by S. K Munt
Heads Or Tails Book #3 in The Fairytail Saga S.K Munt
Heads Or Tails
Book #3 in The Fairytail Saga
S.K Munt
Cover art by Natalie Rose Spasic, Officemanager4U
Published by S.K Munt
© Copyright 2013 S.K Munt
www.skmunt.com
Dedicated to my little muse, Quinn. You and this series were conceived together, revealed together and now are taking your first steps into the world together.
Happy 1st birthday darling.
(Please do not read this until you are at least 25.)
Dear readers, this is a link to The Fairytail Saga Facebook Page. Follow it to access a detailed family tree, to help you keep track of the various heads and tails of my crazy little merfolk.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/edit/a.386855161426346.1073741827.280475535397643/
1.
Lincoln tossed Adele a bag of change and grinned as she caught it one-handed without looking up.
‘Nice reflexes,’ he observed.
‘I just get cooler every day.’ Adele dropped the bag on the bar next to the till with a heavy clang. ‘Did you get me extra fifty cent pieces like I asked?’
‘Sure did, m’am.’ Lincoln saluted her. ‘Can I go now?’
Adele turned to eye him carefully. ‘You’re in a cheerful mood.’ She reached into the bag and withdrew a roll of coins, cracking the cardboard casing on the bar. ‘Any special reason?’
Lincoln felt like the corner of his lips would get stuck in his ears. ‘Ivyanne invited me over. For the night.’
A knowing look came over Adele’s face. She had her pale hair pulled back for a change, pulling focus to the shadows under her high cheekbones. Every day of mermaid life was enhancing what he’d once believed impossible to improve upon, as though the ocean breeze was blowing fresh vibrancy through what had already been radiant.
‘So she’s finished moving out of Bracken?’
‘Yes.’ Lincoln said darkly. He’d been trying to forget about the part where Ivyanne had put a two hour drive between them under the guise of safety. ‘As if that Island hadn’t been far enough from here to begin with!’
‘Well, drive carefully. If you’re going to be commuting between here and the Whitsunday's from now on, I don’t want you doing it while tired or in a hurry.’
‘Thanks mum.’ Lincoln meant it as a joke, but the dark look which flitted across her features stopped his smile dead. ‘I mean, sure. Thank you.’
Adele nodded curtly but said nothing.
Lincoln felt his conscience twitch. He’d become so used to his new world that he often forgot his old one-the one where he and Adele had technically just broken up. He was certain that she was over him, but referring to her as a nagging mother was probably pushing it. After all-he had dumped her for another woman.
‘It’s a shame I can’t just swim there and shave some time off the trip,’ Lincoln finally said for lack of anything else.
‘Yeah well, until we know where that freak is…’ Adele shuddered slightly, making her dread for Ardhi Kayu-Api apparent.
‘Yeah… I know.’ Lincoln said softly. He shared her fear, but Adele was probably more paranoid than any of them, and with good reason. Tristan had paid for Walter and Brenda Knightley to go on a six week trek across Africa-the continent populated with the least mers, knowing they couldn’t be safer from Ardhi anywhere than in the desert. But because Adele had opted to stay put and take her old job back, she was still a sitting duck-and her betrayal of Ardhi had been instrumental in outing his insanity to the kingdom. If he had an axe to grind, the consensus was that he’d sharpen the blade on Adele at the first opportunity.
Lincoln was probably third, after Tristan. But he’d take being first on Ardhi’s hit-list if it meant getting his ring back on Ivyanne’s finger. He shook the thought off, not wanting to let the funky cloud that had been hovering above him for two weeks settle upon his shoulders now that he had reason to be of good cheer.
‘Are you going to be okay here if I go?’ Lincoln asked, looking around warily.
Adele nodded. ‘I’ve got Bane and Grace and Marcus and Dalton around twenty four seven Link, not to mention all of the mers patrolling the coast-I’ll be fine overnight.’ She lifted and dropped a shoulder. ‘Besides, I’m going to have to get used to it. You will be gone-a lot. And catching Ardhi could take years.’
