by T Stedman
They continued to float, still joined, in the water. Dante kissed her neck and murmured how much he loved her. Neither wanted to let go.
I’m sorry Dante.
For what? he said, looking down at her with concern.
That things couldn’t be different for us.
He hugged her to him. It’s no-one’s fault. We just make the best of what we’ve got.
Reality was slowly sinking in. Oh God, Dante. He’ll hate me when I get out. I’ll hate me.
No Tia. Never hate yourself for us. Besides, he never hates you. It’ll be me, and I can’t blame him. He may have you but he can never share what I can with you, and that’s what kills him. He gave her a last lingering kiss. Let’s breathe for each other one last time and I’d better get you back to him before he wears my guts for garters.
It was late when they made their way back to the tunnel under the fountain.
***
When they stepped out of the fountain, dripping, everyone had gone and the Hall was deserted. Tia guessed it was probably late.
After expelling the water from their lungs, Dante grabbed two towels left for them nearby and wrapped her in one.
He escorted her back to her room. Do you remember the first time, Tia, when I took you to my room after you were tested?
Yes, she smiled back at him but with a heavy heart.
Will you be okay? he asked, as they reached her room.
She nodded.
He kissed her on the cheek for a long moment and then left her without saying anything further. She waited for him to disappear, and then she opened the door and slipped inside.
Jay was still awake, sitting in a chair with a glass of scotch in his hand.
“Hey,” he said quietly, as she walked in.
Hey, she projected back.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Are you?
She knew her face was red with self-loathing and guilt and he could read her like a book. She hurried past him into the bathroom and showered off Dante and the seawater quickly, and despite wanting to stay in there all night, she came back out.
Jay was sitting in the same position – new drink though. “Come here,” he said.
She felt scared, but swallowed and went over to him slowly.
He pulled her down to sit on his lap. “Tonight is our last night, so I don’t want to argue with you, okay?”
She nodded, gratefully.
“But the next time you have to do this shit, I’ll bring you, but I won’t stay.”
Her heart felt like it would break for him. I understand … was Keenan okay?
“Not really. But at least it’s quick for him.”
A stab of guilt pierced her heart. I don’t know what to do to make you feel better?
There was a beat of silence. “Breathe for me, Tia,” he said, looking at her with soulful eyes.
Saying nothing, she took his shirt off so she could straddle his hips in the chair and feel his skin against her. She ran her hands over his many tattoos, which were so much a part of him. The lettering may as well have said, ‘it will all end in tears’.
He allowed her to study him while he leant back in the chair and put his head back. His arms lay limp over the sides.
She moved forward slowly and put her mouth on his and gently kissed him and blew. Instead of a quick blast, she slowly streamed into him and sat back. She ran the tip of her finger over his face and along his lips and into his mouth, still slightly open in the bliss that followed. He looked like he’d taken a hit from a crack pipe.
She cupped his face with her hands. Although Jay was drunk he would feel her bone-deep love for him, but would also feel her turmoil and know she loved Dante as well. A love whose tendrils where riddled inside her like bindweed and threatened to break them all apart.
Feeling wretched, she stood up and pulled him to stand with her. Come and hold me in bed, Jay, it’s our last chance.
He allowed her to lead him and flopped onto the bed. She pushed him to lie down, undressed him, covered and got in with him. She snuggled up close and he fell into a deep sleep immediately, his body awash with scotch and Siren breath.
***
Tia stayed in bed most of the next morning with Jay, nursing him through the mother of all hangovers. Eventually she had to start to dress and he joined her when he started to feel Human again.
Sarah had brought with her the purple dress which she had chosen, in what seemed like a lifetime ago. Which was a good job since she hadn’t given a thought to what she would wear.
Her hair was in big lustrous curls almost to her shoulder. She felt too glam – so unlike herself. So for her own entertainment, as everything was going to be majorly dull, she put her trainers on underneath her dress. And instead of the pearl earrings Dante had sent her, she found her silver skull and crossbone studs.
Satisfied she had defied convention enough, she helped Jay choose his suit – a steel grey Valentino with a black tie and crisp white shirt. She helped him with his tie. “Like butter wouldn’t melt,” she said, tightening it.
“What? Mothers love me,” he said, flashing his shy grin.
“Mmm … you Mr Gardiner are a truly dangerous guy. My dad should’ve warned me about boys like you.” She felt her eyes tearing up and blinked them away.
“How do I look?” she asked.
“Beautiful.” He stood and looked down into her eyes and held her hands. “Did you wear the earrings Dante sent you?”
“Nope.” And she showed him the skull and crossbones she was wearing.
“That’s my girl.” And he kissed her, probably for the last time in a long while.
The door knocked, jolting them out of their moment. It was Keenan and Lacy. She looked beautiful with her long brown locks coiled on top of her head like Audrey Hepburn and a sea-green figure-hugging jersey dress that skimmed her to the floor.
Keenan looked smart too, but she thought too many muscles always showed through a suit and made him look like a soldier. But Lacy must love them.
