Heads or Tails (19 page)

‘Do you suppose that’s why she was so fast to put Nigara’s name down? Why she pushed me into Ivyanne’s arms?’

‘I don’t doubt it,’ Garridan said quickly. ‘Nigara was originally her first choice, you know, but her husband pushed for Roan. And when Roan came into his gifts, I guess Vana didn’t have a leg to stand on, so she agreed.’ He sighed. ‘I can’t fault her for relenting. They’d been together for a long time by then-if she’d pushed too hard for Nigara on my behalf, it would have broken Ash’s heart.’

‘As it probably did when Roan died and she demanded a Loveridge step up to the task again anyway.’ Tristan pointed out, thinking it over. To his surprise, he felt a twinge of disappointment. He ran his hands through his curls. ‘So her favoritism was never about me-but
you
.’

But his uncle shook his head. ‘No Tristan-you’ve got that wrong. You’re so much like I was then-she would have been drawn to you on those grounds alone. But aside from that, when we were together, she just loved hanging out with me and Simone and Emilia and Aubrielle. For  a year, we had a great time together.’ He paused. ‘Ash didn’t have any mer family obviously, and Vana was a sociable little thing back then-so she probably wanted
that
for Ivyanne- to be surrounded by loved ones. I mean, she and Simone tried to stay close, but from what my sister has told me, it was strained…’

Tristan realized that his mother had never mentioned ever being especially close to the queen. Now he knew why, and he was feeling out of sorts over the fact that he’d never been told. He and Nigara had repeatedly asked their parents what the king’s problem with them was, but they’d merely shrugged in response.

He let out a breath, recalling the ten minutes before Ash died, trying to force back the resentment towards the deceased king that he didn’t want to feel.

‘Ash accepted me you know,’ Tristan said softly. ‘In the end.’

‘That’s something.’ Garridan admitted. ‘But I’m surprised he was ever so openly hostile towards you to begin with. It wasn’t like how it is with you and Link- proprietary was a big deal back then, and no one took kindly to overdramatic mer behavior. He and I never discussed it-never fought over her, or even
acknowledged
one another as rivals. But he
was
a turned mer, so there was no hiding his insecurity when I was around, especially that second time when decades had lapsed without him impregnating her either. And I’ll confess-I hadn’t stopped loving her, and it had occurred to me that if
he
couldn’t give her a child either, if maybe she was infertile too then at least we could
dream
…..’ He made a face. ‘But I was wrong. She’d gotten over it.’

‘I don’t know…’ Tristan was thinking of the incident on Bracken a few weeks before, when he’d answered Garridan’s call and Vana had dropped the glass she’d been holding. Then he thought of Lincoln and Ivyanne and their damn unshakable bond. ‘Burned out candles leave the strongest mark in the air-stronger even then the light they’d supplied.’

‘Well if that was the case then the king and queen hid whatever they were really feeling well.’ Garridan stared down at his laced knuckles. ‘And when Ivyanne was born, every hope I had died-probably taking his darkest fears with it. Which is why I don’t understand why he was so hostile with Nigara and yourself, so many years later.’

‘You said you kissed.’ Tristan pointed out. ‘What if Vana told him?’

Garridan glanced up at him, then furrowed his brow. ‘Well if she did...we had less lingering intimacy then even I imagined.’

‘I wouldn’t say that.’ Tristan argued. ‘They’re literally honest to a fault.’

Garridan chuckled. ‘You might have me there.’  He scratched his head. ‘Anyway, in retrospect-Ash was a really good guy. A lot like young Lincoln. They’re hard to hate-even though you want to, so badly.’ He smirked. ‘And we’re pretty easy to hate. People think everything in life comes so easy to us Tristan-they think we’re charmed, not driven. They don’t realize that we give everything to our wants and leave nothing to hold onto should we fail. That we sacrifice sleep for work, taste for health and down-time for success.’

‘Truer words were never spoken,’ Tristan agreed. He leaned back, absorbing the sordid tale. ‘You must really want me to win Ivyanne, right?’

There was no answer.

Tristan sat up, and saw his uncle staring into space. ‘Well?’

Garridan turned to stare at him. ‘Saving her, and seeing you two together, are the only hopes I have left for this life.’ He took Tristan’s hands, cupped them in both in his. ‘Don’t back down, Tristan. You’re the closest thing I have to a child of my own, and I will not see you follow my miserable, lonely path.’

‘I already did,’ Tristan said sadly.‘I broke up with her the day before I got on that plane.’

