by S. K Munt
Lincoln flinched, wondering if she had some sort of shark bite she wasn’t aware of, but when he looked at the place her legs should have been, his heart seized and his blood turned to ice.
Sherri had a tail. It was the first time he’d been successfully screwed by a woman in under a minute.
Part Three
20.
‘I just don’t understand….’ Ivyanne paced the floor of her parents’ living room the next morning, wishing that she had gone back to her own place the night before. If she had, she would have been with Lincoln when he’d found Sherri unconscious, and she would have been the one to resuscitate her.
Coming back to her parents had been an awful idea anyway. Ardhi had seen right though her-then made her to feel like hell about it. After that, she had tossed and turned all night, only to be woken at 5am with an equally tired and freaked out fiancé toting along a brand new recruit! An unwanted one, at that!
‘I’m going to admit that it occurred to me,’ her mother said softly, her golden skin had paled the second Lincoln had brought Sherri through the door. ‘Seeing how powerful Ardhi is, it’s no surprise that he passed on at least one characteristic to Lincoln.’
Eight faces turned to stare at Ardhi, who raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh so it’s my fault now?’ he rolled his eyes. ‘Come on guys, I’m doing enough penance as it is.’
Joakim looked at Sherri thoughtfully. ‘I fail to see why this is the end of the world. So we have one more full blood mermaid, and one more full blood merman with the ability to turn-shouldn’t we be breaking out the champagne?’
‘Good point,’ Ivyanne’s father said, resting one of his large weathered hands on Lincoln’s cowed shoulder. ‘The future king can turn-I find that fact delightful. And as soon as Sherri comes to terms with this, I’m certain that she’ll fit right in.’
Ivyanne pouted, looking down at her hands which she had folded in her lap. They were right, of course. But she would have been a lot happier if Lincoln had worked his new magic on someone else-anyone else.
Sherri cleared her throat. She’d been clinging to Lincoln’s arm for the full twenty minutes since they’d arrived, and the scared-rabbit look hadn’t left her face for a moment. The fact that Ivyanne knew how overwhelmed the new girl was, was the only thing that kept her from forcibly removing her hand from her fiancés arm.
‘I’m grateful that Link found me when he did-let’s face it-I’d be dead if he hadn’t. But all of this is pretty hard to deal with. I mean, that story, in the shell…..the tail….all of it is freaking me out.’
‘That’s understandable,’ Eka said softly. ‘We were all born this way, understanding. Only you and Lincoln know what the transition is like.’
‘I’m here for you,’ Lincoln said to her, patting her arm tenderly. ‘I’m so sorry I did this to you, but you’ve got to believe that it gets good-fast. I don’t regret being turned, not for a second.’
‘Thank you,’ Sherri said softly, leaning her head against his shoulder. ‘I think I’m going to need all the help I can get.’
Ivyanne almost threw up.
Saraya suddenly snorted, and everyone turned to look at her.
‘What’s so funny?’ Vana asked sharply.
‘Oh!’ Saraya had the grace to blush. ‘Sorry, just my mind ticking away…..seems ironic that our problems have turned into our solutions, only too late for them to solve the original problems…’
‘Huh?’ Ivyanne was lost.
‘I’m talking about Ardhi,’ Saraya nodded to the boy across from her. ‘He’s Marked. He’s a full-blood. He’s a mystic….if we’d known this six months ago, none of this drama would have happened. He’s technically the perfect king-even Tristan wouldn’t have been a serious contender by comparison. I mean, you were best friends. I thought for sure that you were going to pick him.’
Ivyanne was sorry she’d asked. Saraya was right. If she’d put her best friend and her duties first, everything would have been fine. But she’d followed her heart, and that had launched the tidal wave of drama she was now drowning in.
‘Saraya, hush now,’ Vana said softly. ‘Can’t you see that you’re upsetting her?’
‘I’m sorry,’ Saraya looked truly apologetic. ‘But it is my job to see matches and keep records on everyone...I can’t help but come to the conclusion I was trained for.’
‘Well there’s no point wasting time, thinking about what could have been,’ Ivyanne’s father suddenly said. ‘Saraya I think we all appreciate your honesty, but perhaps now is not the moment for it.’
‘Or maybe it is.’ Eka suddenly said.
