Seerya shrugged. “That was the plan. However, as you are aware, plans change.”
Irene smiled. “Did you get the missing icon?”
Lothan inclined his head. “She did. It was in my custody, and I surrendered it on the condition that she would consider my proposal.”
Nina blinked. “You proposed to her?”
“I have been in love with your relative for the last several centuries. I even have a tattoo of her other shape on my arm.”
Nina was shocked. She looked from Seerya to Lothan and back again. “You have all the luck.”
Seerya sighed. “You had your share of luck. You chose to squander it. Now, we are here to arrange my buyout, and you and your mother can be free of me.”
Irene sighed and put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Someone else being happy doesn’t decrease your own options.”
Nina got up and stormed out.
Irene sighed and the lawyer smiled. “Are we ready now?”
Seerya looked to the merwoman with a mind for international law and smiled. “Please proceed, Lagura.”
They sat while Lagura went through the details of Seerya’s current financial and advisory involvement with her business.
“So, Seerya is proposing that the business buy her out in exchange for leaving the entire concern in your hands, Ms. Carriger.”
Irene sat up. “No. I don’t want it.”
Seerya cleared her throat. “Are you confused? This is what we had planned.”
“That was when you were leaving the human world and going elsewhere. In this case, you are here, alive, and I don’t want Nina getting control of the company. She will run it into the ground in minutes.”
Seerya looked to Lothan, and he shrugged. “It is your family. Do with it what you will.”
She made a face. “Thanks for that.”
He lifted her hand to his lips. “Between my finances and yours, we have enough to buy anything we can imagine. If you like working with your company, keep it. We are not going anywhere.”
“But the other project...”
“Will be fine no matter what. We can put it in the contracts when we set up the corporation that your previous businesses have no liability.”
Lagura smiled. “I can do that.”
Irene smiled. “Good, then everything will be the same as it has been, but you will come over for visitations and let me write your history.”
“You want to do what?”
“You know I have always been more interested in writing than running the company. I want to write your story.” Irene smiled.
Lagura grinned. “I have a contract for that, too.”
Seerya looked at the hand holding hers, the woman across from her who carried her brother’s blood in her veins and she glanced through the window to see the sullen features of the young woman who blew as hot and cold as the wind between a volcano and the sea.
“Right. Well, then, business is the same, and the corporation will be structured when you have the details, and my usual rates still apply.” Lagura got up and winked. “See you soon, Seerya.”
The meeting was adjourned without ever being a meeting. Seerya grinned, grabbed her mate and her niece to the nth degree and went out for pancakes. Nina was with them all the way.
Epilogue
It took six months to overhaul her mansion, restoring it to its former glory and expanding it to include guest housing.
The ley line conjunction had just seemed like a good investment, but now, it was very fortuitous. On the day that the club opened, portals were opened at three points on the property and guests began to arrive.
Seerya stood next to Lothan, and he kept his arm around her. “So, what are the chances that this is going to work?”
“As you said, if even one shifter or fey finds a mate, it will have been a success. Don’t fret, love.”
She smiled and relaxed against him.
His swimming was coming along well, and the ocean nearby was often full of sightseers who tried to catch a glimpse of them.
“I can’t help but fret. It is in my nature.”
“I am happy you can finally admit it.”
She elbowed him lightly. “I am practicing for when we have kids.”
“I am more than willing to wait, as you know.”
“Well, we will just have to keep trying.” She grinned. She had no doubt that they would eventually have little people around, but she could wait. They had an eternity together, after all.
Author’s Note
Okay, so here I pondered the idea that all sea monsters were the same monster. I liked her. She needed to be shaken out of her ennui. Lothan did a good job.
Thanks for reading,
Zenina Masters
About the Author
Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.
An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.
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