‘Lord I hope not,’ Lincoln muttered. Ivyanne’s decision to leave Seaview and go back to her hometown in the Whitsunday's had broken his heart, because it seemed like every week, she was moving further and further away from him. But it was a reality he was forced to accept. He was no longer in love with a wandering princess on a quest to find herself, but a queen who was being chased by an unstable man who knew far too much about her.
The Kayu-Api’s permanent residence in Airlie Beach was close to Ivyanne’s former home, so Ivyanne had put it on the market two weeks before and purchased another Ardhi wouldn’t associate her with on the insistence of her new bodyguard, Garridan Loveridge.
Garridan had shown up the day after the engagement party disaster for his nephew Tristan’s funeral, and had been gobsmacked by everything that had transpired over the weekend. The older mer had a background in security, and had charged himself with the job of protecting the last remaining Court girl. Which was good because most of them had been at a complete loss on how to handle the situation until then.
At first Garridan had tried to make it work on Bracken seeing that it was an island and should have been easy to fortify for that reason alone. But eventually he’d announced that it couldn’t be protected. Seventy five percent of Bracken was covered with exactly that, bracken, leaving too many places for Ardhi to hide in, especially given how well he knew the area. Besides, the house seemed charged with a permanent state of mourning, and was far too small and ill-equipped to house everyone who needed protection.
So Garridan had found a place, the perfect place apparently, for Ivyanne to relocate to and had then boarded up the other two houses until whenever Ardhi ceased to be a threat. That had been keeping them busy for days. The list of people who knew where Ivyanne would be living would be a very select one until Ardhi was apprehended. But it was apparently close to her old home, only more remote, and most importantly-fitted out with the best security known to man or mer.
Lincoln hadn’t seen the house yet, and had barely seen Ivyanne. The only reason he wasn’t going out of his mind with worry was because Tristan had been equally absent. He’d been in Sydney, bringing his name and his business back from the dead and giving Ivyanne the space that Lincoln needed.
Lincoln still couldn’t believe how the humans had swallowed the story of Tristan being marooned for three weeks in February following the crash, but they had and Tristan’s face had been all over the papers since as a result. He was being touted as a miraculous survivor, who had swum to some little known island and had lived off the fruit of the land until flagging down a fishing boat-which was of course, chartered by one Bane Londeree. Ninety nine percent of the story was fabricated, but Ivyanne had petted Tristan like his number one fan every time a new article had surfaced. To Tristan’s credit-he rolled his eyes every time, embarrassed by the fuss being made over him.
‘Are you thinking about what a pain in the ass this all is?’ Adele suddenly asked. ‘Because I am.’
Lincoln suddenly realized that he’d zoned out on his conversation with Adele. ‘I’m having a hard time adjusting, yeah,’ Lincoln said, ‘but she’s worth it.’
‘Mmm…’ Adele broke another roll of coins and they made a clattering sound as they landed in the plastic tray.
‘Are you okay?�
�� Lincoln asked, watching her carefully.
Adele made a face. ‘Don’t look at me when I say this, okay?’ She’d broken another roll. ‘But it’s still sort of weird, when you get all mushy over her like that.’
Lincoln scratched his neck-his hair kept growing so quickly it almost always seemed to be tickling him somewhere. ‘Sorry,’ he mumbled. ‘I didn’t even think-’
‘It’s okay,’ she glanced at him quickly and smiled, but it was a tight smile. ‘I just hear it from Tristan too. It’s like I’m destined to fall for guys who fall for her.’
Lincoln winced as she let the elephant into the room. ‘But you’re not, like, still into me or anything…?’
Adele exhaled and lolled her head on her neck to stare at him.
‘No,’ her inflection was firm. ‘It’s more of a possessive thing, I think. Like there’s a tiny part of me that stands here with you behind the bar, and forgets how much everything has changed. When you go on about the incredible Ivyanne-and don’t get me wrong; I am warming up to her, it sort of stings because this place is kind of chock full of our memories too, you know? For me anyway...’
Lincoln barely heard the second half of what she’d said, for he was caught on the first. Despite having shared a bed with Adele for at least six months of his life, every part of his resort revolved around one association alone to him now-Ivyanne. But he could hardly say that. He’d hurt Adele enough already.
