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Jayna’s years of experience dealing with the unpredictable public kicked in. She gently but firmly pushed the woman away and squared her shoulders, preparing to defend herself if needed. “You have me confused with someone else.”
The woman pointed at Jayna and slurred, “No. I know who you are. You’re Rosalind Aria.” Before Jayna could correct her, the woman’s brow furrowed. “No, wait. I’m Rosalind Aria. You’re Jayna Cooper. You’re Sid’s mermaid. I told her you two were a match. And I was right.” Rosalind tried to wink but ended up closing both eyes instead.
It occurred to Jayna that most people called Obsidian by his full name, but this woman had called him Sid. She was clearly someone who knew him personally. Was she one of those mysterious Cerulean Order people who had him so concerned for his reputation? Jayna certainly hoped not.
She folded her arms. “How exactly do you know Sid?”
“Oh, he’s one of my best customers.” Rosalind leaned close and said in a loud whisper, “My ’gators are doing a lot of work for him these days.”
Jayna heard the words, but they didn’t make any sense. “Your alligators?”
Rosalind howled with laughter. “Not alligators. Aggregators. My data ’gators crawled all through the Myst looking for Sid’s perfect match. They found you. You're the one! He bought that whole mermaid park just so he could have you.”
Chapter 31
Jayna was too stunned to react. Had this Rosalind woman really stalked her with some kind of artificial intelligence bot? Had Sid bought Realms just to get to her?
No. Sid would never do anything so creepy.
And yet…
She had considered the string of improbable coincidences nudging her into a relationship with him as evidence they were meant to be together. But if Rosalind was telling the truth, there hadn’t been any coincidences. Only manipulation and deceit.
Jayna felt ill.
She pushed through the bathroom door and walked in a stupor towards the fountain. She needed to find Sid, talk to him, straighten this whole thing out. Her mind raced, and her thoughts were a jumble. She was barely aware of the fancy, beautiful people loitering outside the ballroom or the lively music that played inside.
She stopped when her eyes fell on Sid, standing near the fountain. He was deep in conversation with an older man with dark skin and a bald head. The confusion she felt threatened to overwhelm her.
She wanted desperately to talk to him so he could deny everything Rosalind had said.
But could she trust him? And what if he didn’t deny it? What if it was true? Her feelings for him had grown so strong, so quickly.
He claimed to have feelings for her, too. But had it all been a lie? Had everything that had happened during the past week been some kind of elaborate scheme? To what end?
She was still deliberating when the music in the ballroom finished, and Kalani thanked the audience over their enthusiastic applause.
Jayna turned and hurried towards the ballroom. She didn’t know if she could trust Sid anymore, but she could trust Kalani. He would help her figure out what to do next.
On the far side of the ballroom, a new band began playing. Jayna hurried behind the curtain that had been lowered in front of Mano Taika. It was controlled pandemonium as the band tried to move quickly and quietly from the stage, but Jayna managed to catch Kalani’s eye.
He waved at her, and she motioned for him to come to her. He hesitated, and she put as much pleading into her face as she could. He nodded, gave instructions to one of the roadies, and hurried to her.
“Is everything okay?” His brow furrowed in concern.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s just…” But as she tried to form the words to explain what was going on, the emotions overwhelmed her. It took all her effort to keep the tears from falling.
Kalani wrapped his arm around her. “Are you hurt?” he asked. The concern in his voice carried a dangerous edge.
Jayna managed to shake her head. “No. Yes. I don’t know.”
Kalani stiffened. “It’s going to be all right. Let’s go somewhere we can talk.” Kalani led her away from the backstage chaos and out into a small garden area near the back entrance.
“What happened?” Kalani's deep voice was tender and reassuring.
Jayna took a deep breath, but as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, the dam broke and she began to cry.
Kalani held her while she sobbed onto his shoulder. He gently stroked her back, and after several minutes, she regained her composure enough to tell him about Rosalind, her aggregators, and her suspicion that Sid might actually be a creepy, manipulative stalker.
