Three Rings (The Fairytail Saga) (36 page)

Adele stared at the ceiling. There were bags under her eyes and her jaw had turned a purplish color. ‘Can you just kill me please?’

Tristan moved to the end of the bed, and began working on the nots of the rope he’d bound her to it with. ‘I’m going to undo these only because I
know
you’re not stupid enough to take me on a second time. And because by now, you’re probably too weak to even consider it, yeah?’

Adele nodded. ‘Where did you learn to do that anyway? Those knots are
tight.
’

‘Sailing.’

‘And the punch?’ she asked. ‘Ardhi slugged me once-but it didn’t knock me out. And I didn’t feel it half a week later either.’

‘I’ve dabbled in some training during my travels,’ he said loftily. ‘Japan, Taiwan…. a stint in the Israeli army for kicks….I probably fractured your jaw.’ He glanced up at her. ‘I am sorry, but not
really
sorry, if you catch my driftwood.’

Adele looked at him. ‘Likewise.’ She eyed him. ‘Will you take me for a swim later?’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘That might be pushing it.’

‘What about the withdrawals?’ she asked, pouting. ‘I mean, it’s not like I’m going to hook up while I’m in this position, am I? I’ll lose my mind if this goes on for too much longer.’ She looked him up an down. ‘Unless you feel like throwing me a crumb….’

Tristan laughed. ‘Um, no. That’s pretty much the worst idea I’ve heard in a while.’

‘Not even a long kiss?’ she asked pleadingly. ‘To take the edge off?’

‘I’d sooner give you codeine.’

She huffed out a breath. ‘Well what about you? You’re going to need something too-I can’t imagine that you’ve hooked up recently. No offense, but you looked like shit when you came in the other day-even if you had been in the water for over a week.’

‘Two weeks actually-and I got badly hurt,’ Tristan reminded her. ‘But no, I didn’t hook up. I just don’t have that in me at the moment.’ Now that he thought about it, Tristan realized that his lack of contact with another person was probably the cause of his mental fatigue.

‘Well, we could help each other out,’ Adele said. ‘No strings. Just two mers, letting off some steam…...’

‘Yeah, because that worked out so well the last time we did that,’ Tristan rolled his eyes as he unfastened the second knot, smiling in empathy as she instantly began to massage her wrists, wincing. ‘Shake this off and I’ll make you a deal-if you don’t try to do something stupid, like kill me, I’ll let you get up and have a shower.’

Adele eyed him warily. ‘And what do I have to do in return?’

Tristan smiled enigmatically. ‘Tell me everything you know. And then listen as I tell you how we’re going to remedy this situation before the week is out.’

⁓

Lincoln had been exhausted by the time he got to Ivyanne’s on Sunday evening, but the sight of her opening the door wearing nothing but a teal half-bra and skimpy panties had revived him.

‘Why hello Mr Grey…’ She’d purred, stretching seductively along the door jamb. ‘It’s about time you showed up. I’ve been looking forward to this all day.’

‘Oh my god!’ He exclaimed, rising to attention. ‘You own stuff like that? And you’ve been hiding it this whole time?’

She giggled. ‘This whole time? We’ve been together twenty-four hours Link!’

‘Yes but I’ve mentally stripped you four thousand times in those twenty-four hours. Only it was a bikini I was tearing off not…’ he reached out, hooked his finger around the wire between her breasts and yanked her close. ‘Not this. This is
different
.’

‘Good different?’ She whispered. ‘I went shopping for heels to wear with the dress Saraya is making for me in River City this afternoon and I stumble across this little lingerie boutique, and thought of you…’

‘I’m glad.’ His throat was tight.‘So glad that I’m inclined to get a camera out…’

She laughed, looking self conscious. ‘Oh come on. They’re just boobs.’

‘Are you kidding me?’ Lincoln dumped his bag at the door and yanked her against him, carrying her inside and kicking the door shut behind him. There was a wide mirror across the top of the mantel and he deposited her in front of it, holding her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at herself from the waist up while he concentrated on looking down. ‘Look at you,’ he whispered. ‘Ivyanne I was dead on my feet two seconds ago but now-’ he pressed himself into her. ‘I’m awake. And hot as hell.’