Still, the first part of her belly-aching had resonated with him, distracting him. Lincoln leaned against the bar. ‘You said: “Fall for guys,” he said quickly. ‘Are you saying that you actually fell for Tristan?’
Adele looked back to the register, screwing up her mouth to hide an embarrassed smile. ‘Truthfully? Spending over a week with him alone messed with me head a little. Especially my softer, mushier parts. I guess he’s one of those guys who it’s just impossible not to fall in love with...you know?’
‘And I was afraid of hurting your feelings...’ Lincoln frowned in displeasure. ‘Can I ask what this guy has that I don’t?’
Adele shrugged. ‘I never said you didn’t have it. I just don’t think you use it quite like he does.’
Lincoln knitted his brow. ‘This better not be a penis thing..!’
Adele threw back her head and hooted. ‘A penis thing?’ She repeated, shaking her head. Then she lifted her glacier-blue eyes to his. ‘No Link, it’s not. But now that you mention it...no, you do fall a little short. Of him, I mean. Not in general.’
Lincoln felt like he’d just been pantsed in a cold room full of millions. ‘And the abuse just keeps coming!’
‘It’s not abuse, it’s a fact.’ Adele closed the til. ‘And just because his is larger, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s better. To tell you the truth, I damn near had a heart attack when I first saw it. There’s big and then there’s terrifying.’ She leaned closer to him, eyes aglow with the feminine thrill of torturing an ex. ‘Haven’t you seen it?’
Lincoln made a face. ‘I haven’t seen any of the guys that way-and I don’t want to.’ Though now of course, he was dying of curiosity. He’d heard the whispers about Tristan, but had been too afraid to look. Now, he wanted a scale chart and some detailed reports.
But once again, Adele had segued in an intriguing direction. He leaned on the bar. ‘When you say that bigger isn’t better...what do you mean?’
Adele’s eyes were sparkling with merriment. ‘It’s a girl thing. But if Ivyanne was a virgin well...that might have been a, uh, bracing experience for her.’
Lincoln felt instantly nauseous at the thought. But he sensed an opportunity, so he reached for it. ‘So was I better than him? For you, I mean?’
Adele dropped her chin and started wiping down liquor bottles. ‘When I said he uses it better than you do, I was referring to his charm. And confidence. All I know for sure is that my original judgement of him was way off. He’s definitely not an asshole-and after a while, that cocky little front of his is downright sexy.’ She looked up and winked at him. ‘You could be like that too, you know. You probably would be if Ivyanne hadn’t done the number on you she did back in your sexual prime.’ She shrugged. ‘But for the time being...he’s better at selling himself. And boy, does he have a worthy product.’
The wistful look on Adele’s face made his abdomen clench so violently that he had to blow out a long, slow breath to relax them.
‘Okay I get it,’ he admitted, holding his hands up in a pose of surrender. ‘As much as I am in love with Ivyanne, I got a little bit jealous just then to see you all moony over someone else.’
Adele smiled. ‘Sorry. Allow some inflation for hormones okay? Pretty sure I’d find Chef Lee sexy right now.’
Lincoln crossed his elbows on the bar. ‘So do I seem sexy right now? Or should I change my shirt before I see Ivyanne?’
She scowled at him. ‘Razor thin ice, Grey.’
Lincoln chuckled. ‘Sorry.’ He cocked his head. ‘You’re that hard up?’
‘Well...yeah. The last time I had sex was, well, with you the night after the beach party. When was that? Just over two months ago? Damn.’
Lincoln’s mouth fell open. ‘That was two months ago? So hang on…’ he frowned, glancing at the little magnetic calendar on the side of the till, calculating the dates. ‘What’s the date?’
‘March eleventh.’ Adele said quickly.
Lincoln was thunderstruck. ‘It’s been three weeks since the engagement party?!’
Adele nodded. ‘Yep... Why?’
