by T Stedman
He leapt on top of her.
***
When Tia and Dante finally emerged it was to congratulations from all the Dubonnettis – except for Marco who had curiously gone missing.
Telegrams from all over the world had arrived from Atlantean prominent families and dignitaries. Tia was overwhelmed with all the well-wishing. She glanced over at Dante and got the impression that being the good guy was new for him too. God, that gorgeous fiery, passionate man is mine. And her breath hitched in her chest.
She tried her damnedest not to think of Jay. She’d been sort of caught up in a whirlwind up until now. But as she looked at everyone’s happy faces, especially Dante’s, she felt the worst kind of traitor. Shit, they were both beautiful in her eyes, and yet so different. The fact that they were such close friends just compounded her feeling of self-loathing.
Dante’s father interrupted her thoughts. He looked drunk and deliriously happy when he greeted her as his beloved daughter. He still made her skin crawl. Thankfully Dante whisked her off to his room to escape his family and to get ready for their wedding celebration.
They spent the next couple of hours getting ready, just the two of them. She allowed him to cheer her up and in doing so realised what great company Dante was – always witty and entertaining.
A magnificent gown had been hung in his room for her. She’d never seen anything so beautiful; moss green silk to go with her eyes. “Do my DM’s go with this?” she said, in all seriousness.
That look came in his eye. “You can go feckin’ barefoot for all I care,” and he pounced, pushing her down on the bed. Shit. What chance did she have?
***
Dante couldn’t ever remember being this happy. They arrived at the Bonaci family home, which was more like a castle. The driveway was long and the entrance was grand. Liveried servants came out and showed the Dubonnetti clan into a hallway as antiquated as their own.
Sebastian Bonaci met them there and greeted them warmly. He shook hands with Christian, then Dante and lastly, when his eyes rested on Tia, he pulled her into an embrace, which she accepted woodenly. “My beautiful Thelxiepia. How your mother and I have longed for this moment.”
“Hello,” was all she could manage.
Dante put his arm around her back after their coats were taken.
“In love already.” Sebastian said, in his Mediterranean, sing-song voice. “Please follow me. We do not live in this part of the house.”
They followed him further into the hallway to a panel, which opened revealing a lift. The lift doors opened and they all stepped in. “This castle was cut into the cliff side.” Sebastian explained. “It enables us to have easy access to the sea and my wife’s family; that is your mother, of course, Tia,” and he inclined his head towards her.
As they stepped out the room appeared dark, but a party was obviously in full swing. The lift was at an angle, so as they turned and looked around to their right, there was a small flight of marble stairs leading to the largest most unusual room they had ever seen, cut into the very rock and all black.
When they stood at the top of the steps and looked to their left, the room had a huge window the size of a cinema screen, the length and floor to ceiling of the vast space. The window was lit outside and had fish, rocks and seaweed like a huge aquarium. A second take made them realise it was the sea. They were below sea level.
The centre of the room had a beautiful carved marble fountain. Black chandeliers hung at intervals over the high ceiling. Comfy sofas, chairs and coffee tables were arranged all over the room like a gothic hotel lounge.
Overall it had the feeling of an old horror movie – equally it would make a great nightclub – but tonight it made a really cool wedding reception.
They all walked down the steps into the main room and began to get noticed. People came up to the royal couple one by one to congratulate them.
The first were Cash and Sean, who hugged Tia fiercely. They shook Dante’s hand having never met him before. They announced who they were, but Dante was preoccupied looking for the third; the one he really wanted to meet.
Her brothers and her uncle were next. They led her towards the fountain where a beautiful, scantily clad woman was standing. She was taller than was usual with long blond locks tumbling over her blue green dress. Her skin was so white that it had a bluish tinge. Her eyes were large and brown like a deer.
Tia’s mother, Dante thought. Both he and Tia were in awe of her, as neither had met a genuine full-blooded Murr before.
She curtsied low and gracefully before them. Dante bowed.
