by S. K Munt
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?’
Ivyanne swallowed. ‘Actually, until we find Ardhi-my love life is going to be the least of my priorities. I have a kingdom to run, two parents to grieve, a mad man to capture and you guys to protect. Until everything is balanced again, I’m going to try not to think about any of it.’
Lincoln looked pained. ‘But we could find him tomorrow-or it could take another twelve years!’
Ivyanne nodded. ‘Twelve years isn’t much in the grand scheme of things Link. The man I choose has to love me for centuries-at my worst and at my best. I won’t rush because I’m afraid you’ll both get sick of waiting. One of you won’t, and that man will be my match because he understands my needs.’
Lincoln’s eyes narrowed. ‘So you do still love him?’
Ivyanne swallowed. ‘Yes. And until I don’t, I don’t deserve to wear this.’ She slipped the ring off her finger, the lump in her throat doubling as she did so. She didn’t want to break up with Lincoln. She couldn’t stand the thought of going an hour without his kisses-let alone a month, or a year. ‘You saved my life tonight Link,’ she managed to choke out as she pressed the ring into his palm. ‘You handled it all so well. I don’t doubt for a second that you could be a terrific king some day, and deep inside me, I don’t just expect you to be, I hope you will be.’ She leaned across and kissed him gently, her tears mixing with his. ‘But you need an equally devoted queen. It’s not you that needs to be a better person, but me.’
Lincoln touched her face. ‘Don’t,’ he whispered. ‘I’ll take you exactly as you are, here and now. I’ll force him out of your mind with a million kisses. I’ll be so strong for you that you won’t need to do anything but breathe. Just don’t leave me my love.’
‘I have to. I can’t...I can’t love you the way you need me to with a broken heart.’ Ivyanne tore herself from his grasp and went inside, her vision blurred by her tears as she stumbled through the darkened room.
Holding in her sobs, she hiccuped, getting down on her hands and knees and crawling across the floor until she discovered an unoccupied mattress with her fingertips. She made her way up it and turned herself onto her side, curling up into a ball around the crown, holding her knees together like she was trying to hold her insides in. She squeezed her eyes shut against the tears, but that just amplified Lincoln’s anguish in her ears. In her heart, she was still out there with him, soothing him. In reality however, she’d abandoned him when they needed each other the most.
Then, a soft, warm touch on her hand brought her back into her own body. Ivyanne opened her eyes, and found herself staring into Tristan's which were still a dark golden brown, even in the dim light. He was on the mattress beside her. A shock went through her as she realized
that he-and the girls-were all hearing Lincoln’s sobs in the still night and had probably figured out why he was falling apart.
Tristan’s fingers traced the outline of hers, one finger stroking up the length of the bare knuckle where Lincoln’s ring had rested seconds before. His eyes widened slightly, and he caught his lower lip between his teeth-but that action was not enough to conceal the smile which seemed to illuminate him from within.
‘Thank you,’ he mouthed in the darkness.
Ivyanne nodded slightly but then pulled her hand back and rolled away. When the tears came this time, there was nothing she could do to silence them, and no reason why she should. Suddenly, she understood why Ardhi had acted the way he had-because Ivyanne was quickly learning that the hardest thing in the world to do was act fair or logically where her heart was concerned.
End
Thank you for reading Three Rings-the 3rd installment of The Fairytail saga, ‘Heads or Tails’ is due out October 2nd, 2013.
Join Ivyanne as she transitions from princess, to ruler to wife.
Table of Contents
Part One
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2.
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Part Two
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Part Three
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