Three Rings (The Fairytail Saga)

by S. K Munt

  But the bar was short-handed with Adele gone, and so Ivyanne had picked up the slack, leaving Tristan at home with Saraya and the queen, fielding e-mails about Ardhi, Lincoln and himself, and wallowing in self-pity spawned by rejection.

  And now Tristan had to leave. He’d put off work too long, and LoveSun was beginning to suffer because of it, not to mention poor Sven, who’d been attempting to pick up Tristan’s slack and failing miserably. He hoped to go to Sydney for only a few days and try to get ahead, but his L.A office needed micromanaging too, and it was only a matter of time before he’d have to leave the continent to deal with that-a thought that made something dark inside him nibble on something paranoid.

  Tristan tried to shake the gloom off, raking his fingers through his curls, frustrated with himself for the descent in his typically optimistic attitude. Being in love, especially with someone who didn’t love him back enough to grant him peace of mind-sucked.

  ‘I thought finding this island might be tough, but then I just decided to follow the scent of testosterone.’ A voice purred from behind Tristan, giving him cause to pause at the foot of the steps leading up to the porch. ‘And Lo and behold-it leads me right to a Loveridge.’

  Tristan grabbed the bannister and glanced back, his mer instincts filling his body with tension at having been caught off-guard. And when he saw the statuesque blond poised on the sand behind him, smirking with her full lips, his attitude took a fresh drop, one which resonated with the sinking of his heart. She was neither a human nor an enemy, and yet her presence filled him with dread.

  ‘Lux.’ He said shortly, and she almost smiled in response, as aware of his discomfort, and the trouble she could cause for him as he was. Her violet eyes had always been colored with provocation, but that day, it was of a different nature. Lux had reasons to dislike him, but she’d never indulged in Ardhi’s petty grudge before-her sunny disposition naturally rebelled against any kind of emotional negativity. In fact, she’d been as drawn to him as any other woman was, even though her ‘godson’ had despised him.

  But that had changed. The shift was almost imperceptible-or would have been to anyone who wasn’t as in tune with women’s emotions as Tristan was. Maybe it was the stiffness in her gait, or the way her eyes flicked over him with a shade of derision that had only been meant in jest before then, but she was pissed, and he was apparently the reason why.

  He sighed. ‘Do I want to know why you’re here?’

  Ardhi’s godmother wrung out her rose-gold hair, and cocked her head, her expression managing to be coquetry despite the tension around her mouth as she regarded him. Water dripped from her, making the thin sarong plastered to her ample curves transparent. She wanted him to look-Lux lived for open admiration- but he stubbornly kept his eyes locked on hers while he awaited her answer.

  ‘I expected to hear how glad you are to see me…’ She drawled, rolling her ‘r’s’ in her lovely, lilting voice as she flicked her hair back over her shoulder and straightened. ‘Apparently, I was wrong.’

  ‘I’ll be real glad to see you,’ Tristan said slowly. ‘As soon as I know you’re glad to see me too-and not here to take up Ardhi’s cause where he left off.’

  ‘His cause?’ She asked, walking closer, all rolling hips and thrusted bust. Her larger frame and rounded curves made her stand out from the other mermaids, a reflection of her decadent, sinful nature, and she flaunted this as an advantage. Which it was. The woman was sex. What common ground she’d had with straight-laced Ardhi all those years still eluded Tristan. He supposed it was a case of opposites attracting, or just sentimentality on both their parts. Tristan wasn’t sure of the details, but he did know that when she’d been first turned in her late teens, Ardhi’s parents had employed Lux to take care of their son while they established their businesses. And even after he’d grown, they’d remained close.

  ‘Thanks to you, Ardhi hadn’t spoken to me in six months.’ Lux said slowly, sadly. ‘If he had a cause beyond marrying Ivyanne, it was news to me. I’m neither here to take it up, or enlighten the princess about what we got up to last February, if that’s what’s snaking you.’ She paused at the foot of the steps, frowning. ‘I just came to pay my respects to the Kayu-Api’s, and Ivyanne. They weren’t at their house, so here I am.’