“May I introduce to you my wife, Naomi?” Sebastian pulled her in closer to him. “Alas my wife has no vocal cords but can communicate by projecting her words to you, and can hear you replies both spoken and thought.”
My dearest child.
Dante pushed Tia closer to her mother causing her to almost trip into her. She leant in giving her a patronising pat on the back. “Mother.”
She knew when Dante hid a smile by looking the other way. He then decided to save her, saying, “Thank you for this wonderful celebration. We look forward to getting your advice and discussing our future plans with you, but perhaps another time. Right now we would like to celebrate,” and he kissed Naomi on both cheeks, which pleased her greatly. The old Irish charm worked every time.
“Of course, Your Highness.” Sebastian bowed low and stepped backwards. Dante could get used to this shit.
As they went to walk away, Naomi stopped Tia with her hand as she went past. Just a small private matter, Tia. Sometime soon, you will become overwhelmed with a need to be under water. Please do not ignore it, but seek me out. I will tell you what to do.
Tia smiled uneasily, having no clue what she was referring to. Before she could question her further, Dante whisked her off to the nearest servant carrying glasses of champagne. She quickly forgot about it as Dante offered her a glass. “We need a drink.”
***
Where the bloody hell was Jay? He’d been texting and phoning him on and off all day. He could do with his grounding influence right now. In the meantime he had to do all this king stuff. Endless cousins and officials from every branch of every Atlantean royal family were presenting themselves to him. It was such a yawn. Most of them he hadn’t seen since childhood; if at all.
The only ones of special interest to him were the three really tall cousins dressed completely in black. They were introduced as princes from the Borge family, which meant they were Murr. Vionne, Dax and Caan bowed low. Dante gauged that Vionne was the oldest and would become Lord Advocate one day of the city of Murrtaine. That much he had learned. One to watch.
You’d better believe it! he heard in his own head.
“Fuck!” he said, shocked.
Yes, we can read thoughts, not just projected speech, Vionne replied and grinned.
Dante laughed, liking him right away.
Tia, oblivious of the internal conversation, smiled looking from one to the other.
Dante excused them from their cousins and moved them along. He had been keeping an eye on Tia the whole time and sensed, despite appearances, her growing anxiety and preoccupation as time wore on. He supposed it was through the new bond they shared.
She was looking for him. He’d sensed her melancholy a few times since he’d known her and guessed she was thinking of him. Shit. He’d strongly hoped that he’d wedged himself into the other guy’s place in her heart, but watching her scanning the room, he wasn’t that confidant.
“I’m just going to say hello over there, babe,” he said, allowing her the time she wanted on her own. He kissed her cheek. “Will you be alright?”
“Sure,” she said. Dante was sure he spotted relief, or did he feel it? He wasn’t sure.
He walked away, chatting to guests, never taking his eye too far from her. He watched her start to move through the crowds till she found Cash. The two of them collected Sean on the way, and the three of them went to the lift.
/> Dante quickly caught on to them. He said a hasty goodbye to the people he was talking to and pushed quickly through the crowd to follow.
He let them get in to the lift and got in the service one, a few feet away. When it opened, it was further down the corridor in darkness. He walked slowly towards the voices and stayed in the shadows.
“Why didn’t you make him come with you?” he heard Tia accusing her Protectors.
“He insisted on getting his head together, Tia.” He heard Cash reply.
A phone beeped.
Sean checked his phone. “It’s him. He’s just pulled up.”
Chapter 16
Tia went to rush outside. “No Tia.” Sean grabbed her arm. “Stay inside.”
She exhaled impatiently but did as she was told. She stood back smoothing down her dress, making herself look presentable. Shit.
Then Jay walked unobtrusively in through the big porch doorway. Dante could have cheered. Thank fuck! He was just about to walk out of the shadows to greet his best friend, when Tia ran and threw herself at him.
Jay caught her in his arms, buried his face in her shoulder and neck, and breathed in her scent.