‘And the gods spared you, to give you the second chance they couldn’t give me.’ Garridan released his hands and stood up. ‘Don’t let the human inside you cave into the human in
her
. You are both mer, you are both above all of it. The jealousy, the indecision…. it’s all meaningless to our kind-never forget that.’

‘So what do I?’ Tristan asked. ‘I’ve tried everything.’

‘That’s not true,’ Garridan ruffled his hair. ‘If you’d tried everything, she would be yours. You’re holding back for her own good, when you ought to be knocking her walls down, to give her what she actually needs-
certainty
.’ Garridan smiled. ‘Now try to get a few hours sleep, okay mate? You start work in four hours and I need you rested.’

‘Okay.’ Tristan watched his uncle leave the room, his fists tightening around the cushions beneath him. Garridan was right of course. Keeping his feelings bottled up inside was killing and concealing him both.

Sorry Lincoln, I’m through with hiding my true colors,
he thought.
And I’m through with you hiding yours too.

Tristan rolled onto his side. He’d get some rest and recuperate-but when the sun rose the time for playing by the rules would be over.

10.

When Ivyanne emerged from her room at seven thirty, she looked sleepy and slightly irritated to see Lincoln there, shattering the image of her in his dreams from the previous night as the wanton siren.

‘You were here all night?’ She asked, looking agitated.

Lincoln’s gaze flickered to the hemline of her short white nightie. ‘Yep.’

She wrapped her arms around herself. ‘Any sign of Tristan?’

Lincoln shook his head. ‘He’s pretty mad, I think. He stayed in our room all night.’

‘Well, he should be.’ Ivyanne shook her head sadly. ‘I’m so weak. I need to be so strong for everyone, but I’m the weakest of all.’

‘There’s nothing weak about admitting that you need me, from time to time.’

‘And I do,’ she glanced up at him. ‘Bu I need him too Link. You know that, right?’

Lincoln looked straight ahead. ‘You
think
that you do,’ he said quietly. ‘And for now, that’s fine... while you’re dealing with so much.’

Ivyanne snickered. ‘Is that your polite way of saying that if my parents were alive and well, I’d be dead meat?’

‘Basically.’ He shot her a crooked smile. ‘I’m allowed to think that, right?’

‘Of course.’ Ivyanne held herself tighter, not smiling. ‘But I don’t know how long we can all keep this up for.’

They descended the stairs together. Already, Lincoln could hear that everybody had begun to congregate around the breakfast table.

‘Can you give a guy a ballpark?’ he asked lightly, watching her ass move prettily in the back of her dress from behind, and wetting his lips. ‘One month? Two years?’

Ivyanne glanced back and made a face. ‘Minimum, a few months. Maximum-ten years. It all depends on Ardhi.’

‘Hey Ivyanne!

‘Hey, your highness!’

‘Rise and shine!’

‘Hey Link! Since when are you a morning person?’ That was Adele.

‘
What’s
ten years?’

Lincoln looked up to see Tristan watching their arrival. He was standing guard at the back door instead of Sahori. Grace was sitting at the table next to Adele, and her face was as stony as her uncle’s.

‘Huh?’ Ivyanne asked.

‘You just said minimum two months, maximum ten years,’ Price pointed out, handing Adele a perfectly buttered bagel. Every thing he did was methodical. ‘Are you talking about the guard? Because I doubt it will take us that long to nail Ardhi down.’

‘Oh-no.’ Lincoln blushed. ‘Ivyanne was talking about her uh, the whole….’

‘Getting married,’ Tristan said icily, his quiet voice silencing the others. ‘Choosing between him and I-right Ivyanne?’

Lincoln looked to see Ivyanne lifting her chin defiantly.

‘Got a problem again
guard
?’ she asked frostily. ‘It’s not like we didn’t have this discussion a few days ago.’

‘Yeah, but it was different then,’ Tristan stood up. ‘I’ve been having a bit of a talk with these two-’ he indicated to Pintang and Saraya who were looking pained. ‘And apparently, you’re creating an amendment to the Marked rule, specifying that a Marked child will be relived of their obligations on their fiftieth birthday. Is that right?’

Lincoln hadn’t been aware of
that.
He looked at Ivyanne, surprised. ‘Really?’

She nodded, then moved to the wall near the kitchen leaning her back against it, fixing her eyes on Tristan. ‘I made that rule with
your brother
and Pintang in mind, you know,’ she said quietly. ‘I think it’s quite generous of me. How can you possibly have an issue with it?’

