Three Rings (The Fairytail Saga)

by S. K Munt

  ‘I get what Ardhi did now,’ Tristan said honestly. ‘And I know what must have been going through his mind when he did it. He loved you-neither of us doubt that-but his actions only made you more miserable and I don’t want to cause you misery. You’re sick of being torn in two? Well then-I’ll stop pulling.’ With that, Tristan turned and fled back up the dunes, retracing the steps that had led him there, the wind chilling the tears on his face until he was cold all over.

  Never before in his life had he felt so hollow. He had to get the hell out of Seaview before anyone saw the way Ivyanne Court had broken him.

  7.

  Tristan checked his iPhone for the seventh time as he waited at the boarding gate for his flight earlyFriday morning, shaking his head at himself in disgust. Ivyanne wasn’t going to call, and she certainly wasn’t going to surprise him by showing up-in fact, if she ever spoke to him again, he’d be surprised.

  Tristan hefted his Louis Vuitton graphite Keep-all onto his shoulder, fanning himself with his ticket. He usually found himself inside an airport once a week, or once every two weeks, in the least, and he’d always taken it in his stride, despite his own natural dislike of airplanes.

  But he’d established a routine without the crowds, and the phones and the artificial air in sleepy little Seaview, and for the first time in decades, being suddenly surrounded by society felt oppressive and unnatural. There were too many people in the room, and the air-conditioning system was so cold that even his thin leather jacket couldn’t ward the chill off his bones.

  It didn’t help that his stomach was still in knots from the unexpected scene he’d caused the night before. He’d gone out there to beg her to accompany him on the basis that he wasn’t happy without her, and yet he had somehow ended up ordering her away from him, permanently. It hadn’t occurred to him for a second that he was too weak to go the distance. But her refusal to put his happiness above Link’s yet again had been the breaking point of his tolerance.

  She’d begged, she’d pleaded, she’d cried....but she hadn’t swum after him, had she? Now he knew. Ivyanne hadn’t chased him because of her fear of planes-even Lincoln had gotten on a boat to save a girl he didn’t care for-overriding his fears. No, something had Ivyanne anchored to the Queensland coast, and despite all of Tristan’s strength, he couldn’t pull her free.

  ‘Flight 1326 to LA now boarding,’ a smooth voice called over the intercom. ‘Will all first class ticket holders please come to the front of the gate. I repeat...’

  Tristan shifted his bag again, the one he saved for flight travel only, containing his forged passport, created from forged identification papers (the name was right-but the year of birth was light years off) and stepped up to the gate, looking at his Australian phone one more time. Nothing.

  Then it’s over, he thought sadly. If she wasn’t pregnant, Ivyanne’s life was going to be smooth sailing from then on. And if she was....well, Tristan surmised that they’d cross that bridge when they came to it. It was enough to make him want to fall to his knees and weep right there in the airport.

  The doors opened and Tristan opened his eyes. A flight had just come in and he absently watched the people filing out of the corridor, pulling out their mobile phones and switching them back on, some clearly relieved to have landed safely, some with eyes searching for the toilets, others stuck behind slow walkers, looking impatient and annoyed.

  One gorgeous blonde caught his attention. She was tall, and dressed in sexy street clothes-low slung skinny jeans, a pink slouch top and an adorable pink beanie on her cap of hair. Men’s heads were turning in every direction as she stalked elegantly along, like a model on a runway, trailing a tiny carry-on on wheels behind her-Louis Vuitton, like his own. She already had her phone out, and was speaking into it, head bent down. It was impossible not to notice her.

  ‘Yes, I’m here, god it was nauseating.....No, it looks like it hasn’t left yet....I’m a little late but I know I’ll make the flight east in time-mine doesn’t have a layover like his does., remember?’ Her eyes flicked up, resting on Tristan, and the brilliant blue iris’s widened.

  Tristan’s mouth fell open. ‘Adele?!’ he demanded.

  She gaped at him for one moment, shock registering on her pretty face. Before Tristan could reach out and ask her how she was or where she had come from, she turned on her heel and stalked away, glancing back at him, like she was afraid he’d physically molest her.

  Tristan craned his neck to watch her go, tempted to run after her and make sure that she was all right. Everyone had been trying to find her for weeks-how strange was it, that he’d located her in an airport? And in international terminal, of all places!