‘Mmm…’ Ivyanne reached around behind him, slid her fingertips under the waistband of his work slacks and squeezed his ass. Her face turned into his neck and she whispered: ‘I’ve been hot all day. And waiting. And eager.’

‘How eager?’ He teased.

She reached up and took his hand, then slid it down the front of her stomach until delicate lace brushed the back of his hand and his fingers sank against something delicate and wet. So wet. ‘
This
eager.’

‘Ohh…’ Lincoln moaned, flexing his fingers and closing his eyes as lust made him tremble. His other hand fell from her shoulder and slipped under the thin strip of lace at her hip, one lone finger curling around it, following the fabric in a gentle slide until his knuckle rested in the dent at the top of her ass. ‘I think I’m going to have to take advantage of how eager you are-by sliding in first and working every other luscious part of your body later.’

‘Mmm...please do,’ she whispered. ‘I’ve felt so empty all day baby. Now that I’ve had you inside me-every second you’re not is agony.’

Lincoln almost blacked out from the way his blood rushed to his cock at her words. He grunted, tearing her panties down and shoving her forward, bending her with one hand flat against her back as the other reached inside his pants to pull himself free.

‘You’re going to regret saying that,’ he teased, angling himself between her legs. ‘I won’t abide you being in agony for a minute if I can help it.’

Knock knock knock knock knock!

Lincoln groaned.

⁓

‘It’s time to reveal your hand.’ Tristan said to Adele across the battered dining table he’d presented her with dinner on. Only it was more breakfast because of the lack of food he’d encountered. ‘And start by telling me why Ardhi messaged you this morning to say that he might need you soon.’

Adele’s eyebrows lifted as she nibbled on the edge of an orange segment. ‘He did? He must have a phone again. He’s been calling from pay phones for a week.’

‘Well I need to know
why
.’

She chewed her lip. ‘It means Sherri failed.’

Tristan leaned closer. ‘Sherri? Who’s
Sherri
?’

‘The girl he found when he went to New Zealand. He was actually scouting for a good-looking, lonely hearts type to recruit for whatever half-cocked plan he had then, and then he found Sherri drinking at some Tavern we stumbled into for dinner. She was drinking a lot, and complaining about how lonely she was to the bartender. Turns out, she worked there. Ardhi made me follow her with him when she left, to see where she lived and get a better idea of what she was like-and to our shock-she walked straight to a bluff and threw herself off it!’

Tristan paused looked up from the bagel he was buttering. ‘Off a
cliff?!
How does she have a face left?’

‘It wasn’t the rocky kind-just a straight drop into the water. Freezing cold water, while drunk, so her intention was to drown-not shatter herself. And she would have succeeded, if Ardhi wasn’t such a stalker.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘He fished her out pretty quickly and revived her, and when she came to, she was glad he had. Apparently she’d had second thoughts on the way down. Now she thinks Ardhi’s a god.’ Adele’s face twisted in a grimace. ‘She’s deluded, and has been brown nosing since day one!’

Tristan was confused. ‘Why did he want someone like that around?’

Adele stirred her freshly squeezed orange juice. ‘Well she’s cute, I guess, and a seasoned hospitality worker. Ardhi got the brilliant idea of sending her ahead to get my old job and put the moves on Lincoln.’

Tristan’s eyes widened. ‘And she agreed?’

Adele shrugged. ‘Well she had nothing going for her in her life, so she was eager to start a new one. Ardhi dazzled her with promises of gorgeous men and a dream job in the tropics, not to mention a community of mers who would come to accept her in time...so long as she did
her
part first.’

‘So she’s at the resort?’

‘Yep! And she’s seen
you
twice. Pissed Ardhi off to
no
end when she reported back about how
hot
you were-though she’s already got it bad for Link, by the sounds of it.’

‘Not hot enough, if she decided to help get me killed anyway.’ He muttered. Suddenly, he remembered teasing Lincoln about the new hire. ‘Is she a little blonde?’

‘Yep. Now, anyway. She
was
a ranga, but Ardhi made me dye it for her, given Link’s penchant for the fairer maidens.’

