Chapter 6 #2
Emma stepped out of the kitchen slowly, her brows raised as she whispered to me, “What happened?”
“I—” How did I explain that I was chasing a song that may or may not exist? “I thought I saw a celebrity.” Those were fairly common to see in our tourist town.
“Who?” Emma asked.
“Um,” I scratched my head, trying to recall a random celebrity off the cuff. “The lead singer of Carbon Cut.”
Emma gave me a blank look before throwing on a grin and nodding, reminding me that she was a couple of years younger than me, and not into rock music. She wouldn’t know who Joshua Madey was.
A moment later, the back door chime sounded, letting me know someone had entered the shop from the hallway.
“Hey, Emma!” Audrey greeted my employee after stepping into the open space. She pulled a stool over and sat at the counter in front of us.
“Did you see the man who just left the shop?” Emma asked her immediately.
Audrey widened her eyes a little. “No. Why?”
“God, he was so attractive.” Emma sighed as she started to restock the syrups. “I thought for sure he was going to ask Van out.”
“I was hoping he would ask me out.” Then I leaned on my elbows, leveling Audrey with a look. “How about you, Aud? Is there anyone out there that you’re hoping will ask you out?”
Audrey lifted a shoulder. “Um. No.”
“Really?” I gave her a disbelieving look.
She narrowed her eyes at me in response. “No.”
“Van’s tone implies otherwise.” Emma smirked as she pulled her phone out of her back pocket and widened her eyes at the screen. “Shit! I lost track of time!” She threw her apron off and tossed it at me before hopping over the counter, “Bye!”
“Bye!” I laughed as I folded her apron and set it on the counter in front of us. The shop would be closing in an hour or so, and that meant it was going to be slow beyond the handful of customers who had already ordered something and were set up at random tables with their computers.
“I have a question for you.” I steepled my fingertips together as Audrey dropped her elbows onto the counter.
Audrey copied my pose and grinned. “Hit me.”
“Want to go out on the boat tonight?” I grinned. She and I had only hung out on the boat by ourselves a couple of times since I got it during her “I need to keep Van at arm’s length” phase.
“Sure.” She grinned. “Can Liam come?”
I immediately frowned. She immediately frowned back.
“Sorry, it’s just that he already planned—you know what? I’ll just tell him to go home when he shows up.” She waved it off, clearly disappointed in my reaction, but humoring me anyway. I crossed my arms and cocked a hip out.
“Just text him.” I nodded toward where I assumed her phone was in her pocket.
“I can’t, well, not on this phone. I can only text on my other phone.” Her Hyvenmerian one, I assumed. “But only when he is also, um, here. The signal can’t travel through realms yet.” She lowered her voice to a whisper when she said realms, so I nodded and didn’t push it.
“If he’s going to show up anyway, might as well let him drive,” I grumbled. He was lowkey better at it than I was, based on what I saw about a week ago when he steered us out of Hyvenmere.
Audrey gave me a nervous look. “I’m sorry that he’s so…present.”
“It’s fine.” I was still bitter about it, but beyond being in our space and taking up some of Audrey’s attention, I didn’t see any major red flags in him. I just couldn’t get over my harsh feelings toward him, yet.
“It’s just—” Audrey bit her lip and lowered her voice so only I could hear again, “He wants to make sure we’re safe.
That whoever wanted to take you that night doesn’t try again.
” I quirked my lips to the side at that.
I mean, if his intentions were pure, I couldn’t fault him for volunteering to be our personal bodyguard until things cooled down.
“That’s nice of him,” I forced myself to say. I was good at holding grudges. I was decent at identifying when I was being unfair. Unfortunately, I was a petty and prideful woman and didn’t always want to admit when I was being unfair toward someone.
I never said I was perfect.
“He’ll just drive,” Audrey promised with a nod.
“Shirtless,” I muttered. Audrey gave me a quizzical scowl.
“Excuse me?” Her tone immediately lowered to aggravated, which caught me off guard. I blinked at her, startled by her immediate hostile reaction.
“I mean, if Temu-Thor is determined to crash the party, the least he could do is show off his rippling abs and look pretty for us—” Audrey’s nostrils flared, so I raised my eyebrows and changed course.
“—or more accurately, you, since blond men aren’t my type.
” Audrey deflated at that, her shoulders lowering, and her scowl loosening into one of embarrassment.
“I’m so sorry—I have no idea what that was.