‘With good reason,’ Tristan sneered, giving Lincoln a lethal look. Clearly, the truce was off. ‘You are aware that while I was on that island, rotting away-I turned forty-two, right?’

Ivyanne’s face fell. ‘You spent your birthday
alone
?’ Everything about her softened. She made a move towards him. ‘Tristan, I didn’t know…’

But he backed up against the glass. Lincoln noticed that everyone around them was looking not only uncomfortable, but fascinated.

‘Yeah well, if it takes you another ten years to make this decision, looks like I’ll be spending my
fiftieth
alone too.’

Lincoln realized why Tristan was so angry-and with good reason, he supposed.
Good for me,
he thought idly.
Shitty for him
. But before Lincoln could get too excited, he looked at Ivyanne’s face and realized that she’d lost a few shades of color.

‘I didn’t-’ she stuttered. ‘I didn’t even
think
of that…. Tristan you have to believe me, that I wasn’t taking my
own
love life into consideration when I made that rule!’

Tristan rolled his eyes. ‘You’re not taking your own love life into consideration-
period
.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘And frankly, I’ve had enough of it. How are you going to rule a kingdom, when you haven’t got the clarity to
see
your own needs, let alone,
meet
them?’

There were a few gasps. No one had ever addressed Ivyanne so critically in public.

‘Tristan back off!’ Lincoln snapped. ‘Don’t take your mid-life crisis out on her, old timer.’

Price’s head snapped up. ‘I’ll have you know that I am forty eight,’ he said quickly. ‘So you can leave your human prejudices about age at the door,
mate
.’

‘Likewise,’ Saraya said sharply, fixing Lincoln with an icy glare.

Lincoln instantly felt like a jackass. ‘Sorry,’ he mumbled. He glanced at Ivyanne. ‘I was just defending her.’

‘Yeah well, she can speak for herself,’ Tristan said. ‘
Without
insulting everybody.’

Ivyanne’s face was gaining color again-rapidly. ‘I’ll decide
before
you’re fifty,’ she said, cheeks burning. ‘And if I don’t, it won’t apply to you anyway. You should
know
that.’

‘
No
, you’ll decide before I’m forty
three
,’ Tristan snapped. He turned to Pintang, crossing his arms ‘Would you still marry me? Just be honest.’

Pintang glanced warily at Ivyanne, then back at Tristan. ‘Yes,’ she said softly, dropping her chin so her hair fell in front of her eyes. ‘In a heartbeat.’

‘Even with my feelings for Ivyanne? Even after the way I’ve hurt you?’

All eyes were on Pintang when she nodded again. ‘Of course.’

Tristan reached over and lifted her chin with his fingers, his eyes burning. ‘Thank you Pintang,’ he said softly. ‘For having faith in me.’

Pintang smiled wanly. ‘You’ve earned it.’

Sahori was suddenly inside. ‘Excuse me, but I’m Marked too, and I would
also
like to marry Tristan.’ She turned to Lincoln. ‘I’m thirty four, by the way-so apparently that leaves me with sixteen years of waiting-which I can handle.’ She smiled brightly. ‘Now excuse me, I am halfway through a chess game with Camus.’ Just as quickly as she’d entered, she leaned up, kissed Tristan on the cheek, and vanished again.

Lincoln noticed Pintang sigh despondently, and he wondered if she was calculating ages to determine who would be able to pounce Tristan first. By her dejected look, he deduced that Sahori was older and therefore, would be eligible sooner.

Ivyanne blinked, stunned. ‘Well-I…’

Saraya’s chair scraped along the floor. ‘Can I put a bid in too?’

‘
No!
’ Ivyanne snapped. ‘Tristan can’t go sniffing around my cousins without muddying things!’

‘Damn.’ Saraya said, winking at Tristan. ‘A girl can try.’

‘If she wants to keep her job, she can make that her
last
try.’ Ivyanne snapped, glaring at her assistant-the first sign of hostility Ivyanne had ever displayed towards her. ‘It was cute before Saraya but he’s off limits to you. I won’t be able to keep you on in my home if you continue to salivate over the possible future king.’ She glanced at Lincoln. ‘Either of them, okay?’

Saraya’s eyes widened, and she looked genuinely guilty. ‘Sorry.’ She said softly. ‘It’s usually meant in jest.’

