The Marked Ones (16 page)

Lincoln’s heart was hammering in his chest. He looked around wildly, and when he saw no sign of Adele, rose swiftly from his seat and took off after her. He squeezed through the still-swinging doors and darted past the kitchen. No one saw him. Down the long corridor he hurried, knowing that his window of opportunity was slowly closing and he had maybe a minute to make his intentions known before Adele would be back and looking for both of them.

He knew what he was doing was wrong, and unfair to Adele, but Ivyanne was all he could think about. He had to know if he was alone in feeling that way, before he decided what to do with his floundering relationship. And there was only one way he could find out-by asking.

He arrived in the dark and empty function room, and found her, a blur of gold in the dim light, leaning against the smaller bar, her face in her hands. Seeing her look so frazzled by their confrontation only spurred him on.

‘Ivyanne?’ He took a decided step towards her.

She jumped at the sound of his voice, then gazed helplessly at him. ‘Lincoln...’ she said, holding her hands up slightly. ‘Please just go... okay? I need a minute to myself.’

But having her all alone was too much for him. He slowly went to her, placing one hand on either side of her, holding himself off her body but leaning in so close that she was caged in his arms. The room was dusty and behind the bar crammed with cartons, and yet it suddenly seemed like the sexiest place in the world. ‘I need a minute with yourself too.’ He joked, touching her lips gingerly. They felt like silk. ‘
Alone.’

Ivyanne looked up, her eyes widening. ‘Link don’t-’

‘I’m not going to kiss you,’ he whispered softly, his lips inches from hers. ‘That would be cheating, and I’m not that guy.’

She inhaled sharply, chest rising with the movement, pushing against his own. ‘So why are you here?’

‘We don’t have time now for me to get right into it-but here’s the bottom line: Ivyanne, I want you. I want to know if you taste as sweet as I think you will.’ He leaned forward, inhaling her, savoring her scent. ‘And it’s a mutual need-don’t pretend otherwise.’

Ivyanne dropped her chin, and said nothing. But hiding her eyes was response enough. ‘You can’t deny it, can you?’ he asked.

She shook her head.

Lincoln felt a rush of pleasure all over. She was into him! He
hadn’t imagined it! Her admittance emboldened him. ‘Then say the word-and Adele and I are through.’

Ivyanne’s head snapped up, eyes wide with panic. ‘You can’t ask me to do that!’

He nodded. ‘But I can. You’re the one with the path to choose.’ He wanted to kiss her so bad that his lips were throbbing like a muscle that needed to be rubbed for relief. ‘You need to take the risks here, it’s out of my hands.’ He stared hard into her eyes. ‘But if you won’t, then you’re the one who doesn’t deserve me- and I won’t hurt Adele for nothing.’

‘But it’s much more complicated than
that....’

He pressed a finger to her lips. ‘No it’s not. Forget about Adele and Ivanna-you’re either falling for me, or you aren’t. Just let me know when you decide.’ Fighting off every impulse within him to kiss her, he backed away.

‘Lincoln, please...... you have to understand that-’

‘I’ll be waiting,’ he cut her off, knowing that rejecting him outright was a heat of the moment impulse she had that he had to get out of the way of. Given time to think it over, she’d come around-she simply
had to. Lincoln exited the room, and walked calmly back through the corridor, and to his table.

Seconds after he had sat down, Adele hurried back in, her canvas satchel of cash jangling.

‘Everything okay?’ she asked.

Lincoln wondered if he looked as guilty-or as charged- as he felt. ‘Yeah. I think Ivyanne ducked out the back for more straws.’

‘Okay. I’ll make sure the lunch set-up is done before  I knock off.’ Adele took off towards the bar and commenced working cheerfully.

Lincoln closed the photo of Ivyanne. Upload done, he began to flick through the pictures open in Internet Explorer, tagging those who were on his ‘friends’ list-though half of his staff didn’t bother with Facebook for some reason. He paused when he got to a pretty photo of Ivyanne, slightly in profile, though facing away a bit, staring up at the full moon, hand on one hip, smile on her face. He was about to click the ‘next’ button, but hesitated when something caught his eye-a small marking on the back of her neck he’d never noticed before.

Lincoln minimized the window and brought up his own editing software, searching for the original version of that photo. When he found it, he selected it and hit zoom, eyes darting up in the direction Adele had gone, to make sure she didn’t catch him.