  Tristan stared at her, weighing her words. ‘What do you mean, ‘Thanks to me?” He asked, confused. ‘I recall being the prey, not the predator Lux. Not to mention the one who woke up in an empty bed.’

  Lux smiled. ‘True.’ She shrugged. ‘What can I say? I rarely perform the same act twice, especially when the audience was so satisfied the first time.’

  Tristan felt an uncharacteristic blush heat his cheeks as he tried not to remember how thoroughly he’d enjoyed Lux’s attentions, or how thrown he’d been to wake up abandoned for the first time in his life. ‘So….?’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘I’m not ashamed of anything I do, Tristan, but according to Ardhi, you ought to have been the exception to that rule.’ She crossed her arms across her chest, as though the memory of his disapproval was making her feel self-conscious to be so near Tristan, while wearing so little. ‘He was still giving me the silent treatment when he died.’

  Tristan winced in empathy, then looked towards the house, turning her words over in his head, before looking back at her. ‘So you’re not going to tell her?’

  Lux sighed. ‘No. And if you’re worried that he did-and my presence here will stir that up for her-then don’t be. He was ashamed of what I did, and saw it as a failure on his part. That someone who loved him, could betray him with someone he hated.’ She made a face. ‘He wouldn’t have told a soul, and if keeping this between us honors that, then it’s a favor I’ll do for him, not for you.’ She poked him in the chest. ‘You, however, should fess up, if you’re looking to marry this girl.’

  ‘I will. And plan to.’ Tristan said quickly. ‘But I’m leaving tonight for a few days, and I don’t want to put a bad taste in her mouth first. I can’t afford it, not with-’

  ‘Me around? Looking to tear your tentacles off her like the toxic jellyfish you are?’

  Tristan closed his eyes in reflex to Lincoln’s voice, giving himself a mental ass-kicking. He’d completely forgotten about Lincoln wandering up the beach behind him! How much had Link heard? What was he going to do with what he had? Words failed him. He couldn’t even open his eyes, terrified of the glee he’d see on Lincoln’s smug face when he did.

  ‘Well hello….’

  Tristan’s eyes popped open, and he found himself staring at Lux’s profile, astonished by the shift in her demeanor. The remorseful, slightly venomous tone had leaked out of her voice, and those violet eyes were sparkling as they swept Lincoln over thoroughly.

  ‘Aren’t you just exquisite?’ She continued, stepping into Lincoln’s space. ‘You must be the boy my Ardhi died for. The one the princess was ready to sell us out for.’ Her plump hand inched out, sliding down Lincoln’s arm. ‘I didn’t get it before, but now...damn. Can I waitress for you?’

  Tristan’s eyes shifted to Lincoln, and his alarm faded to amusement to see a startled looking Lincoln do what no unexperienced, horny as hell mer ought to-

  He looked down.

  And swallowed.

  Tristan grinned and stepped back, suddenly praying that Lux performed as well for Lincoln as she had for him.

  2.

  Ivyanne paced her bedroom floor in bare feet, feeling claustrophobic to be in such a small space, with such a loud voice crackling down the line. She knew she’d hurt her dad. She knew how he hated Tristan. But she also knew that there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it and she didn’t regret it the way he wanted her to. Had it not been for the crappy timing, she wouldn’t have regretted giving herself to Tristan at all!

  Only Lincoln’s inclusion in her world, and the risk of being pregnant, were cause for remorse. As far as breaking the wedlock rule went, she was as ambivalent to it as her father was furious.

  And
she was sick of him calling daily to lecture her about the only mistake she’d ever made.

  ‘...I’ve got plenty of other stories Ivyanne.’ Her father went on, as he had been for twenty-five minutes. ‘Your mother had me feature him in a flick a few years ago, and do you know how many of my human production staff he seduced in the three days we were there?’ He paused. ‘And not one at a time either, sweetheart.’

  Ivyanne’s stomach rotated slightly at the mental picture her father was intent on painting for her, but it was quickly eclipsed by a memory that was far more disturbing. She decided to play it dumb for a moment, giving into the childish need to rile her father up. One she’d never actually had before.

  ‘Dad!’ She tried to sound scandalized. ‘Do you mean, that Tristan had a threesome?!’