Ivyanne turned to the older woman, a shiver running down her spine when she saw the way Ardhi’s mother was eyeing her, arms crossed stubbornly in front of her beige and gold paisley print dress.
‘Is it so crazy for me to suggest that what should have been, is what still could be?’
Ivyanne felt bile in her throat. ‘Yes,’ she said quickly, getting to her feet. ‘Eka please, don’t go there.’
‘Why not?’ Eka lifted her chin, her eyes following Ivyanne as she backed towards the counter, closer to where her parents stood. ‘Saraya is a royal official and she has a point-you and Ardhi are a more ideal match now than you ever were.’
‘Mum….’ Ardhi’s tone was low and warning, and Ivyanne glanced at him hopefully. She knew that Ardhi was the one person who could stop his mother from voicing her opinions. ‘Don’t.’
‘I’ll do and say as I please. And if she kicks me out like she kicked out poor Lux, so be it!’ Eka got to her feet, the beads on the hem of her floaty dress tinkling with her movements. ‘The fact is that Ardhi is alive. Ivyanne is engaged, yes, but she’s not married, and she’s not pregnant-My son made some mistakes, yes, but what he did for young Lincoln was more than compensation for them, no?’
Ivyanne crossed her arms across her chest. ‘That doesn’t change the fact that-’
‘You don’t love him,’ Joakim finished for her, standing up beside his wife, his ivory skin a contrast to Eka’s olive complexion. ‘You say that Ivyanne, but it’s clear that you don’t know your own heart. You loved Lincoln, you loved Tristan….and when Ardhi died, I heard you wept for him for days, wishing to have him back and make things right.’
‘Of course she did!’ Lincoln’s hand came down on the table with a large slap which rattled the cutlery rack in the centre. ‘But that’s because she has a good heart! I see where this is going, and I don’t appreciate it!’
‘Frankly, I don’t care what you appreciate,’ Eka snapped. ‘You’re new to our sect, Mr Grey, and you’ve coasted in on nothing but luck while my son has suffered. ’
‘Hold on!’ Sherri suddenly piped up, her voice a squeak. ‘Ivyanne was into Ardhi too?’
‘No!’ Ivyanne snapped, then her heart sank when she saw the look on Ardhi’s face. ‘Oh Ardhi...I’m sorry. I didn’t-’
‘Save it,’ Ardhi grunted, looking ill. ‘You think I’m surprised to hear that I was never even in the running? What if Tristan hadn’t been into you, huh? Would Bane have been the next choice?’ He dropped his head into folded arms. ‘I should have left with Lux. At least she cared.’
Ivyanne lifted her face to the ceiling. ‘Oh god will this nightmare never end?!’
‘Not until you do the right thing,’ Joakim said bitterly. ‘Two weeks ago I swallowed that crap about Ivyanne and Lincoln being meant to be-but the evidence pointing to that has become redundant now that Ardhi’s alive.’
Ivyanne looked up to see Mrs Kayu-Api walk to the back of Ardhi’s chair and rest her hands on her son’s shoulders. Shut up! She thought. Just Shut Up!
‘If Ardhi is powerful enough to pass along one gift to a mer he turns, imagine how powerful a child born from him will be. I think it’s pretty obvious that he should be bred with Ivyanne-it may not be to her benefit in the immediate future-but the benefit of this kingdom should be first priority.’
Ivyanne’s heart sank. She looked at Lincoln, not shocked to fin
d him openly seething. She wanted to put her arms around him but she was rooted to the spot.
‘You may not love him yet,’ Eka went on, fixing her steely gaze on Ivyanne. ‘But he is a worthy man, and I don’t doubt that you will come to.’
‘And I’m sure Lincoln will come to peace with it, especially now that he has young Sherri to guide.’ Joakim said, glaring at Lincoln, furrowing his white brows. ‘My daughter informed me the other night that she stumbled upon you two acting hot and heavy with damn Lux in the pool at your resort. If that isn’t a tick in Ardhi’s column, I don’t know what is.’
‘You what?’ Ivyanne’s father snapped, turning on Lincoln.
‘Daddy, don’t,’ Ivyanne said softly. ‘It was a mistake and nothing more. I’ll explain later. He feels nothing for her.’