‘Well I’m losing my good humor. I don’t know if it’s the withdrawals, or the dead string of fiancees or broken engagements or murdered parents or insane ex best friend or the public displays of antagonism that’s doing it...but, something’s got to give before I fucking
lose
it.’

Lincoln’s heart went out to her. Even Tristan had the grace to look embarrassed. Or to
try
. Lincoln wasn’t fooled for a second. And he was absolutely disgusted by Tristan’s open-call auditions for a wife.

You’d think this was the Oprah Show and Tristan was one of her favorite things!

‘I’d marry him too.’ Adele’s eyes slid from the golden-haired merman to their queen, carefully avoiding Lincoln’s gaze. ‘You don’t want to hear it but it has to be said. I would give anything to have a man look at me, the way Tristan looks at you….your majesty.’

Traitorous bitch!
Lincoln raged silently, trying his hardest not to look as hurt as he felt, all of his amicable feelings towards his ex dissolving as she sided with another man.
I’ll show you exactly what you’re missing out on honey!

As though she could hear his silent tirade, Adele bit her lip and tried to look apologetic. ‘Sorry Link...but you dumped me for another woman, you know. And I was sort of blunt
before
I was gifted with a mermaid’s loose tongue.’

Lincoln looked away from her, disgusted. ‘Save it…’ he muttered.

Ivyanne’s face had almost gone purple. Her fingers were fiddling with her hair, braiding it and unbraiding it like she suffered from a nervous tic.

‘Thank you,’ Tristan said, his face impassive, his eyes conveying gratitude. ‘All of you.’

Price nudged Adele with his elbow. ‘Is he your only choice?’

Adele blinked, turning to the merman beside her, shocked. ‘What?’

Price motioned to Tristan. ‘Are you settled on him, or would you be open to breeding with someone who is constantly imagining breeding with you?’

Adele’s mouth formed an ‘O’ which Lincoln  saw was mirrored on every other face in the room. Except Ivyanne-she was still glaring at Tristan hatefully.

‘W...what?’ This was only the third time Lincoln had ever seen Adele lost for words, and he wasn’t surprised. Price was such a silent, lethal looking creature! The idea of him with Adele was almost laughable!

Price smiled and tweaked the end of her hair. ‘You’re shiny. I notice often.’

Adele stared down at his fingers, clearly too tongue-tied to respond. Lincoln wanted to retch. He wouldn’t be surprised if at that moment, one of his high-school flings trotted through the door to ask Garridan on a date!

Bane cleared his throat. ‘Well...
this
is awkward….’

Lincoln saw Tristan’s focus-and energy-shift back to Ivyanne as he stepped toward her, and Lincoln knew he had to intercede.

‘Excuse me, but I fail to see the point you’re trying to make today, other than basically admitting that if Ivyanne chooses me, you’ll be
fine
.’ He gestured to the five women sitting at the table. ‘You’ve got five options, after all-two of which are Marked. I have
none
.’

‘Excuse me?!’ Grace demanded, reminding him of her presence with a haughty flip of her hair and narrowed dark eyes. ‘Write me off as a childish flirt all you want, but if Ivyanne passes you over, I’m going to be right there, ready to pounce.’

Lincoln’s mouth fell open. She still wanted him? She’d barely acknowledged his presence for five days!

Ivyanne’s eyes narrowed, more thoughtful then angry, though her lips curled in displeasure.

‘Grace Londeree!’ Bane exploded.

‘What?’ she demanded whirling on her brother. ‘I’m eighteen you know, and
Marked
. It’s hardly scandalous to announce my agenda when everyone else is!’

‘We all know about your crush Grace but you are in Australia for school-not to meddle in a possible royal union! If mom finds out that you’re trying to swipe the Queen’s fiancé-’

‘
Former
fiancé,’ Tristan corrected him.

‘Yeah well, whatever…. the point is, she’d have a
fit
.’

‘Not if I
succeed,
’ Grace pointed out, smiling smugly. ‘Besides if you can’t control your dirty dreams about Link, how am I supposed to?’

‘Okay...
dreams
? As in plural?’ Marcus frowned. ‘Now I’m getting a complex…’

Bane groaned and sank his head into his arms.

Lincoln’s head was spinning. ‘Grace, we’ve discussed this, remember? I thought you understood-’

Grace raised an eyebrow. ‘I understand it all, Link. I am not a child. I know I’m probably going to get hurt here-you’ve made that abundantly clear-but everything worth having is worth risking a bit of agony for. Or a royal cold-shoulder from a woman who doesn’t see what she’s got when she has her lips wrapped around it!’