Dante watched in disbelief as his friend kissed her like you read about; like they needed a fucking room.
No, this was not fucking happening. He was shaking his head to wake himself up as he walked out of the shadows and into the light.
Cash and Sean correctly read the situation instantly and faced Dante with their hands out, ready to halt his progress.
Dante noticed the second Jay opened his eyes and saw him. He broke his kiss and called him. No shame or guilt; like a, ‘hey mate, there you are’.
“Jay, no … Jay!” Tia said, trying to pull him backwards towards the front entrance.
“What? It’s ok … Tia, it’s Dante,” he said, not understanding at all.
“Jay, he doesn’t know.”
“What? What do you mean?” Jay said, frowning, trying to free himself from her grip.
“He doesn’t fucking know!” She ended up shrieking at him.
Jay turned back to look at Dante, confused.
Dante felt a mixture of incomprehension, anger and then pain, while he struggled to get a handle on what was happening in front of his eyes.
“Dante. We spoke. You knew about her. We were cool, remember?” Jay said, looking back and forth between him and Tia.
Dante was shaking his head trying to compute; to fathom what the fuck was being said to him.
Jay tried reason again. “Marco and your brothers were in the States. I was there. They knew. I spoke to you afterwards?”
The extent of Marco’s omission was starting to hit Dante in waves. “Your girl worked with horses, mine’s a DJ,” he said lamely, grabbing at straws.
“She does the horses with me,” Cash said softly.
In his desperation Dante turned his attention to Tia. “I talked of Jay all the time and you knew?”
“I didn’t Dante. I mean, I thought you knew about me and Jay, right up to just before we went into the pool, then I daren’t tell you,” she said, pleading.
Jay spun her round roughly to face him. “You went in the water with him?” He said jabbing his hand out towards Dante.
Dante interrupted, “Jay, she had no choice, man. It’s part of the marriage.” A thought popped into his head as he said it. “Hang on, who did you save my life for, you or him?” And he pointed back to Jay.
Tia started to back away from both of them. “For us both,” she said, in a small voice.
Sean had seen enough at this point and pushed in front of Tia, right up in to Dante’s face. “She’s fucking innocent, leave her alone. For fuck sake, you’re all innocent.” He pushed Dante back in the chest.
As Dante eyeballed him, coiled and ready to go, about an inch from Sean’s face, Jay pushed in between. “Stop! Let’s cool down.”
Dante pushed apart from all of them, grabbing an unopened bottle of scotch from the sideboard. “Just keep away from me the fucking lot of yer.”
***
Jay looked around at them all and went to follow Dante.
“Jay?” Tia whimpered.
“Do not let her in the room,” he said, ordering Sean and Cash and pointed as he walked past.
They both nodded.
Jay disappeared down the corridor. A door opened and slammed and then the door opened and slammed again.
“Oh my God!” Tia said, rushing into Cash’s arms. “Help him.”
Sean shook his head. “Don’t worry about him. He can handle himself. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.”
***
Dante was sitting at the desk in the library pouring a large scotch when Jay walked in. He closed the door and pushed a heavy sideboard in front of it, not wanting any interruptions.
“I hope you brought another bottle with you,” Dante said, throwing the contents of his glass down his throat in one go and pouring another straight away. “Just go home Jay, okay,” Dante said, looking up with hopelessness in his eyes. “I’m about to get fighting drunk.”
“I can’t,” Jay said, flopping into the chair opposite Dante. “I mean, I am home, sort of.”
Dante drew his eyebrows together in confusion.
“You’re looking at the new son of Bonaci, CEO of the Bonaci Corporation and owner of The Bluebell boutique hotel; well, that is if I say yes.”
“Fuck, when did they offer you all that?”
“Just after Tia left yesterday to go to you.”
Dante thought about it for a moment. “They knew this was going to happen.”
“I reckon they did. Alfonzo had talked it over with your dad and decided my previous relationship with Tia meant my existing circumstances was unworkable … whatever that means. They pitched it as a reward for services rendered; above and beyond the call of duty.”