Sherri caught her eye, her pretty mouth twisted in a sneer.
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Lincoln said, looking indignant, his gaze not flinching from Ardhi’s father. ‘I was fickle in my flirtations in a moment of weakness-but your son stabbed another full blood over the same thing. And I’m the one to watch?’ He turned to Vana. ‘Speaking of which, I’ve been meaning to ask...is there some sort of form of mer punishment for attempted murder? Or are we all just going to pretend that he’d okay because he has some fire power we could harness?’
‘Yes,’ Vana said with a sigh. ‘But the penalty is giving your last breath to a human to replace the mer lost. Only Ardhi kind of took care of that himself.’
Ardhi smirked. ‘I sent myself to the naughty corner.’
Ivyanne had to intervene. ‘Of course I could love Ardhi,’ she was quick to say, not wanting to stab her friend in the heart once again. ‘But the reality is that I already do love Link, and have agreed to marry him. I will not break that promise I made, one I made thinking that it was Ardhi’s dying wish.’
Eka pursed her lips. ‘I understand that,’ she said quickly. ‘So I’ll ask for a compromise. There was the chance, last week, that Lincoln would have been a step-father to Tristan’s unborn child, and we all saw the advantage of that. If you cannot bear to live without your Lincoln, then I think it’s fair to suggest that you and Ardhi come together to make a child before you are married.’
There were shocked gasps from around the room.
‘You have GOT to be kidding me!’ Lincoln thundered, knocking his chair over with how quickly he got to his feet. ‘You cannot breed my fiancé like a prize-winning mare!’
Eka whirled on him, a few glossy black and silvery strands unravelling from her chignon. ‘Actually, we can, and we should! It wouldn’t be the first time!’ She turned back to Ivyanne, but her eyes went over her shoulder, to her mother. ‘Were you not once in a similar situation?’
‘Only because I didn’t have any other options!’ Vana protested. ‘And it didn’t work anyway!’
Ivyanne felt her stomach roll-her mother had bred with another mer before her father and after her first marriage?! She looked up and saw that her dad’s face had grown red. He didn’t look surprised-merely irritated. So he’d known then.
‘Mum!’ Ardhi cried. ‘That’s ridiculous! Don’t you see that if I have a child with Ivyanne, our family is taken off the roster for good?’
‘So?’ Joakim responded. ‘We’d still have a child in line to be prince or princess. Maybe our family would finally find some peace after years of judgement.’
‘Your family is judged because you two broke the rules!’ Ash pointed out. ‘Ardhi’s power is the result of corruption! You two know how I cherish Ardhi, like one of my own, but if we set this example, Marked families will get it in their head that it pays off to defy the queen!’
‘But it will pay off!’ Eka pointed out. ‘The next heir could be more powerful than any before it!’
‘And what good will that do if fifty years from now, they have nobody to breed with, because the bloodlines were crossed over, leaving no pure candidate?’ Vana demanded. ‘We have these rules for reason!’
‘But now that we have two men who can turn new mers, what does it matter? You could cross-breed all of the Marked families, producing more and more powerful mers. You could start fifteen more Marked families if you wish-hundreds even! Anna would have if she’d known how rare her gift was!’
‘Are you so sure that you speak for all of the Marked families?’ Vana asked quickly. ‘Perhaps they’re not as power hungry as you are, that they’re willing to give up their special standing and chance at the throne, for the possibility of producing a few powerful matches. I’ll remind you, that it is only your family and the Loveridge family, who have suffered of late. The other families are quite content with their lot.’
‘Because they don’t know any different,’ Eka countered. ‘I’m certain that they’d be open to the possibility of exchanging one entitlement for another. There are plenty coming in this week for Tristan’s memorial-why don’t we ask them then?’
‘Because there will be an engagement party, that’s why!’ Vana shot back. ‘And anyone who dares try to derail that will be seen as defying the queen!’
Ivyanne was surprised to hear that, but she supposed it made sense. She glanced over at Lincoln and saw that he was looking at her, smiling gently. Ivyanne couldn’t guess which was more pleasing to him-the idea of celebrating their love, or of having the queen stand up for him so vehemently. Beside him, Sherri was pouting. That gave Ivyanne an equal thrill.