“We’ve got to take them to Dante’s study and leave them with him. The families will come in and officially meet them and sign the charter and then go down to the party. We’re supposed to meet them there,” Keenan said.
“Let’s get it over with,” Jay said, and he held out his hand to Tia.
Tia held Jay’s hand tightly till they reached the study, with Keenan and Lacy following along behind. She wished she had more time to know what was going on with those two.
When they reached the study, Reeve was standing at the door working, as so many of the Santalini family were that day. He nodded at Jay and Keenan in greeting. “I will escort them from here.”
Jay looked over at Keenan who nodded, “It’s okay.”
Tia grabbed onto Jay’s arm as if it was the last she’d see of him. In a way it sort of was. It felt like the end of something somehow; the edge of a precipice.
“Don’t worry, I’m only at the bar.”
She looked at him and laughed. Those simple words grounded her like nothing else could. She blinked away her tears before her lenses dissolved and pulled his head down and kissed him. “Thank you, Jay.”
She looked over at Lacy standing really awkwardly waiting. She’d forgotten things were still weird between her and Keenan. She held her hand out to her sister who grabbed it gratefully.
“Ready,” she said to Reeve.
He waited for Jay and Keenan to get into the lift and go back down to the Great Hall, then he knocked and Tia and Lacy stepped into the room.
Nothing ever prepared her for the visual impact of Dante. It was always like being punched in the stomach. It was probably the whole compatibility/fate thing. She would have loved to have the chance to ask if Keenan had the same impact on Lacy. Every cell in her body lit up when she got near him. Oh her traitorous body.
Dante was standing talking to Alfonzo and a very tall man; even taller than regular Atlanteans, she remembered him from their wedding celeb
ration. Dante was dressed in his trademark black, his hair left loose to his shoulders, wearing an expensive watch and his ring. He turned and looked at her as soon as she came into the room as if someone had told him she was there.
His eyes locked with hers and he smiled and held out his hand for her to join them. He kissed them both chastely on their cheeks, smelling delicious, and introduced them to the mysterious man who didn’t speak. He was, she found out, the Prince of Murrtaine, called Vionne.
She and Lacy took their place on either side of Dante and he introduced them, one by one, to all the representatives from the five families; well four, discounting the Dubonnetti’s.
Her father signed the charter for the Bonaci, Vionne for the Borge, a very serious Italian prince called Sandro for the Florianna, and Marius, Keenan’s oldest brother, for the Santalini. Then the room was cleared.
“There will be a representative for the Dubonnetti after all,” Alfonzo whispered to Dante discretely.
Tia looked over at Lacy who shrugged.
Reeve opened the door a few minutes later, still talking into the mouthpiece attached to the earpiece he was wearing, like the secret service. A moment later an aging gentleman with a cane walked into the room, with all the bearing of a prince.
Dante immediately went to leave his station from behind the desk but the man held up a gloved hand. “No Dante. Today I have come to pledge to my king like everyone else.”
He sounded Italian, but then again, all the older members of the families did. He bent down and signed the charter. Dante, she noticed was very quiet – with emotion she realised.
“I didn’t think the Dubonnetti were pledging today,” Dante said, quietly after he’d signed.
“I couldn’t let that happen because of the foolishness of my cousin.”
As if he’d read her mind, the man faced Tia and added, “Christian and I share a grandmother. As you know the female line is very important to Atlanteans.” And he smiled a beautiful familiar smile at her. Straight away she knew who he was, and inclined her head accepting the compliment.
Dante introduced them to the Duke Ormond Delissi and held his hand out to him to shake. Ormond held it, turned it and kissed it instead. “Your Highness … we have waited a long time.”
Dante remained quiet and solemn. Tia had never seen him so serious and composed. He amazed her. Then he came out from behind the desk and walked Ormond to the door, where Reeve waited to escort him back to his waiting limo, ready to whisk him off to wherever.
Lacy mouthed. “Who was that?”
“Real dad,” Tia mouthed back.
“Oh.”
They returned eyes front again.
Dante turned, came back into the room and shut the door, deep in thought. The girls just watched him, not knowing whether to try and lighten the mood or stay sombre. He walked towards the pair of them, stopped, and then looked squarely at Tia. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you didn’t wear the earrings I sent you.”
Tia grinned.
“What shoes have you got on, dare I ask?”
She pulled her elegant dress up slightly so he could see her scuffed Adidas®.
“Fucking hell, Tia!”
“Ha!” Lacy barked.
Dante and Tia both snapped their heads around at her. Lacy lifted her dress to show a pair of flip-flops. Tia put her hand to her mouth. “Fuck, we didn’t even confer.” They high-fived.
After Dante looked upwards to the heavens for strength, he held his arm out for each of them to hold on to. “Ladies. Let’s go get a drink and piss off those blokes of yours.” And he was back to frivolous Dante, just like that.
Reeve and another guard escorted them down to the party. Everyone turned, looked and clapped as they descended the stairs into the Great Hall. She looked over and searched the bar area straight away and spotted Cash, Sean, Sarah and Jay and blew them all kisses.