  ‘He’s here!’ She hissed into the phone. ‘He’s boarding.....yes alone...’ the last few words were lost as the crowd swallowed her up.

  Tristan frowned, confused at the way she’d said : ‘He’ like whoever she was talking to, knew him, or expected them to cross paths. Could she be speaking to Lincoln? Had they re-connected during Tristan’s one day out of the picture? No, that didn’t make sense.

  Two air hostess’s were coming out of the corridor, bringing up the rear of the exiting passengers. Tristan stepped slightly out of line, flagging them down.

  ‘Excuse me, Miss?’

  The first stewardess, with curly brown hair and a cream and coffee complexion, caught his eye and smiled at him, pausing, making no effort to conceal the fact that she was looking him up and down. ‘Yes sir?’

  Tristan pasted on his most charming smile. ‘I was wondering if you could tell me where you’ve just come from?’ He winked at her. ‘Can’t imagine the view there was lovelier than the one on the plane.’

  She smiled coyly, her friend also lingering to eye Tristan. ‘Norfolk Island, sir,’ she said breathily. ‘We’re always on that run, if you ever want to compare the view for yourself.’

  Norfolk Island? Tristan knew the area well, after all, it was one of the most pristine islands in the world, if not the most, and revered by their kind. In fact, Queen Ivy had settled there for hundreds of years before the English had come along and made it a penal colony. Tristan was certain that Vana still owned property there. But why would Adele go there? It didn’t make sense.

  Tristan suddenly realized that not only were the two air hostesses still smiling at him, expectantly, but that the short line of first class passengers had passed him by. ‘Well, I’ll keep that in mind,’ Tristan finally said. ‘When I return from overseas of course. Have a good week, ladies.’

  ‘You too, sir,’ the dark-skinned girl replied.

  ‘We’ll be looking forward to your visit.’ The blonde added. ‘A lot.’.

  Tristan smiled and waved, hurrying down the corridor after briefly flashing his ticket to the girl at the desk. He had anticipated boarding the plane like he was approaching his own funeral, but Adele’s sudden appearance had distracted him enough from the notion that he was leaving Ivyanne, possibly for good. He felt itchy and irritable. There was something wrong about Adele being there-but what precisely, was causing that sensation of dread in his stomach?

  Tristan walked onto the plane, and another air-hostess directed him to his spacious window seat with a welcoming smile. Tristan put his keep-all on the seat beside him and pulled his phone out of his pocket, glancing at the screen, chewing on his lower lip thoughtfully. Should he text Ivyanne and tell her that Adele was fine?

  ‘Excuse me sir, I’m sorry, but you need to put your bag down at your feet and switch off your phone.’

  ‘Sure,’ Tristan obliged the polite woman automatically by shutting his phone down, and returning it to his pocket. Adele being on Norfolk fell under the category of bizarre and mysterious-but there was nothing ominous about it, nothing that couldn’t wait a few days for him to have a time-out from anything tied to his life down under.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Shortly we will be taking off, our first destination, being Fiji. For those of you making the connecting fli
ght to L.A, you will have a two hour layover in the airport, with an ETA for LAX at twenty three hundred hours Eastern Standard time, which will put us at six am PDT on Friday. For the rest of you staying in Fiji, I hope you enjoy your short flight with us. Conditions are clear for the duration of the flight, and right across the Eastern sea board. Our attendants will be....’

  Tristan tuned out the announcement, leaning back in his chair and fastening his seat belt, pleased to know that he was in for a smooth flight, and that he’d arrive with almost six hours to prepare for his meeting with Mark.

  And he had to be prepared. He’d lost Ivyanne-he wouldn’t lose the contract now that it was within his grasp. His work was all he had left to fight for.

  ⁓

  Ivyanne felt like a dry rag on Friday morning after having soaked her pillow with aimless tears, and despite how badly she needed to swim, she made the trip to the mainland via boat- needing the speed to compensate for the fact that she’d overslept by three hours and then been interrogated by her mother.

  The queen knew everything. Every sordid detail. Ivyanne had confessed all when she’d returned the night before-never in her life had she needed her mother as much as she had then. And to her relief, Vana seemed as concerned for her, as she was for Tristan. She even seemed concerned for Link.