The image enlarged, and Lincoln dragged the box around the back of her neck and clicked. Then sucked in a breath.

There it was-one small wavy line, less than an inch in length, inked onto her skin. Just like Pintang’s -only single, instead of a triple-with one small but blatant dot marking the dead centre spot above it. How had he never seen it before? And now that he had, what was he supposed to make of it?

Lincoln scrutinized the picture thoroughly, mind and heart racing, though out of sync with one another as he silently turned to stone. Ivyanne had lied to him. About a
lot of things. That was the first thing he knew for sure.

Now he just had to figure out what the fuck it all meant. And he had a fairly good idea of where to start looking.

16.

Ivyanne remained paralyzed for full minutes after Lincoln’s departure, heart thudding, brain throbbing, body tingling from what had almost happened. It took her a while to realize that she’d been so thrown by his unexpected proposition that she’d missed the opportunity to do what
needed to be done-squash any hope he had. In fact, her silence had probably encouraged him further. Why the hell hadn’t she just denied her attraction? How had she, the most powerful Siren alive, been hypnotized by a mere human?

Because you’re falling in love with him all over again!
A voice in her head pointed out. You should have left last night when you saw that you’d restored his confidence and made him more appealing! Now look at you!

Ivyanne groaned softly and sake to the dusty slate wall, shaking her head ruefully as her heart pounded in her chest. ‘Oh my god, could this even
get messier?’

‘Yep.’

The answer was so close, so laced with quiet anger, that Ivyanne yelped, spinning around to face the speaker.

When Ardhi stepped forward from the far corner of the room, he seemed to both emerge from the darkness and yet bring it with him, etched into the hardened shadows of his face. ‘Much,
much fucking messier.’

‘Ardhi!’ Ivyanne didn’t know what to think. ‘What are you
doing here? I was literally going to call you today! Did Pintang tell you?’

‘To answer your first question- watching a soap opera unfold,’ he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and moving forward. ‘And as for the second-
no. Everything I know, I’ve seen for myself in the past twenty-four hours.’ He scowled at her. ‘And you picking up that phone to call me is not one of them!’

Twenty four hours?
He’d been lurking? Ivyanne’s heart sank. ‘Why didn’t you come out...?’

‘I was about to, before your
boyfriend barged in!’ Ardhi lumbered towards her, side- stepping overladen tables and stacks of chairs. ‘Then all sorts of interesting things began happening that made me want to keep observing for a few minutes.’

‘He’s
not my boyfriend!’ Ivyanne protested, getting to her feet in one swift movement and backing up. ‘If you heard that entire conversation, you’d know that we’ve done nothing!’

‘Nothing but
lie to us!’ Ardhi was suddenly on her, gripping her shoulders again, much too tightly. Pain shot down her arms. ‘How can you betray your own people this way Ivyanne? I saw the chemistry between the two of you dammit-I saw it. Here Tristan and I are like a couple of chumps, battling to convince you of how worthy we are for your hand and you’re sneaking around with your fucking human boss?!’

‘Ardhi get a hold of yourself!’ Ivyanne brought her knee up into his stomach, feeling the pressure on her arms ease as he doubled over in pain. She shoved his prone body off her leg and ducked around him, putting as much space between them as she could in the dusty and cluttered room. ‘How dare you grab me like that?’

‘How dare you sneak around with a human when the entire kingdom is waiting for their sweet princess to choose a prince?!’ he responded in a choked voice laced with rage. He got to his feet, still clutching at his stomach. ‘I can handle people thinking I’m the princess’s personal doormat, but I will not have the girl I’d move heaven and earth for making a complete fool of me with a bartender!’

‘
Watch your tone!’ Ivyanne hissed. ‘I’ve done nothing but abstain for the greater good! How dare you spy on me! Do you have any idea what I could do in retribution?’ Ivyanne had never seen him like this, and she was panicking that they’d be overheard by someone in the bar.

Ardhi slowly began to rise. ‘
Yes.’ He advanced on her again at a surprising pace, backing her into the opposite wall. ‘You could have me banished. Or ridiculed-or assigned to picking up trash off the coastline for the next year. Big deal! You think that’s what I’m worried about?’

