Three Rings (The Fairytail Saga) (52 page)

She was only slightly aware of being scooped up into her fiancé’s arms as he followed Tristan down the hill and to the shore. ‘Ardhi?’ she whispered piteously.

She felt the arms tense around her. When Lincoln said nothing more, Ivyanne began to cry for real. It still wasn’t over.

Lincoln had never felt so powerless as when he watched Ivyanne tremble in the churning black water and sob broken-heartedly as the newly turned dolphins that had been her parents shot off across the surface of the water. They’d made it with probably seconds to spare. Lincoln was grateful for that, if nothing else. It had been a miracle to witness.

‘When things feel this awful…’ she mused to the water, barely audible. ‘Mum usually wakes me up and holds me until the hurt goes away. But that’s not going to happen, is it?’ She asked of no one. And no one replied. Lincoln desperately wiped the tears falling down his cheeks. Her pain was his. He suddenly was overcome with the urge to turn his father, to prevent ever having to suffer through it firsthand.

After ten minutes of silence, Ivyanne turned around. Her face was half- illuminated in moonlight, the shadow’s between her brows and at the corner of her lips unmistakable.

‘They’re gone,’ she said woodenly. ‘We’ll have a proper memorial for them tomorrow, when Tristan’s was supposed to take place.’

Saraya rushed forward, churning up a wake with her long, moon-bleached skirt. She was clutching something in her hands. ‘Ivyanne,’ she said solemnly, sniffling. ‘I know this is the last thing you want to be thinking about...but this is yours, now.’ She dropped her head slightly and presented the crown she must have plucked from Vana’s hair to Ivyanne. ‘...Your majesty.’

Lincoln’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the crestfallen look on Ivyanne’s face as she took the ancient crown with trembling hands. He hadn’t actually computed the fact that Vana’s death equalled the beginning of Ivyanne’s sovereignty. It was an overwhelming thought-he’d thought they had half a century together before having to worry about such things. He looked around him, shocked to see every mer bowing slightly, their tears subsiding as they acknowledged their new ruler. Even Tristan was down. Lincoln hesitated, then lowered his own head, a sick feeling creeping over him as Ivyanne was once again thrust into another world he wasn’t a part of.

‘Thank you,’ she said softly. ‘Yes I suppose it is....’

When Lincoln looked up, the crown was balanced on Ivyanne’s head, sparkling as her dress did in the moonlight. She was ethereal.

‘Well...I suppose it’s up to me to keep life going.’ She shook her head forlornly, thinking it over before lifting her face. ‘Everybody-go back to your rooms and lock your doors tight. No one stays alone.’ She glanced to her left. ‘Adele? You’ll come back to Bracken Island with myself and Saraya. As will you Lincoln, and you Tristan. Not only are we safer together-but everyone else will be safer removed from
us
.’

Lincoln swallowed, knowing he wouldn’t sleep that night. Thoughts of his own mother were already floating unwelcome to the surface. He knew how Ivyanne felt in that respect, and yet to lose both in one split second...he shuddered.

‘Ardhi Kayu-Api is a dead man,’ Ivyanne proclaimed, her voice soft but their vindication bellowing. quietly. ‘I’m just going to assume that no one questions that fact.’

Lincoln wanted to look at the Kayu-Api’s, but knew that there were plenty others already doing that so he restrained himself.

‘A knighthood-for whoever brings him down.’

Tristan’s head snapped up. ‘A knighthood?’ he repeated. ‘Ivyanne, that hasn’t been done for-’

‘Seven hundred years. I’m aware. But dealing with this murderous traitor has become the kingdom’s only concern. I’ll do it myself, if I can.’

‘I’ll take him out Ivyanne-there won’t be any need for you to endanger yourself.’ Tristan vowed quietly, wiping at the silver streaks of tears glistening on his own moon-lit cheeks.

Ivyanne raised an eyebrow. ‘Yes, I suppose you’re probably right. In fact, were it not for me, you’d have taken him out tonight.’

‘If not for my love for you.’ Tristan agreed. ‘Which overshadows every other priority. Ivyanne...I’m so sorry. I feel like I’ve failed you by letting him out of my grasp.’