Tristan screwed up his face, trying to recall the pixieish girl he’d glimpsed shaking Chase Grey’s hand. ‘She’s not hot the way you and Ivyanne are-Ardhi’s nuts to think she could tempt Lincoln when his other options are
that
much more...’ he cut himself off, not certain that he wanted to rev up the ego of someone who’d made it her mission to wreck his life.

‘Why thank you,’ Adele purred, with a quick grin. ‘And it’s true. Ivyanne and I are in a higher league-but look at what we’ve done to him because of that. Sherri is cute, for sure-but she’s using devotion as bait, not her looks. And that’s what Link craves above anything else-to feel safe and adored.’

‘That’s actually smart.’ Tristan said, thinking of how Lux had rendered Lincoln mute within five seconds of meeting him, just by complimenting him. ‘And Sherri won’t be the only one trying, either. He’s been turning heads, ‘ol Link.’

Adele peeked up through her lashes. ‘How, um, how good
does
he look?’

Tristan tapped his bagel on his plate, blowing out a breath as he thought it over. He lifted his eyes to Adele and answered, rather reluctantly: ‘Let’s just say that he had me on the back foot, and
hopping
.’ He smirked. ‘When you see him next, you’re probably going to kick yourself.’

Adele pouted. ‘Damn, I wanted that for him when I returned-not the other way around.’

‘Well you look good too.’ Tristan rushed to change the subject. ‘So does Lincoln know that Sherri is mer?’

Adele shook her head. ‘She and I have to keep this to ourselves for now, so we don’t give Ardhi away. He plans on taking responsibility for us eventually-confessing about me and begging forgiveness, but possibly staging Sherri’s transformation once he’s gotten everyone’s trust back. For now, he just wants her to distract Lincoln, and make him look bad by seducing him.’ She furrowed her professionally arched brows. ‘But if he wants
me
back, it means she’s failing.’

Tristan was confused. ‘Why doesn’t Ardhi just kill him?’

Adele shrugged. ‘He’s got that earmarked as a last resort. Naturally, Ardhi doesn’t want his return being tied to Link’s death-so he won’t play dirty until all else has failed.’ She licked her dry lips. ‘But if Sherri hasn’t gotten it done, then I won’t either. I hurt him too much. Still, I was looking forward to the opportunity to try, just for the chance to get there and whisper in the right ear. I mean,
someone
was bound to help me, right? Relocate my folks so I could come clean?’

‘Of course someone would have.’ Tristan tore his bagel in two and reached for the cream cheese. ‘Ardhi must trust you a lot, to bring you in. I wouldn’t.’

‘He wasn’t going to at first. But’s he’s got the blackmail factor now that he’s forced me to help with the crash-’ Her icy eyes flashed. ‘Or so he thinks. I’ll go down for it, once my parents are off his radar. Not just for them, but for Link. I owe him that much.’

Tristan appraised her silently. Coming clean about Ardhi at her own expense would have been an incredibly brave move. One he wouldn’t have anticipated coming from such a shallow girl. That’s if she was telling the truth. What did he know about what was going on inside her privileged head?

‘I’d like to commend you for that,’ he admitted. ‘Except it would have been too late to help me.’

‘I did what I could to help you Tristan, but I wasn’t putting myself or my family in jeopardy for a guy I couldn’t stand.’ She shrugged. ‘Sorry, but it’s true. If I’d spoken up, it would have been to save the human passengers, not you. I could have died for that-even sacrificed my family. But Ardhi assured me that the body-count would be minimal, and he was right-so I’ve been trying to come to peace with it as best as I could.’

‘What did you mean by, did your best to help me then?’

Adele sighed. ‘It wasn’t much. Ardhi kept us on a tight leash so I couldn’t make a move. But the house we stayed in, in New Zealand had a full length mirror behind the closet door. Just before we left, I used the lipstick of the woman who lived there, snuck in and wrote: ‘If anything happens to Lincoln or Tristan, Ardhi caused it-but if you can help, don’t let Ardhi know you know, until the gun is at his temple.’ She sighed. ‘It was little more than a shot in the dark-but I knew it belonged to one of his mermaid friends. Ardhi didn’t think she’d be there anytime soon, but I made an effort anyway on the off chance that they’d be able to interfere.’ She paused. ‘I also left a few personal things out in plain sight-more Sherri’s than mine-to tip them off when they’d returned.’