‘You can worry about getting a broken leg if you don’t back off!’ She exclaimed, wondering if he was an idiot to seriously consider getting physical with her. As dainty as she looked, she could probably strike him hard enough to break his skull and Ardhi knew it. ‘Let’s see how sneaky and stealthy you are
then!’

‘You’d be surprised.’ He was in her face in a heartbeat, his hand shot up and grasped the back of her neck possessively, his face millimeters from hers. Ivyanne froze, shocked. Ardhi had officially lost his mind. ‘I’m good at all sorts of things you’ve never bothered to ask about. The question you ought to be asking is what
I could do to you!’

Ivyanne wasn’t sure what he meant. But despite his rage, his eyes were glassing over with a familiar look-one she’d seen on Both Lincoln and Tristan’s faces before, and
that scared Ivyanne more than anything else. Up until now, she could forgive this violent outburst-he was angry and humiliated. She understood.

But if he thought he could touch her without her permission, the kingdom would be down one full-blood. She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘That better be
bloodlust in your eyes, Ardhi, because if it’s more than that, you’ll be needing an ice pack for what ails you soon enough.’

He laughed. ‘You’ve got the bloodlust part right, but no, it’s for the human-not you.’ He leaned closer and whispered. ‘My body has a
very different way of reacting towards you, my dear friend.’ He stroked her hair tenderly. ‘But hold the ice pack-I’m not going to touch you until we’re married.’

Ivyanne gave him a withering look. ‘Then you won’t be touching me
ever- because right now, I don’t see one reason why I would marry you.’

Ardhi grinned. ‘Then allow me to demonstrate, your highness.’ He reached out and spread his trembling fingers wide, placing the point of each at the flat pane of skin on her collarbone. His steel grey eyes narrowed and focused on the spot, and he slowly began to trail a path down her breastbone.

Ivyanne remained frozen, poised to defend herself if required, too intrigued to see where he was going with this to slap his hand away. She almost felt like she was watching an interaction between two other people, because the Ardhi she knew didn’t touch her, and the Ivyanne she thought she was, wouldn’t have been in the room to begin with, coming to pieces over a human.

‘You know we draw energy from others, right?’ he whispered, his hand hot against her skin.

Ivyanne swallowed and nodded. She could feel the heat of her skin rushing to the spot he touched, before being absorbed into his fingertips. It would be giving him a charge, a feeling of vigor and elation-one their species fed off to maintain almost eternal youth. It was the same energy they drew from saltwater, or making love. If he did it to her for too long, it would leave her tired and dizzy.

But Ivyanne wasn’t scared. She was merely waiting like a cat, for the moment to pounce. ‘So? Your ability to do so
pales compared to mine.’ If she were to kiss him with the intention of feeding off his life source, he wouldn’t be able to move for an hour. But Ivyanne had never actually done so to another person, save for the nibble or two she’d taken from Tristan his first night, to stabilize her sanity. He was a strong mer-he hadn’t even noticed.

Ardhi smirked. ‘Possibly... but it’s what I can do
with that energy that matters.’

‘I don’t get it,’ Ivyanne admitted, feeling his hand heat up and her lungs constrict somewhat as he drained her.

‘Then watch and learn.’

With lightning quick speed, Ardhi clenched those fingers into a fist, then punched his hand up into the air, flinging them out again then yanking his hand down, as though he was trying to tug on a pull cord for a lightbulb. Her heart gave a lurch and her lungs tightened, but nothing changed within the room.

Yet before Ivyanne could remark, an unmistakable and close-by clap of thunder reverberated through the entire building, practically shaking the walls. It was followed, closely, by a loud cracking sound from outside which startled her so that she lurched sideways and knocked over a box of napkins. At the same time, the interior of the dark room seemed to dance as the shadows briefly flashed a sinister, neon blue, then faded. It took all of five seconds, but as soon as it was over, the cries and screams could be heard.

She pushed away from Ardhi and bolted for the door, heart hammering in her chest as the implication of what he had just done hit her with full force. With shaking hands, Ivyanne flung back the corner of the curtain and cried out in horror when she saw the flames-no more than seven feet from where she stood-engulfing a decimated looking palm tree at the hilt of the hill. It was a surreal sight-bright orange flames licking up the blackened and snapped trunk against a bright, albeit cloudy sky.

‘Tricky, huh?’ She heard Ardhi ask.