“Bastards.”
“You know this was all your brother’s doing?”
Dante nodded and simmered as he opened another bottle he’d found. “What happened in America?”
Jay leant forward with his elbows resting on his knees. “Cash called everyone who knew her when she’d fallen off her horse. Your brother had been sniffing around. I got there, and there was the three of them: Marco, Paolo, and Antonio. I couldn’t believe it.” He titled his head towards the door. “The two out there were there. Alfonzo turned up with her brothers. Then he explained to Tia who she was, and made her decide whether she was coming here. She didn’t have much of a choice, Dante. Christ, I pretty much talked her into it, saying what an okay guy you were.” He shook his head at how naive he’d been. “I stupidly assumed Marco would tell you about it straight away.”
“I hit the roof when she told me she was in love with one of her Protectors … No wonder she didn’t want to tell me it was you.” Dante said, swilling his drink.
Jay’s head reeled at the words; she was in love with him. Fuck! He shook himself out of it and pushed it to the back of his mind. “What happened in the water?” he said, cutting to the chase.
Dante stood up, grabbed a glass and poured a drink for Jay.
Jay shook his head. “What happened?” he repeated.
“Okay …” Dante drank Jay’s drink and scratched his head, not knowing where to start. “You know how we test a Siren?”
“Yeah, I think I do. You make ‘em stay under water to see if they can breathe, don’t ya?”
“Yes, well in a marriage, the man; and it has to be a prince, you know, pure blood, has to be trapped with her to the point of drowning.”
“Fuck!” Jay leant forward, changing his mind for that drink.
Dante poured it for him. “And then the Siren has to decide whether she accepts him by either letting him die or breathing her life’s essence into him. This kick starts his gills, enabling him to breathe under water and saves his life.”
“Bloody hell! You had to do that?”
Dante nodded
“Was you scared?”
“Fucking terrified. She told me she loved her Protector about ten minutes before we went in.”
Jay stifled a laugh, which made Dante laugh.
Dante threw his glass smashing it against the wall and put his tired head in his hands. Jay knew all too well when Dante mixed alcohol with head-fuck you got trouble in boatloads.
“I’m a fool Jay, she told me she loved someone else over and over and I ignored it … I got carried away and mistook her doing her duty for caring … you know? We fit … I thought we were the same … I thought we were …” Dante got up kicking the chair and knocking everything off the desk in a rage of self-recrimination and humiliation.
Jay sat still, calm and cool, but every muscle in him twitched in readiness. Dante drunk and in a temper was an unpredictable thing; a lot like an injured animal lashing out at anyone.
“You!” Dante said, pointing at Jay while he stalked towards him.
Jay stood quickly. His chair fell over backwards.
“Mr fucking calm. The first girl you’ve ever fucking liked and I’ve taken her.” Dante said, laughing. “It’s fucking priceless. We’ve fucked a cast of thousands, and the only one that either of us actually likes, is the same fucking girl. You couldn’t make it up could you?” Dante leant on the edge of the desk to help him stop laughing. Then looked Jay ominously in the eye in all seriousness. “I’ll never give her up Jay; we are bound now and it’s permanent.”
Jay imperceptibly shrugged, his face equally serious. “So what you saying?”
Dante flew at Jay, grabbed him around the head and took them down to the floor; breaking a chair to pieces. They rolled around in the fragments. Jay used all his strength and speed to avoid Dante’s punches. He couldn’t believe the strength in him.
Jay managed to punch him twice in the face, catching him in the eye and the mouth. Then he managed to get to his feet. Dante followed.
Someone was battering on the door. Then shouldering it - moving the sideboard inches at a time with every bash.
Dante pulled an oil painting off the wall and threw it at Jay across the room, then launched himself at him again. The momentum pushed the pair of them into a glass fronted display cabinet, showering glass and wood everywhere as they fell onto the floor again.