Three Rings (The Fairytail Saga) (17 page)

‘Ivyanne,’ she felt Lincoln’s hand on her shoulder, shaking her. ‘Honey, it’s going to be okay. They’re going to find him, I swear.’

Ivyanne expected to be relieved that she hadn’t been on the flight, but she wasn’t. At that moment, she wished for death more than anything. How could she live, knowing that he had died, believing that she didn’t love him enough to share her life with him? Roan, Nigara, Ardhi, now Tristan...it really did seem like every man who dared promise himself to her was destined to go to an early grave!

‘Don’t touch me!’ Ivyanne hissed, brushing his hand off her shoulder. ‘I’m cursed. I’ll kill you too, Lincoln. You better run now, while you have the chance.’ Before he could say anything else so inaccurate as: ‘It’s okay,’ Ivyanne got to her feet and ran away from him, away from them all.

She stopped once, near the edge of the restaurant, to vomit into the bushes, her hand going to her stomach protectively as it heaved again and again. When there was nothing left to come up, she ran down the hill, bile in her throat, the sobs coming so fast that she could barely breathe around them.

Part Two

10.

Winds of change swept across The Seaview region over the next week, bringing a drop in temperature that all of the locals-mers and humans alike-felt chilling their very bones. It was as though the very atmosphere was imprisoned by mourning, which stretched across the sea and fingered the hearts of mers across the Pacific and beyond. Their tightly knit society had not suffered so deeply since the Tsunami, and all over the loss of
one
man.

Ardhi’s parents had come to visit with Vana on Bracken Island when they had learnt of the news, to offer their daughter and the Courts moral support. Barely a word about Ardhi was spoken, and if they were upset that the loss of their own son was overshadowed by the loss of Tristan-they didn’t show it. They kept their heads bowed and their mouths shut, though Lincoln did see tears pooling in the mother’s eyes frequently.

Lincoln was heartsick about it all-more than he could have imagined being over someone who had angered him so in life. But in death, Tristan’s presence seemed to swell and grow more golden. As the days passed with no sign of him, Lincoln’s mood darkened further. The east coast of Australia and West Coast of America were stunned by the news-and Tristan, who had done a few appearances on talk shows over the past year (so Link had learned from Adele) was a hot topic of discussion in the media as well. He and an American basketball player were both missing and presumed dead, and they, along with a six year old girl who had been on life support for three days but was coming good now, were the main focus of the stories.

Seeing Tristan’s face flicker up on the nightly news stung. Lincoln would have desired a friendship with someone like Tristan if Ivyanne hadn’t been an issue, and he berated himself for having wished unspeakable things upon his rival, who’d been a man beneath the situation. At night, Lincoln thought about what Tristan’s last moments would have been like, and he wept.

Ivyanne remained in a catatonic state for the first three days and Vana kept her in her room, never leaving her side for more than a few minutes. There was a heavy, sombre atmosphere which fell upon the island home like a shroud, enclosing all who set foot there. Even swimming became overlooked, and after the first two days, everyone began to suffer from chapped lips, waxen skin and red eyes.

Lincoln reluctantly went back to work on the Tuesday, realizing that Ivyanne wouldn’t be coming down from her room in the near future and he wasn’t much use to her lounging about downstairs while being eyed suspiciously by Ardhi’s folks. With him, Ivyanne and Pintang out on Bracken, the remaining staff at the resort were being overworked and so he returned to grant them some time off. To his relief, Sherri’s pretenses towards flirtation were non existent once he’d returned, and Lux didn’t follow him there. They were just girls again-and he was the front, and only runner for king.

That was, if she forgave him for what he’d done and said to her in the days before Tristan’s death.

The bar was adorned with so many flower arrangements addressed to Ivyanne that it looked like a wedding was about to take place. Word had spread amongst the guests that the strikingly beautiful and sweet waitress had lost someone close to her in the then-infamous plane crash in Hawaii, and at least half of them had ordered flower deliveries from the tiny florist in Seaview. Some of them were three days old and starting to turn, so Lincoln had them taken into the cold room after dinner, in an effort to preserve their life, vowing to take them all out to Ivyanne the next morning so she could enjoy them.