She reached over and lifted his chin, eyes glowing. ‘You couldn’t have aided me more.’

Lincoln felt a flash of envy.
He
wanted to be the one Ivyanne assumed would fix everything.
He
wanted to be the man she plotted with and cowered behind-not thrust herself in
front
of. Lincoln set his jaw in grim determination. If he wanted to feel like he belonged, then it was time to get his name in the history books. Knight first, then king. Then happy, if that was still a possibility.

Her happiness first.
Lincoln thought forcibly.
Then mine. That’s the only way this is going to work.
He stepped up to his queen and scooped her back into his arms before Tristan could get the chance.

‘Come on your majesty,’ he said softly. ‘Let’s get you somewhere safe.’

Ivyanne rested her cheek against his and sighed. ‘Lead the way,’ she whispered. ‘I’m not ready to do it yet.’

Lincoln was more than happy to oblige.

⁓

Ivyanne helped the other mers quickly clean the function room-mopping up the spilled blood, sweeping up the broken glass, refusing to rest as so many appealed to her to do. With so many working together, it was done in ten minutes, and Lincoln had been able to go release his father and the human guests he’d locked in the wine cellar, explaining his lateness by saying that the party had been crashed by some drunken surfers who had spoiled the festivities, taking Saraya and Aubrielle with him to sing them into a pliable mental state. They were closely enough related to Anna L’Court for their voices to still be effective.

Apparently, the human hadn’t even noticed. Chase Grey had gotten them to sample twelve different bottles of red in the hour or so they’d been locked up-and all of them-including Ilsa and Livia-were too sloshed to even notice the subdued atmosphere when they returned.

Lincoln and Tristan tried to hold her a few times-to commiserate with her, but Ivyanne had brushed them aside. She’d fallen apart in the initial moments after her parents death-and she couldn’t afford to let that happen again in front of other people. She needed to appear strong and capable- and she certainly couldn’t expect either man to fill the void her parents had left behind them. It wouldn’t work that way-she had a kingdom to run now, and they were her subjects.
They
needed her protection and guidance-not the other way around. After all, hadn’t she been
born
to do this?

She knew both boys were hurt when she turned out of their arms, but if her gut feeling was right-they were both in for a world of hurt for some time. No need to lull either into a false sense of security.

When the party was over, Lincoln left the bar as it was, locked it up and they all piled into the speedboat together, which her mother and father had driven to the party. The journey to Bracken was a silent one, as was their homecoming- everybody took turns showering while Tristan guarded the door, and while he showered, Adele watched out for him as Lincoln and Ivyanne dragged every spare mattress into the living room and laid them out together. Safety in numbers.

Pintang showed up just before bed time, with a heartbroken looking Saraya trailing behind her, sniffling like she’d caught a human cold. Ivyanne suspected that after herself-Tristan and Saraya would take her mother’s death the hardest. It wasn’t as though Tristan had spent the amount of time with Vana as Saraya had-but they’d had some connection, some friendship that resisted the pitfalls of sex and a four hundred year age difference. Only in the mer world was it possible for a man and a woman, lacking a blood relationship or any kind of physical chemistry-to bond so closely.

By two a.m, everybody was settling down on their mattresses and whispering their good nights. Ivyanne crouched beside Saraya and took her hand.

‘If you’d like to stay on as assistant to the queen...I’d be honored to have you.’ Saraya sniffled in the darkness.

‘Thank you, Ivyanne. Of course I would. B-but I’m going to miss-’ Saraya broken into heartbroken sobs that caused a tremor of horror to course through Ivyanne.

‘I know Saraya, I know.’ Ivyanne released her hand and stood up, crossing to the front door and stepping out onto the darkened patio, letting the door swing shut behind her. It was strange- she knew there was every chance that Ardhi was out there in the darkness somewhere-watching her-but she felt no fear. She simply sat on the porch swing, where she’d enjoyed so many summer-afternoon cups of tea with her mother, and waited, knowing he would come. She nursed her mother’s crown in her lap, unable to part with it for the time being, and unable to accept that it was now hers.