  Once Ivyanne had docked her mother’s boat at the marina, next to Tristan’s, she hurried up the beach, checking her phone for the time, shielding its screen from the midday glare, praying to see something from Tristan that hadn’t been there five minutes before. But there was nothing, and she sensed that there wasn’t going to be.

  When she walked into the Barefoot Bar, Ivyanne was less than impressed to see Lincoln and Sherri engrossed in yet another intense looking conversation by the jukebox immediately to her left.

  ‘I really am sorry….’ Sherri was saying. ‘That Bobbitt guy bought me a few shots right before knock off, so I just wasn’t myself.’

  ‘That’s okay.’ Lincoln said. ‘Really. I’m in no position to...just, let’s forget about it, okay?’

  ‘Okay.’ Sherri said, visibly relaxing.

  ‘Forget what?’ Ivyanne asked, making her presence known.

  Lincoln looked up, and his face tensed again. ‘Hey.’ He said listlessly, looking out of sorts. ‘Oh Sherri was just-’

  ‘Apologizing for making a mistake on the till last night.’ Sherri said quickly, and then glanced at her watch. ‘Hmm. You’re five minutes late, Ivyanne.’

  Ivyanne looked around the deserted bar. Apparently, it wasn’t a big day for breakfast. ‘Well it looks like you’re surviving. And I’m sorry, but I had a late night.’

  ‘That’s weird,’ Sherri said, ‘Considering that you went home earlier than everyone else.’

  ‘Well, I have some stuff going on in my life right now, and it’s taking time and energy from me.’ Ivyanne stepped behind the bar and slipped her bag under the shelf near the register. ‘But Lincoln will vouch that I’m never late, I’m sure, and I’m here now, and he just forgave you for mucking up the till while drunk so....’ Ivyanne hoisted a brow at Lincoln. ‘Crisis averted, yeah?’

  Lincoln looked from her, then down to Sherri, then back to her.

  ‘Well?’ Ivyanne prompted.

  ‘She’s always punctual,’ Lincoln said grudgingly.

  Why do you seem disappointed that you can’t yell at me? Ivyanne thought, confused. He’d begged her to stay the night before, and seemed desperate to make up. Had the chance to reflect upon their situation angered him again? Or was he just stressing out in general?

  ‘Though I’m curious as to what new dramas could have popped up between leaving here and arriving home....’ Link went on, giving her an assessing look.

  ‘Nothing that I want to talk about right now,’ Ivyanne said, forcing her voice to stay even. She glanced at Sherri pointedly, annoyed that the girl was still lingering. Sherri knew they were on the verge of dating, so what reason did she have to get between them, unless she’d already decided to snag Lincoln for herself? It wasn’t a wild notion-Lincoln’s mer pheromones would be like the scent of burning cannabis to a druggie for the human girl, unless she had a man stashed somewhere nearby. And even then, that wouldn’t douse the attraction, just the reactions to it.

  Lincoln took her by the arm and pulled her closer to him, lowering his head to her ear. ‘You’re being awfully cryptic Ivyanne.’ He said, his tone serious, his eyes appealing for something unspoken. ‘Something on your mind?’

  If only he knew! Ivyanne sighed. She was probably giving off weird vibes, and as always, Lincoln would be analyzing her every word and expression to the point of exhaustion. He was sorry he’d overreacted so and tried to make her jealous-she could see it- and he wanted to say it, but his damn pride was waiting for her to apologize first to validate his original reason for being angry.

  But she already had, and there was a statute of limitations on how much groveling she was willing to do-it set a precedent for their entire future and what she was willing to tolerate. So even though she was inclined to smooth his ruffled feathers for him this one time, doing so might ensure that she’d be putting up with his vindictive tantrums for three hundred years to come. And a descendant of Anna L’Court jumped hoops for no man.

  Besides, what could she reveal anyway? When Lincoln found out that Tristan had cut her off-he was going to be over the moon, and a part of her anticipated being able to make at least one of the men she cared for deliriously happy. Once that was done, she knew that the bad moments, like this one, would lose their significance.

