-to heal hers. Could she walk away from that?

‘Then life would hold no joy at all. It’s better to have a broken heart, than to never have used it.’

Ivyanne picked up her water glass again and had another sip, wishing that the subject had never been raised. She didn’t want to talk about the men in her life-she didn’t even want to
think
about them until it was absolutely required. But now that she’d thought of Lincoln, she was imagining him at work, without her, and her insides clenched, an attempt to squeeze down on the ache of loneliness rapidly developing there. Did he miss her too? Or was he too distracted by showing the new girl the ropes, to notice her absence?

The sound of footsteps descending the stairs brought Ivyanne back to the present. Tristan. She brought her water glass to her lips, staring at it, terrified to see the anger on his face.

‘Look Sven if you’re right, and Absalom have come into this green energy grant, then we needed to have pounced on this
yesterday
...’ Tristan was using his professional tone of voice. It was so different to his regular one. Ivyanne had heard him on the phone for business purposes a few times that week, and she had to admit that it was pretty hot. When he was talking business, she knew she was temporarily off his radar, and that was intriguing for some strange reason. ‘Draw up a proposal tonight before you leave the office, and e-mail it to me. I’ll have a read when I land, and we can discuss it in the morning.’

Ivyanne looked up, and her heart began to thrum giddily when she laid eyes on him. For almost three weeks, she’d been accustomed to seeing Tristan getting around either shirtless, or in casual beach gear. He was damn fine to look at regardless of what he was wearing (or
not
wearing) and had improved the view significantly.

But now he was dressed as the CEO he was in straight black slacks, a long sleeve black collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a pale golden tie which offset his cropped curls. He looked downright edible. Professional, commanding and controlling. The clenching inside her dropped much lower, finding muscles she knew couldn’t be squeezed tight enough to soothe the ache.

‘Yeah, six a.m is fine. We can go down to Bondi at lunch.’ He paused, still not looking up or gracing her with the appreciative smile he usually stunned her with when he entered the room. Then, he grinned in response to something Sven had said, and Ivyanne’s heart rate accelerated.