The door creaked open no more than thirty seconds later. She felt his warmth beside her, felt the swing shift under his weight. ‘You shouldn’t be out here alone.’

Ivyanne took his hand and squeezed it, inhaling the scent of his aftershave. ‘I’m not.’

His warm hand brought hers to his lips. ‘We’re not going to be together now, are we?’

Ivyanne rested her head on his strong shoulder and let a tear slip down her cheek. The fact that he’d seen this coming should have made it easier on her, but it didn’t. ‘We can’t.’

He sighed, the deepest, most aching sound she’d ever heard. ‘Because of him?’

Ivyanne felt like a cold skeletal hand was squeezing her heart. ‘I just don’t see how I can even
think
of such things right now. With him out there, watching us, wanting to kill you even more now than he did before....’ she held up her other hand. ‘This ring Lincoln-so long as it’s on my hand, it’s a
bullseye
on you. I love you too much to risk losing you because I’m wearing it.’

Lincoln rested his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Then, he began to shake. Ivyanne put her arm across his shoulders and squeezed him against her. She’d seen him cry twice before-first when she told him that Ivanna was dead, and then when she told him she was marrying Tristan. But this was worse-this was because she’d given her word, and her heart, and was now retracting
both
.

‘Please,’ she whispered softly. ‘Don’t fall apart, Link. I need you to be strong for me here-I’m hanging on by a thread.’

Lincoln suddenly engulfed her in his arms. ‘But you’re
my
thread, Ivyanne! Don’t you see? You always have been!’ his tears ran down her neck. ‘When you leave me, I fall apart.’

‘But I’m not leaving you,’ Ivyanne assured him. ‘I’m still here, and you’re not going anywhere. You cannot take a broken engagement like a broken heart Lincoln because I don’t love you any less now then I did this morning-
or
twelve years ago. Circumstances are changing-my
heart
hasn’t.’

Lincoln pulled back. ‘I don’t believe you,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t. I saw the way you looked at him tonight Ivyanne-like there wasn’t anyone else in the
room
. You love him, the way you love me. If you’d been carrying his child, whether he’d died or not-I never would have gotten that ring on your hand.’

Ivyanne’s stomach flipped. ‘That’s where you’re wrong.’ She held his hands in hers and looked him in the eye. The time for ultimate honesty had come at last. ‘Lincoln if I was carrying Tristan’s baby..I was going to choose you anyway.’

Lincoln blinked. ‘What?’

Ivyanne nodded. ‘I was going to choose you. I was going to make one of the Loveridge children an heir, which was deserved, then have more with my husband.’ She lifted her hand and stroked his cheek. ‘
You
-if you would have still had me.’

‘Of course I would have.’ He said quickly. ‘I just don’t get
why
.’

‘History repeats. I would have done what my great-grandmother had-split the genetics. Had one man’s child, then more with the turned human. It would have opened up our kind considerably. And it wasn’t just for you-if I’d married Tristan, he would have wondered forever if he’d trapped me-he never would have been happy. At least this way, the Marked families would have fulfilled their purpose, Nigara and Roan’s deaths would have been compensated for, Tristan could have gone back to his prowling ways with some pay-off and I would have still had
you
.’

Lincoln shook his head. ‘That’s...I don’t know what to say....’ he looked truly dumbfounded. After a moment, he frowned. ‘But what if you hadn’t been?’

Ivyanne bit her lip before responding. ‘I would have given Tristan an equal shot under those circumstances, I guess. No, I
know
I would have. It would have been the fair thing to do-to get to know you both, without the weight of a pregnancy hanging over our heads. It would have been uncomfortable and caused us all a lot of grief-but at least in the end, I would have made my choice without doubt in my heart.’

Lincoln let out a breath. ‘Wow. This is a lot to take in. I mean, in some way’s it’s good...but in others...I kind of thought I’d have it in the bag the moment you got your period.’ He toyed with the ring on her hand, staring at it. ‘Is that what it’s going to be like from now on? You...making a choice until you’re free of doubt?’