  But they hadn’t yet. She wasn’t ready to accept Tristan’s withdrawal so suddenly. She didn’t know if it was because she longed to be with Tristan more than she’d admitted to herself until then, or if she just couldn’t stand things ending on such a sour note without knowing the state of her womb first. But she needed a day or so to examine her feelings wholly, and give Tristan the chance to change his mind, before she got Lincoln’s hopes up.

  ‘I don’t feel like talking about it right now Lincoln. I need a day or so to get my head around a few things, okay?’

  Lincoln’s eyebrows pulled together in consternation, but then his face became impassive. ‘Fair enough.’ He said, releasing her and turning away. ‘And on that note, I’m off for lunch.’ He glanced at Sherri. ‘Good luck.’

  Sherri smiled sweetly. ‘I’m sure I can handle her.’

  Ivyanne felt like she’d been slapped, but she refused to entertain either of them with a dramatic reaction. She simply shrugged and said : ‘Famous last words’ then moved to put her stuff away, thinking that it might be the last time she ever clocked in at The Seaview Resort.

  ⁓

  ‘Are you where you need to be?’ Ardhi barked into the phone around lunch on Friday.

  ‘Lord, I’m so tired that I don’t even know any more.’ Adele muttered. ‘But according to the GPS on this boat, I am.’

  ‘Good.’ Ardhi couldn’t believe that he was so dependent on Adele the scatterbrain to have his escape vehicle ready, but he had little choice. The most capable ally he had was in Queensland, putting the hard moves on Lincoln, and he couldn’t pull off his plan alone. ‘Did you have any problems hiring out the boat?’

  ‘Nope. And the guy even helped give me directions. Apparently, people fish off this reef all the time.’

  Ardhi frowned. ‘Is anyone around you now?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Good. If you see anyone, move-but keep the coast in sight.’

  ‘As opposed to what? Take off by myself on the big blue? Not likely.’

  ‘Don’t be smart.’ Ardhi folded his legs, enjoying the heat of sun-warmed sand under his bare skin. ‘Well we haven’t got long, so I may as well get this started….’

  ‘Ardhi-wait.’ Adele’s usual sass was replaced with the trembling tone of a little girl. ‘Are you sure we need to do this? There are other women you know-’

  ‘This isn’t about Ivyanne.’ Ardhi snapped. ‘Th
is is about karma. The universe won’t punish Tristan for how he operates-but that doesn’t mean that I can’t.’

  ‘I know...but this is so epic. I mean...wouldn’t a one on one attack make more sense? Less innocent people-’

  ‘I’ll make sure it’s low before it-’ Ardhi’s voice died out as the reality of what he was about to do sank in. God, maybe he was crazy. ‘Look, I can’t fight Tristan hand to hand. He’s used and abused his gifts, and now I’ll do the same. He needs to be isolated and off guard-you know all of this.’ He frowned, angry at her for making him question himself. ‘And if you want to do the right thing by your family, you’ll step in line, got it?’

  ‘Got it.’ Adele said quickly. ‘Please just...take it easy.’

  ‘I will.’ Ardhi glanced at his waterproof watch. ‘Two hours from now, where we agreed, got it? Any longer than that and mermaids will be swarming the area. I have to find him before they do.’

  ‘I know. Well...good luck. I guess.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Ardhi said curtly. ‘See you soon.’

  Ardhi put down the phone and glanced around him casually to double check that he was still alone on the private beach in front of his bungalow. For as far as he could see, the area was deserted-water included. That was perfect. Exactly what he needed.

  He’d picked Molokai as his base in Hawaii, not only because it was perfectly positioned under the flight path, but because his own kind were less concentrated there, usually opting for the Big Island, or Oahu, where Bane’s family was. There were enough mers around to help with rescue efforts, if they were required, but not so close that they’d beat Ardhi to first pickings of the passengers. Well, one passenger, in particular.

  Ardhi smiled and moved forward, sitting once more where the water licked at the shore, digging his feet down into the thick, heavy and sodden sand, so that they were submerged nearly to his knees. He then dug his hands into the wet sand beside him, anchoring himself, letting the water break around him, and feed into him. A ripple of pleasure went through him, and he latched onto it in his mind, inhaling deeply, like he was inhaling the world. He thought of rain, and of thunder, and of lightning that would illuminate the sky, so blue, so powerful, that the people on the plane would gape out their windows in awe.