Tamping down the urge to run to them, she circulated the room with Dante, who was loving the two of them on his arm. The whole thing really appealed to his sick sense of humour. She was having such a nice time that she almost forgot that it was her last night. She was jogged out of her reverie by the sight of her mother sitting demurely on the edge of the fountain. Her soulful eyes nodded to say she was ready as soon as she was.
She looked over at Jay laughing with Cash and Sean and then she looked at Dante in animated conversation with other cousins she hadn’t even met yet. Then she looked at Lacy, her poor little sister she hardly knew, looking lost and bewildered. She’d forgotten how hard it must be for her with a huge chunk of her memory gone.
Do you wanna go to the ladies? she projected to her.
Lacy nodded.
As soon as they got in the loos, she pulled Lacy into a hug. They stood and held each other for ages. Ladies came in and out smiling. They must have thought they were mad or drunk or something.
“Lacy, I just wanted a chance to speak with you before I go.”
“Keenan said you were going away for a while. Where are you going?”
“I’m going to spend some time with mother in Murrtaine. It’s something I have to do. You will too when the time comes … when being on land isn’t enough.”
Lacy just nodded and looked a bit bemused.
“I can’t say any more than that, okay. I just want you to know that when I’m back we’ll spend some real time together … be real sisters, and tell each other stuff.”
Lacy started to cry.
“Please don’t cry Lacy. I promise I’ll come back and Keenan is a good guy, I promise.”
As if on cue, Keenan barged into the loos. “Keenan? This is the ladies!”
“I thought you’d fucking gone …” he said and paced up and down. “We’re outside.” And he smacked the door open and walked back out.
Tia shook her head and faced Lacy once more. “Don’t take no shit off him, Lace. Before I go, remember our mental bond. Because of Dante we can speak to each other, okay? I don’t know, but I reckon it works under water.”
Lacy hugged her. “Good luck Tia … come on, we’d better go before I start blubbing again.” She pulled herself together and opened the door to Keenan and Jay hovering outside.
Tia walked up to Keenan with Lacy. “Please look after her for me, Keenan. I don’t want to lose her now I’ve found her,” and she squeezed her hand.
“No problem,” he said, and took her hand possessively. “Good luck,” he added. Then he whisked Lacy away. She was still looking over her shoulder at her when the crowd swallowed her up.
Jay was leaning casually against a wall, in his usual understated way, not showing any emotion on his face. Tia walked over to him and made sure she stood in his personal space.
“Won’t you get in trouble being Dante’s wife?” he said, looking down into her eyes, a small smile playing on his lips.
“I’m more worried about being Jay’s woman right now.” And she stood on tiptoes and bit his lip. “I love you Jay Gardiner, always.”
He kissed her softly, lovingly. “Be careful.”
“I will.”
“I’m going to go.”
Her heart went up into her mouth in panic. She held onto his arm. He leant back to her and kissed her again, then he turned and walked briskly into the crowd. She was left standing alone.
She pushed her way back through the crowds and made a beeline for the fountain. No point putting this off any longer. Her mother stood when she saw her coming. Her father stood with her and hugged Tia when she neared them. “Good luck my daughter. I am so proud.” And he kissed her on both cheeks.
Are you ready daughter? her mother projected.
Tia nodded. She didn’t know what prompted her, but at that moment she looked across the crowded room, straight into Dante’s eyes. Terror flickered in them for a brief moment and then he seemed to gather himself. Safe trip my love, sounded in her head.
“Let’s get out of here,” she said to her mother.
Instead of giving in to the almo
st overwhelming urge to ball her eyes out, she pulled her dress over her head, raising more than a few eyebrows, made sure she stood on the fountain wall giving everyone a really good eyeful, swung her dress around her head three times and let it go. Then she jumped into the deepest part of the fountain.
Dante’s laugh rang through her head. Love you babe …
And she swam away with her mother.
Chapter 35
It was a sombre evening at the Dubonnetti Estate. Christian and the four brothers sat in the sitting room in the dim light.
“How much longer do I have to wait father? He’s going to fuck everything up if he’s allowed to carry on much longer.”
“Patience,” Christian said sternly whilst he leant on an arm and stared into the old fireplace. “We had to wait to learn how the fates fell with the rings. You could have been meant for a Siren legitimately.”
“I should have had her while I had the chance,” Marco said, shaking his head ruefully.
The other brothers just brooded over their drinks.
“If he can’t even keep his most compatible mate, what hope is there for his kingdom?” Christian smirked and turned to face his sons.
“I want him to pay for Joselle,” Stephan said, low like a growl.
“No offence bro, but didn’t she and her sisters try to con us all with their Siren routine? Antonio said.
Stephan snapped his head round to him and spoke through gritted teeth. “He would have known instantly that she wasn’t. He didn’t have to suck the fucking life out of her for months.”
Antonio shook his head, accepting that this was an argument he was never going to win.
Christian nodded and sighed. “Simmer down. Our time will come, never fear. I have sent feelers out to all the other families. There are many cousins and sons, from lesser branches of their families or born the wrong side of wedlock, all champing at the bit for their chance.”
“What if the Bonaci won’t back us? What about the Borge?” Marco whined.