Lincoln stood at the bar, gazing out over the dark water as Livia and Remi tidied up the restaurant, thinking about how different his life was now. All of his rivals were gone. Ivyanne was as good as his, and yet he couldn’t seem to draw any excitement from that knowledge. She was so
morose
, so withdrawn into herself, that he didn’t know if she had anything left to give. The sparkling, virginal, effervescent teenage girl he’d fallen for now resembled a grieving widow. Somehow, the loss of her innocence was the biggest tragedy of them all.

The only thing he took comfort from was the knowledge that Ivyanne called out to him in her sleep-they’d all heard her the night before. It was like a tiny flashlight glow in a dark tunnel.

Lincoln knew that a passionate reunion wouldn’t be in the cards for them for some time-she was still hurting too much. It was painful, to see her in such agony over another man-but it couldn’t be helped. He’d failed Ivyanne when she’d needed his understanding before-he wouldn’t do that to her now. When Ivyanne came to her senses, she’d see a patient, apologetic and grateful man waiting for her-even if it took forever to win back her heart.

⁓

‘It’s a curse!’ Vana paced madly along the floor, chewing on her bottom lip, knowing she wouldn’t be satisfied until she tasted blood. ‘It has to be!’

‘No, your majesty-’ Saraya went to say.

Vana whirled on her. ‘
Four
-Saraya. Four men willing to marry her-all gone! Great, powerful men, the best of our kind...blown out like
candles
!’ She felt her chest constrict when she thought of Tristan’s beautiful face, like a light was shining from within him. How would she face Simon Loveridge, who had donated two son’s lives for
nothing
?

‘Roan,’ Eka Wood said softly. ‘Nigara...my Ardhi-’ her voice broke. ‘Now the Loveridge boy.’ She lifted her morose brown eyes to Vana. ‘I’m inclined to agree.’

‘Something’s trying to tell us something,’ Vana said, and then threw her arms up to the roof. ‘But
what
? I should stop trying to breed my people? Are we some sort of affront to nature that the universe is trying to rid itself of?’

‘Don’t be preposterous!’ Joakim said quietly, his dull blue eyes alighting briefly with indignation. ‘You can’t think for a second that nature is trying to stamp us out-we serve
it
first and foremost.’

‘I agree,’ Pintang piped up. She’d made everybody a beautiful chicken salad which had barely been touched, and she was now lying on the couch while Saraya did the dishes. She met Vana’s eyes over the back of the plush blue couch, resting her head against the soft fabric. ‘Am I the only one here getting the message, loud and clear, that Ivyanne is, and always has been,
destined
for Lincoln Grey?’

Lux looked up from her fingernails, frowning. ‘Really?’

Pintang shrugged. ‘It’s no more an unlikely theory than a curse. I don’t like it-in fact a few days ago I was ready to drown him my
self
.’ She shot Lux a pointed glare. ‘But-’ Pintang continued. ‘I believe that life throws obstacles in our path when we take the one leading us
away
from our destiny. It happens to humans all the time-so why not us?’

Vana didn’t want to think about that. She rubbed her eyes, knowing that if she allowed herself to believe that, she’d have to carry the burden of all four deaths on her own shoulders. But how could a match between Tristan and Ivyanne ever have been
doomed
? They were so compatible, so brilliantly suited to one another. Everybody thought so-the majority of the kingdom at least.

But Vana couldn’t deny the bond between Lincoln and Ivyanne either. She’d spent the past twelve years trying to quash it. But no matter what she did, there he was with his pure human heart on his sleeve.

Is Pintang right?
She wondered.
If I’d let Ivyanne love her human back when she was a teenager, would her life had followed a different, but equally prosperous course to the one I had planned for her? Would Roan and the others all still be alive?

‘So what do I do?’ When she lifted her gaze, four serious faces were regarding her somberly.

Pintang shrugged. ‘You’ve tried everything else. We might as well try
nothing
and see what unfolds.’