Lincoln turned away from the calendar. ‘Because... because…’ he dropped his chin into his hands glumly. ‘The last time Ivyanne and I, uh... you know... was the night before that. So it’s been three weeks for me.’ He didn’t add that the new moon had come and gone again, meaning he hadn’t struck the biological lottery with Ivyanne when they’d been actively sleeping with each other. In addition, the March full moon had come and gone days ago, meaning she wouldn’t be fertile again for another three weeks.
‘I should probably stop watching the clock like a human, right?’ he asked her. ‘Time doesn’t have the same meaning now.’
‘True.’
Lincoln’s head snapped up. ‘Hang on! I just realized that when I asked you who was better in bed-you didn’t give me an actual answer!’
Adele turned her back to him and said under her breath: ‘And I don’t plan to….’
Lincoln made a face. If that was her stance on the matter, he sensed that he didn’t want to know the answer.
Okay so I need to think of some kind of sexual battle plan too now? Beat the apparent master at his own game? Lincoln reflected on his time with Ivyanne, and the sound of her gasping his name was as audible as though she were whispering in his ear. He hadn’t done badly at all-she’d melted in his arms. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t improve, did it?
Then, he frowned. What if it did? What if he’d had his shot and would never get another? The idea made him feel green and desolate. And impatient-Why was he wasting time worrying about Adele’s feelings towards their shared past, when he had a future to net? He glanced around the empty room.
‘Are you sure you’re right here alone?’ he asked quickly, suddenly desperate to get to Ivyanne before Tristan showed up. She’d invited them both, in what was apparently a cursory measure.
Adele waved her hand. ‘Marcus is keeping a look-out and Bane will be back with Grace soon.’
Lincoln smiled when he thought of Grace Londeree. She was a sly, quick witted girl who always seemed to have an agenda up her sleeve, and Lincoln got the impression that she hadn’t heard the word ‘No’ much in her short life. It made her dizzying, but perky company.
Grace had apparently blown sixty years of tradition out of the water by moving from Hawaii to Australia-dragging her older brother along as a chaperone, who Lincoln had promptly employed. Grace had claimed to have fallen in love with Australia, and because she was one of the few mers who could sing well without wiping people’s br
ains, she’d enrolled at the exclusive music conservatorium in River City to commence studying for a bachelors degree in musical theatre three weeks from then.
It was good to have them around-the Londeree’s were a lighthearted, easy-going family, and Bane’s background in hotel management made him the perfect replacement for Lincoln’s father, who had just begun a forced vacation for his own safety.
But as fun as it was to have fresh mermaid faces around, Grace made Lincoln very nervous. She had a slight crush on him, and made no attempt to hide it. Everybody laughed it off, dismissing her as a flirt with eyes too big for her stomach, but Lincoln couldn’t help but feel on edge when that tummy rumbled for him.
‘Well, good.’ Lincoln said, jangling the keys to his Celica, excited to finally get behind the wheel again. He’d only bought the car six months before, and yet he’d almost forgotten all about it during the initial Ivyanne madness. Now, he had a terrific reason for taking it out for a much needed spin. ‘I’ll be back in the morning.’
‘Take until tomorrow night-we’ll be fine here,’ Adele said, lifting one corner of her mouth. ‘Have, uh, fun. Good clean fun, of course.’
Lincoln rolled his eyes. ‘I’ll try.’ He waved and loped out of the bar, nodding as Mr Achen, a balding German man and one of their few remaining guests, passed him by, cinching a towel around his generous waist. Because the temperature of the region was dropping steadily, it meant that the majority of their Australian tourists had gone into hibernation until late October. Autumn was always a quiet period which had always caused him and his father stress in the past-but now it was a blessing because he had more time off to play with. He’d have to think of a way to draw in more business when his future was more certain.
‘Link! Hey Link!’
Lincoln paused, then felt his stomach churn in that familiar way when he saw Grace Londeree flying after him down the path. As always, she looked incredible in high waisted crisp white linen shorts and a skimpy floral top that was cut just below the ribs, showing plenty of her deep brown skin which seemed to glow against the white shorts. Black oversized glasses rested over her face, and her long treacle colored hair streamed behind her like a cape as she ran, much too agilely, for a mermaid in wedge sandals. If The Londeree's ever felt uncomfortable on land, it didn’t show.