  ‘That’s precisely what I mean!’ The king snapped. ‘Right in the damn solar-powered beach house he’d built!’

  ‘Oh!’ She smiled, catching sight of his crown on his nightstand, looped over an antique framed picture of her mother. ‘Was it like that time I busted you, mum and Aubrielle together at that summer solstice bonfire….?’

  Dead silence greeted her.

  Ivyanne smiled.

  ‘W...what?’ The superior tone had abandoned her fathers voice.

  Ivyanne moved towards the window. ‘Oh you know…’ she said casually. ‘I was about fifteen. We were in Hawaii, visiting the Londeree’s resort, and Mano had talked you into trying that Palm Wine. Anyway, I think Leah and I were swimming when you guys thought we’d gone to bed...and we saw that Mum and Aubrielle were kissing in the water. I was shocked to see that, and wondered if she was cheating on you-but just then you surfaced between them. Lord knows what you were doing or to who but-’

  ‘Hey!’ Her father snapped. ‘That’s enough young lady!’

  ‘Young lady?!’ Ivyanne’s amusement turned to wrath. ‘I’m almost thirty, father! And while we’re on the subject of age, menages at three hundred and something are about as inappropriate as royal conduct gets! So before you judge Tristan for that kind of conduct as a single man, why don’t you ask what kind of message you guys are sending me about monogamy...or lack thereof? ’

  Her father made a spluttering sound. ‘I don’t have to justify anything, Ivyanne. What your mother and I do-’

  ‘While wasted on Palm Wine-’ She interjected.

  ‘Ivyanne Constance Court!’ He bellowed.

  Ivyanne ended the call with a stab of a trembling fingernail and tossed the phone to the bed. She was beyond being annoyed with her dad’s running commentary on her love life-she was hurt. She wasn’t an idiot, and she wasn’t naïve. She knew that mer couples messed around with other mer couples on occasion, just as she knew that what had gone down with Aubrielle and her parents hadn’t been an isolated incident.

  But she didn’t judge them for it! So why was he holding her, and a man she cared for, to a standard he couldn’t even stay abreast of? It was one thing for him to want the best for her, but quite another to have expectations that were impossible to live up to.

  Though if she was being honest with herself, she had to admit that thinking of Tristan having wild sex like that, even though she’d suspected he’d done that and worse in his years before her father had dumped it on her, made her feel insecure. She was pretty sure Lincoln hadn’t lived that kind of lifestyle, and that with him, exclusivity would be not only a given, but a demand-forever.

  What about with Tristan? She made herself ask the question. The man has an appetite! Who knows what you’ll be considering doing to please him three hundred years from now?

  The phone rang again and Ivyanne slanted her eyes at the lit screen, considering ignoring it. But the picture she’d snapped of her dad from a photo of them together was on the screen, begging her notice. With a sigh, she sat on the bed, and answered the call.

  ‘Yes?’ She asked, frostily.

  He sighed. It was probably the first breath he’d taken and expelled during one of his calls yet. ‘I’m sorry.’ He said woodenly. ‘Maybe I am being a bit overly judgmental, Ivyanne, but it’s only because I want what’s best for you. I can hear it in your voice-you’re too blinded by him to listen to reason, so I’ll stop wasting my breath on the matter.’ He paused. ‘I won’t let you hang up on me on his behalf-that’s letting him win. So the high, silent road it is. At least, until we know more.’

  Ivyanne’s brow furrowed. ‘Dad….no. You’re missing the point. This isn’t about me being blinded by Tristan-it’s about you being oblivious to him, and the favor he did you by...by doing what he did.’

  There was a few beats of silence. ‘This I have to hear…’ The king drawled. ‘But I’ll warn you now that the word ‘grandchildren’ won’t work in his defense yet. Not for another fifty years or so, so take heed.’

  Ivyanne made another face. She really didn’t want to have this conversation with her dad, but she was beginning to see that it was inevitable. And she’d rather it take place on the phone when he was thousands of kilometers away, then in person, where the humiliation factor would be considerably higher.

  ‘You’re mad that I went to bed out of wedlock, and with someone you don’t like,’ she said softly. ‘But how mad would you have been, if I’d done the same thing with Lincoln, three weeks ago?’