Ivyanne turned back to him, mouth open in astonishment. ‘Ardhi-you’re a
mystic?!’

Ardhi had bent to a crouch on the floor, seemingly exhausted from his little show. Now he nodded.

‘Oh my god...’ She’d knew a lot about mystics-her great grandmother had been one, of course, and there had been two, maybe three others since- a mer with a special ability, like Aubrielle with her apothecary, or her former fiancé Roan who could turn humans into mers and survive, or transform into a dolphin at will. She wondered if that meant that lightning was his biggest trick and yet she was loathe to actually let her curiosity outshine her anger.

‘It’s harder on land though.’ Ardhi groaned, getting to his feet. But when he lifted his face to Ivyanne, his weary grin was a smug one. ‘But I feel better now. Takes the edge off.’

Ivyanne gaped at him. ‘Ardhi you could have killed someone!’

He frowned at her. ‘I
could kill someone,’ he corrected her. ‘But I knew no one was nearby. Another one of my gifts... the ability to sense a presence. How do you think I always happen to be at the right place at the wrong time? Ivyanne, when you’re not alone, I feel it. Just as I felt emptiness near that tree. I had to show you what I can offer.’ He scowled at her. ‘And why you shouldn’t screw me over with some middle-management loser!’

She regarded him with disbelief. ‘You think that little show worked in your
favor? Ardhi, to have such a power and withhold it from me is bloody dangerous. You of all people should know that, Mr Follow- The- Rules- Kayu- Api. And the fact that you would try and turn that around to scare me-’ Ivyanne’s tirade was interrupted by a second, longer rumbling of thunder. She glared at him. ‘Are you serious?!’

He laughed. ‘Actually-that one
wasn’t me. There’s a real storm brewing out there-it made it easier for me to pluck excess electricity out of not so thin air.’

Ivyanne had had enough. ‘You know what? This conversation is over, okay? I’m going back out there to work and
you’re going to leave me alone.’

His face tightened. ‘Why? So you can flirt with Link without judgment before running off to get drunk with
Tristan?’

She stepped up into his face. ‘You are
out of line Ardhi! Maybe I have been flirting with my boss, and so what? At least it’s reminded me that I have blood pumping through my veins! I’ve been feeling like a widow for ten years and now, but he’s made me feel like a girl again. And if you’d tried charm instead of lightning, maybe you could have enjoyed my company while my guard was down too!’ She crossed her arms and glared at him. ‘It sucks that I didn’t know about your gift, but don’t try and make me feel guilty for not knowing something that you purposefully hid from me!’

Ardhi reached into his pocket and pulled out a whelk shell attached to a delicate leather plaited strap. He thrust it at her. ‘I was
coming to tell you! I even brought you this, as a token of our friendship. I wanted to apologize, for how I acted, but then I saw you last night and you looked so happy that it made me see red!’

‘I
was happy.’ Ivyanne stared down at the necklace in her hand, then lifted her gaze to his smoldering grey eyes. ‘For the first time in my life, I felt close to carefree. And if you loved me, that should have made you happy. Not insane.’

Ardhi glared at her. ‘How can you ask me to respect you fooling around with your boss? One who has a
girlfriend to boot?’

‘I am
not having an affair with Lincoln Grey, and I don’t plan to! He’s just one more guy making my life a living hell, although thankfully he’s not half as arrogant about it as you are!’

Ardhi seemed to deflate before her eyes. ‘That wasn’t to scare you Ivyanne-just to show you! I’ve been planning to tell you for awhile but you kept running! Maybe I acted out of rage but you can’t ever believe that I’d
hurt you-’

‘I don’t know what to think! You see me flirting with
one human and it’s enough to make you want to tear lightning from the sky? That’s insane! We’re mer-bewitching humans is what we’re supposed to do! Yes I’m attracted to Link but I know damn well I can’t have him, and I would have told him so if he hadn’t stunned me by being so blatant about it! And regardless of my feelings or yours- you’re still my subject Ardhi, not my father. It’s not up to you to punish me! Talk trash about Tristan all you’d like but I guarantee he would have handled that like a man-not a sulky child with too much fire power!’

Ardhi’s face was desolate. ‘Ivyanne come on, you can’t hate me over this! Tristan has the looks, and the popularity, Lincoln has your eye-being a mystic puts me over all of them, Ivyanne. I had to play my advantage!!’