‘It’s a foolish mistake,’ Eka snapped. ‘You would throw aside the chance to have hundreds of new, powerful mer families for one mermaids’ happiness?’
‘But we don’t want hundreds of Mer families!’ Ivyanne suddenly erupted, unable to bear another second of being discussed like she wasn’t even there. ‘There is a difference between cultivating our species, and expanding it to the point where we have no control over it. A very possible outcome of your proposition is chaos, and you cannot deny that. We are a tightly knit society-we have to be to keep our secret. Do we want to expand our population? Yes. But we do not want the issues that come with extreme expansion-war and intolerance, everybody working individually for their own selfish goals….You speak as though hundreds of kids like Ardhi would be a blessing-but our job is to keep nature balanced-not to over throw it! Personally, I don’t want to see eighty mermaid teens battling it out to see who can pull the most lightning out of the sky like one massive pissing contest! And that is what will happen if we turn our fight to survival into a race for supremacy!’ She pivoted to face Ardhi. ‘I care for you and I’m sorry but you stirred up some hell when you came into your powers. And that’s because you were working for a personal goal, not to benefit our kind.’ She glanced around at every face in the room, imploring them with her eyes to see reason. ‘There is nothing I won’t do to better our people, and if having a child with Ardhi would do that, then I would. However-’ she held up a finger. ‘I see no way for it to work that wouldn’t cause a mutiny. Am I relieved on a personal note? Yes. But the fact remains.’
A hush fell over the room.
‘I’m with her,’ Saraya was the first one to speak, smiling ruefully. ‘I just tried imagining my job if there were five thousand of us, and it made me want to chuck. I’m sorry I spoke at all-I had no idea it would cause this kind of bedlam.’
‘That was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,’ Lincoln came to Ivyanne, kissing her on the cheek. ‘I honestly thought I was going to have a heart attack for a second there, before you spoke up.’
Ivyanne snorted. ‘I think I still might.’
Her mother released her. ‘My daughter just demonstrated why the Court bloodline is ideal to rule our people, no firepower required.’ She said. ‘Eka, I understand your point of view, but your suggestion is just as fraught with trouble as our current system is. The moment Ivyanne is married and a child born of that match, things will calm down.’ She turned to Ardhi. ‘Like I said yesterday, I understand everything you went through, and I feel for you, and am apologetic of the part
I played in your undoing. I’d like to say that encouraging Tristan was wrong, but the truth is that Ivyanne did love him-and if Lincoln hadn’t been turned, things would have been fine. Just as things will be fine now.’
‘Not for Ardhi, they won’t be,’ Eka said, running her hand over her son’s hair. ‘He’ll love your daughter forever, and suffer for it.’
‘Or perhaps he’ll move on, have a child with someone else-Sherri here even-and then his offspring could be a match for Ivyanne’s own one day. You never know. Everything can change in a second.’
‘Now I really feel uncomfortable,’ Sherri eyed Ardhi nervously before looking up at Link. ‘Can you take me back to work now? I’ve heard all I can handle for one morning.’
‘Sure,’ Lincoln left Ivyanne’s side. ‘I’m sorry about this. And I thought things were complicated when I was turned!’
‘Hold on,’ Ash suddenly said. ‘Ivyanne, can you escort them please?’
Ivyanne turned to her father. ‘What?’
Ash glared at Lincoln. ‘I’m not sure how I feel about this yet, but I don’t fancy the idea of Lincoln and this one spending too much time together without you. Even if flirting was a simple mistake, which it could have possibly been-two newly turned mers alone is a recipe for disaster.’
Lincoln looked crushed. ‘You don’t trust me not to cheat on your daughter?’
Ivyanne felt for Link. She knew he’d been so proud of how easily he’d won the king over that first day. Now Joakim’s tattling had undone all of his hard work. Still, she couldn’t deny that she felt a pang of gratitude for her father’s watchful eye.
‘Dad, please don’t,’ Ivyanne said quickly. ‘If I can’t trust him, I might as well kill myself now.’ She turned to Lincoln. You brought her in a boat?’
He nodded dumbly.
Ivyanne glanced at the ceiling. ‘Good. I have some things to take from my room to my new place, but I want to have some breakfast first. Can you and Sherri swim back and leave the boat for me?’