For the first time, Vana saw how red Pintang’s eyes were, and how puffy the skin beneath them had become. Then she remembered the fight Pintang had started with Ivyanne over Tristan, and Vana felt another wave of guilt. She had inflicted so much pain by pressing her will. Pintang had now lost her brother and the boy she cared for.

‘Give her space,’ Saraya said softly, placing a dish on the drainer. ‘Let her take all the time she needs to heal.’

‘Space....’ Vana inhaled and exhaled quickly, needing to look composed when Ivyanne came through the door. Now, more than ever, she missed her beautiful spanish style mansion in The Whitsunday's, where there was space for everybody to mourn and rant and pace without needing to be on top of each other all the time. ‘Should I send her home, do you think?’

But Pintang shook her head. ‘Away from Link? They’ll think you’re punishing him.’

Vana nodded. Pintang was right
again
-Lincoln would think Vana was making him the problem and that simply wasn’t the case. It was very possible that everyone
but
Lincoln was the problem. Losing Tristan was bad enough, but Vana knew it was a nightmare for her daughter to have to face Mr and Mrs Kayu-Api every time she left her room as well.

It would have been okay if Ivyanne still had a room at The Seaview to herself, but that wasn’t suitable dwellings for the daughter of a king and queen. She needed privacy, full stop, and enough luxury to make her life easier while it was so taxing.

Vana turned to Saraya. ‘The beach house, near the marina-have the tenants evicted. Reimburse them any additional costs this may incur.’ She swallowed. ‘Ivyanne needs her own home.’

‘Are you sure you can handle that?’ Saraya asked softly. ‘You didn’t expect her to move out until she got married.’

‘I don’t think a marriage will be too far off, given the cards she’s been dealt. Any progress she makes from this will be good. Even if it means I have to let her go.’ It would crush her, but Vana suddenly knew that the time had come for her to let go of Ivyanne’s hand and follow the path the heavens seemed intent on her being on.

‘Okay. But it’ll take a day or so to get the place fixed up for her.’ Saraya said. ‘In the meantime, I suggest getting her away from here, so Tristan’s memory isn’t everywhere she looks.’

‘That’s a good idea.’ Vana’s eyes fell to the photographs on the table top of the bleached coral, and a plan began to form. ‘Go pack her an overnight bag. Ivyanne needs the water, so I’m taking her somewhere she can stay in for as long as she wants without fear of discovery or company.’

‘Homestead Cove?’ Saraya named Ivyanne’s favorite spot in the region.

Vana nodded. ‘Today. But call my husband first. Tell him it’s time to come home. His daughter-and his wife-need him
here
.’

⁓

The sporty motorboat skimmed across the top of the water and fell gently, repeatedly in a hypnotic rhythm, lulling Ivyanne into a trance like state, until her eyelids grew heavy behind her dark oversized glasses, and fell shut. It was nice to be rocked to sleep, instead of simply crying until her eyes fused shut, dry and scratchy and exhausted.

But it felt like she’d only been out for a moment when a gentle hand prodded at her shoulder.

‘Darling, we’re here.’

Ivyanne lifted her head, her ear throbbing as a result of having cushioned her head from the side of the boat. Her hand was asleep. Her mouth was dry.

But the water was perfect. As she rose, stretching, her gaze fell on the cluster of boulders on the edge of the island in the near distance, and something inside her roused for the first time in five days-gratitude for life.

‘It’s exactly as it was last time.’ Her voice was thinner and more rustling than the pages of a bible, and she quickly became aware that they were the first words she had spoken since she’d run off from Lincoln.

‘Actually no, it’s rather damaged.’ Her mother said. ‘Beautiful from here, I agree, but the coral in your place could use some energy. Whatever energy you can spare.’ She rested her hand on Ivyanne’s shoulders, her white blonde hair falling over her brown skin, which looked as dry as Ivyanne’s felt. ‘I’ll leave you here for now, and join the others back in the more critical area. It’ll be sunset soon, and we can get to work. I’ve packed you some food, which I’ll drop on the shore, and come get you in the morning.’