  ‘I already told you, Ivyanne-anyone would have been preferable to Tristan!’

  ‘Really?’ She asked skeptically. ‘Even if meant that I could be pregnant with a half-breed now, instead of a possible Marked child?’

  The silence communicated that Ivyanne’s point had been driven home at last.

  ‘Hang on…’ her father said. ‘Three weeks ago? When Lincoln was a human?’

  ‘Yup!’ Ivyanne didn’t see any reason to gloss the matter over. ‘I was that close to ruining one thousand years of undiluted Court blood, with a bartender, behind his girlfriend’s back, in a chlorinated pool in a resort past its prime.’ She bit her lip, letting that sink in. ‘If Tristan hadn’t shown up when he did, looking like he did, I can guarantee you, that you’d have three or four more reasons to be freaking furious with me right now. And I’m not making this up to take the heat off the mistake I did make, dad.’ She exhaled again. ‘Tristan’s seductive and manipulative and a complete game player, so I whole-heartedly agree with you on that. But if he wasn’t… I would have ended up in bed with the only other man who’s caught my interest in this lifetime. And it wasn’t Bane or Ardhi, father. It was always Link-and he tried every bit as hard to steal me away from this kingdom, as Tristan did to keep me within it. For that effort, you owe Tristan gratitude-not disgust.’ She got to her feet, seeing movement on the beach through the delicate lace curtains. ‘Mum too. You really need to stop giving her a hard time. She loves you dad, and she misses you like crazy. You should be at her side and mine, helping us right now-not avoiding us because you’re afraid you can’t hide your contempt.’

  ‘Ivyanne…’ Ash Court sounded lost. ‘I didn’t realize how hard this was for you. I mean, every Court woman before you waited until quite late in life to uh, cross lines…’

  ‘It was a different world, and none of them were silly enough to fall for a human at the age of thirteen either. The fact that the man I cared for was forbidden made it that much more of a temptation.’ She shrugged, seeing Lincoln walk across the beach towards the house, and her eyes lingered on the place where his wet board shorts drew down, revealing paler, intimate skin. Yep, he was a liability, all right, and her attraction to him had doubled now that he was mer, and in her face every day.

  But her attraction to him wasn’t exclusive either, and she wondered that if things worked out in Lincoln’s favor, would the commitment be as infallible as in her youthful fantasies? Or would the memory of Tristan’s touch make her tremble decades from now? Would she gather with them one night, drink too much palm wine, and beg Lincoln to let Tristan join them in the water? The fantasy was far too appealing and her face flushed like she’d run a mile. She glanced at Tris
tan’s boat, bobbing in the shallows, and the heat spread lower.

  ‘I’m weak, I’ll own that. But…’ she smiled, wondering if she was going to piss him off or amuse the king with her next remark: ‘Maybe a full-blood Marked child will be stronger, hmm? After all, all of the fathers in our line were former humans. Maybe Tristan’s child, will be more resilient to withdrawals than yours was.’

  Her father snorted. ‘I’ve been with you so far Ivyanne, but if you expect me to swallow that the child of the kingdom’s biggest player and the first princess to have pre-marital sex will have a lower sex drive than its predecessors did, I am going to laugh at you.’

  Ivyanne laughed, and it felt wonderful. ‘Okay, you might have the point this time.’

  ‘Thank you.’ He muttered grudgingly.

  Just then, a glimmer of gold diverted Ivyanne’s gaze from Tristan’s boat, and she shifted in time to see a soaking wet figure wrap itself around Lincoln, rubbing his back, a blissful smile on her familiar, face. It wasn’t until the woman pulled back that a surge of recognition sluiced through Ivyanne. She saw now what had thrown her before-the hair color. Flaxen where red ought to be. Ivyanne’s lungs constricted.

  ‘Dad?’ She didn’t wait for his response. ‘I have to go. Now.’

  Ivyanne ended the call and pocketed the phone as she leapt over her mother’s bed and flung open the door. Her already overwrought heart began to race as she jogged down the hall, almost taking out a shocked-looking Saraya when she emerged from the bathroom.