” She placed a hand over her heart as her light hazel eyes studied the grain in the countertop, genuinely looking concerned.
I waved her off before starting the lock-up routine during the last hour of business.
The sun started to set when she and I finally left the Sun Bean, and I locked the doors behind us.
We walked toward the harbor where my boat was docked, admiring the pinks and oranges of the sky, when her other phone vibrated in her pocket.
She pulled it out and let Liam know where we would be for the evening, then looped her arm in mine as we made our way toward the docks for an overdue girls-night.
The sun was below the shoreline, painting the sky in a deep purple with a bright strip of orange, as Audrey and I shared one more drink.
We weren’t huge drinkers, but we were tipsy and giggly and having a lot of fun.
Even Liam’s presence didn’t sour my mood, and when I boldly suggested he take off his shirt after our first drink, I wasn’t too surprised to see him dart a look toward Audrey and blush.
They just needed to bang it out already.
I wasn’t too far gone to say those words out loud, though. But Liam obliged and even made a show of flexing his arms and abs, which made me laugh, and made Audrey’s eyes widen in admiration. The way the sun reflected off the ocean lit up the subtle streaks of gold in her irises as she ogled Liam.
Then I threw an ice cube at her face, and we’ve been joking around and sharing stories ever since.
“Okay, okay.” I fanned my face, calming my heart after telling Liam a hilarious story of Audrey and I getting lost in Big Bear during college.
“Not to change the subject, but I think I’m ready to talk about all of this—” I waved my arms vaguely toward Liam and the direction of Catalina Island. “—more.”
Audrey lit up. “Really? Because I’m dying to talk to you about this more.”
I snickered and replied, “I guess I just have some questions.” I cleared my throat and tucked my legs underneath myself. We should probably find our way back to the docks soon, but we were anchored in the water, and I could still see the harbor in the distance, so it wasn’t like we could get lost.
“Ask away,” Audrey encouraged, patting the seat next to her for Liam to take.
“First.” I held up one finger. “What the hell do you do in Hyvenmere when you go there?” My question made Liam smirk, and Audrey groan. “Do you just hang out in Liam’s castle all day? Do you play tourist? I mean, a lot of people seemed to recognize you.”
“That’s another loaded question,” Liam muttered with an elbow against Audrey’s arm.
“Why?” I pressed.
“It’s just—ugh.” Audrey scraped a hand down her face as she settled in.
“Back when Liam first found me outside the library, originally, I went there so often because I wanted to learn more about my culture. I’m half-fae, after all.
” I nodded, because that made sense to me.
“Plus, I was able to meet a handful of other halflings who have been secretly traveling there for years. Some halflings have known about their Hyvenmerian lineage their whole lives, but others just stumbled upon it when I did, when powers manifested, or when Liam and Fergus found them. But then rumors about me being Hyvenmerian’s Chosen One started spreading this last year or so, and I’m not sure who started it or why, but it’s caused a lot of contention between Hyvenmerians and halflings like myself.
So now when I’m over there, it feels like a lot of shaking hands and political peacekeeping—which Liam and Ada have been able to help me with. ”
“We also train over there,” Liam added, as he stretched his legs out to cross his ankles.
“What makes people think you’re the Chosen One?”
“No idea,” Audrey sighed, gently swirling her glass as she watched the liquid slosh around.
“I don’t fit the requirements of the prophecy—the details we know of it, anyway.
But the Siren King, Ilia, does. So, naturally, I’m not exactly the siren government’s favorite person right now.
Thus…” Audrey wiggled her fingers in a flourish. “…weird contention with halflings.”
I considered her words for a moment before saying, “If this Ilia man is actually confident that he’s the Chosen One the prophecy talks about, then he shouldn’t be so threatened by you.”
Audrey released a humorless laugh. “Unfortunately, that’s not—”
Our conversation was interrupted by a loud, guttural, haunting roar.
All three of us froze to turn toward the water. It was one of those noises that felt huge. My ears just knew that whatever was making that sound was massive. It almost sounded like the cry of a whale, if the whale was pissed off and able to amplify the sound by twenty units or so.
“Here?” Audrey whispered in horror. I turned over my shoulder to look at her, and even though Audrey was already incredibly pale, even I could notice the blood drain from her face in the dim light of night.
Liam stood tall and reached behind himself.
When he pulled his hand forward, he was grasping a large sword.
A real one, based on how the steel of the blade reflected the moonlight above.
“Did you just pull a sword out of your ass?” I asked him.