loved you.’
‘Yes well as far as I know he had little to no interest in marrying me at all.’
‘Not true.’ Tristan said, handing her the photo. ‘He was reluctant given the girlfriend and son he was going to leave behind, but he’d wanted to be king and make a difference as well.’
An expression of amusement crossed Ivyanne’s pretty features. ‘So it was about the crown?’
‘Mostly. But he was still a man with a pulse.’ Tristan grinned at her. ‘He received a photo of you from your mother in a Christmas card the year before last and let’s just say..he was seeing the silver lining to the whole ‘marry the mermaid princess’ thing.’ Tristan reached out and stroked her hair tentatively. ‘How could anyone not?’
Ivyanne put the photo into the drawer and closed it quickly after her. ‘Well...hmm.’ She cleared her throat and glanced towards the closed door. ‘I should probably go check and see if the coast is clear yet.’
‘Hang on,’ Tristan took her by the arm. ‘We still need to discuss your little voodoo trick this morning.’
Ivyanne made a face but allowed herself to be pulled back, finally meeting his gaze again. ‘Yeah... about that... thank you for not saying anything.’
‘It’s pretty hard to say something when I have no freaking clue what had happened. Are you a mystic , Ivyanne? Have you been hiding that from us all too?’
Ivyanne’s eyes widened. ‘No! I mean, I don’t think so….’ She huffed. ‘I don’t know, okay? I don’t know how or why I do that but it just happens every now and then.’
‘How many times now?’
‘Three. Two of which happened this morning.’ Ivyanne held up her hands. ‘Like I said, I don’t get it any more than you do. The first time it happened was at the engagement party. I was coming after Sherri because she was about to crack your head open with a stool. I was a few feet back from her and thought I wouldn’t be able to stop her in time. But I reached out my hand anyway and... and seconds later the stool was in my hand and she was still out of reach.’ Her forehead crinkled in thought. ‘I didn’t know if I’d reached it somehow... or if she’d lost her grip and sent it flying...and I didn’t exactly have time to ask.’
Tristan was amazed. ‘Did anyone else see it happen?’
Ivyanne shrugged. ‘No one’s mentioned it. There was just so much going on! I don’t think Sherri even knew how I managed to get it from her. She looked at me, all shocked, and then Pintang knocked her over.’
‘You should have said something,’ Tristan said quietly. ‘If you have a power, Ivyanne, we need to know about it and exercise it.’
Ivyanne crossed her arms across her chest. ‘ Said something? When ? And to who ? My parents died two minutes later Tristan, then there was the memorial and all the panic, the coronation, breaking off the engagement, the move... I just chalked it up as a fluke and forgot about it until this morning.’
Tristan thought it over. ‘So all three times it’s involved me in some way?’
Ivyanne averted her eyes and tucked a curl behind her ear again. A periwinkle scale on the back of her hand winked knowingly at him in the filtered sunlight.
‘I guess you could...yeah. Sort of.’
Tristan stepped closer to her, his heart full of hope. ‘So what you’re saying is that whenever you want something badly enough... you just pull it to you sub-consciously? And Link hasn’t brought that out in you yet?’
Ivyanne backed up, holding up her hand. ‘Tristan- don’t , okay? It’s not fair of you to keep sneaking up on me like this morning and now.’
‘Sneaking up on you?’ Tristan repeated, freezing at the accusation. ‘Ivyanne- you grabbed me . How is that my fault?’
‘I don’t know!’ Ivyanne said crossly. ‘It just is . I was just starting to get a grip on my hormones and then here you come, messing with my head again .’
‘You say that like you don’t love it!’
‘I don’t !’
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