by S. K Munt
‘Mom......’
Vana had her in her arms in a second, holding Ivyanne close against her. ‘Oh sweetheart!’ she cried, but Ivyanne barely felt it.
She wasn’t pregnant. Part of Tristan wasn’t with her. Was this just a natural part of her Court genetics, to stubbornly hold out on impregnation? Or had all of the stressing about Lincoln in the first two weeks wished it away? Ivyanne felt her heart break all over again-he was gone. He was really and truly gone and the one hope she’d clung to-of keeping a piece of him with her-was gone too.
All of the good feelings Ivyanne had managed to dredge up dissipated instantly as the throbbing in her abdomen and lower back increased. She buried her face into her mother’s chest and sobbed.
⁓
Despite the fact that Tristan’s head felt like it was about to explode, he knew he had to eat something to keep his strength up. He caught two fish in a shallow reef, taking three times longer than he normally did, and got a fire going using a piece of glass and some dry leaves before toasting the fish whole on stick skewers.
It was a cool night, and as he sat, holding his head together with one hand and gazing out at the blackened sea, Tristan struggled to get his bearings. He knew he was still smack bang in the middle of the South pacific. Five sunsets and three islands had come and gone since his accident and he’d been lucky if he had travelled half as fast as he usually did...so where did that leave him? He’d used the sun as a guide, heading south east-but that wasn’t foolproof. He’d been out of it for days. If he stumbled into the antarctic ocean soon, he wouldn’t be shocked.
Tristan got to his feet, swallowing the last bites of his grey triggerfish down, licking his fingers, and knowing he wouldn’t sleep until he ate more. He approached a bent and twisted tree, recognizing it instantly as a Marae....native mainly to the Line Islands, which explained all of the coral which had scraped his tender flesh on the long and shallow swim to shore. So he wasn’t on an Island-it was an atoll, and judging from the way the beach arced around, it was a big one.
Tristan knelt down and sifted the crunchy ground through his fingers, instantly spinning as the blood rushed to his wound. He squeezed his hand around the gritty stuff, then sniffed it. Coral, guano....almost no soil.....it was all adding up. Tristan dropped the stuff, dusting his hands on his bare thigh-he didn’t know when he’d torn off his clothes but they were long gone-and skulked along the line of vegetation, peering at the trunks of the trees in the pale light of the moon. The moon.....Tristan looked up, and sucked in his breath-it was the First Quarter. That meant it was Thursday. Wherever Ivyanne was, she was about to awake to the day that would make her decision for her-without him around to counteract it.
Tristan’s heart began to race faster, but it was a good thing-reminding him that he was still alive and giving him the adrenaline he needed to forge on.
Tristan spotted a coconut palm and scanned it slowly-but saw nothing. He moved on, the rough ground slicing his feet, which were more sensitive to the land after three days of submersion, checking three more trees. Still nothing. It wasn’t until he got to the fifth that he finally spotted the massive arthropod he’d been searching for, hugging the sloping curve of a coconut palm. A large, sinister looking Coconut Crab.
Tristan linked his lips, and came up behind it quietly. They were tricky to catch, but well worth the taste. Not only was he about to get a massive feed-but he knew for sure that he was somewhere within the Caroline Atoll. That explained the humidity despite the slight chill in the breeze. He had ended up in the world that saw the sunrise before any other.
His fingers were poised to take the crab off the tree, but at the last minute-he withdrew it, the flexing motion upsetting his sprained wrist. The Coconut Crab was near to being endangered...and Tristan knew better than to go ahead and take one more. Anyway, those arthropods could be toxic, depending on their diet. The last thing he needed was to be poisoned.
Tristan backed away from the tree and headed back towards his fire, which was a mere speck against the night sky, thinking things over. If he was on the Caroline Atoll, that meant that he’d travelled further than he’d thought-he’d done well over three thousand kilometers. That was good, but it also meant he’d gone slightly west instead of East, putting him closer to French Polynesia than Samoa.
He bypassed his camp and went down to the water, easing himself in, knowing he had to hunt to boost his spirits. Home was over six thousand kilometers away. Six days, if he kept the same pace, or four, maybe five if the ocean revived him enough to floor it.
Tristan put his head in his hands and sighed, trying not to imagine how much life could change in six days on the mainland. Ivyanne could be married by the time he got back. Why wouldn’t she? Tristan had dumped her, then died. That was as closed as a relationship could get. Maybe he should just stay where he was.
But Ardhi.....Ardhi wasn’t dead. Tristan was certain of it. The weather hadn’t brought his plane down-a mystic had. And somehow, he’d coerced Adele Knightley into helping him plot Tristan’s death. So what was he planning on doing now that he thought he had Tristan out of the way?
Suddenly, all thoughts of hunger, pain and weakness, left him, and he dove into the water. Tristan didn’t need food-he needed to move, before it was too late for everyone.
⁓
Ardhi crouched low in the sand dunes and tried to ignore the hum of sandflies around his head, their pitiful little buzzing ringing in his ears despite the fact that they had zero interest in his blood, which he knew had a salty taste as opposed to the humans metallic flavor.
It was almost five o’clock in the morning and the pitch black beach was deserted except for the pale wisp of a golden unclothed figure as she returned to the place she had left her clothes. He’d been waiting for her for hours, since the moment he’d re-entered Seaview waters, and the wait was almost intolerable. He didn’t want to be lurking there-he wanted to be looking for Ivyanne, to lay eyes on her again.
The woman moved closer, shaking her hair out, her movements seductive even when she was unaware of having an audience.
‘Psst.’ He hissed. ‘Over here.’
The woman spun around. ‘Jesus Ardhi! You scared the hell out of me!’
‘How do you think I’ve felt, having heard nothing for a bloody week?’
She glared at him, grabbing her clothes and scrubbing herself dry with them. ‘There was nothing to report.’ She snapped. ‘This place has literally been a graveyard every single day and today, just when it looked like things were lightening up, Ivyanne got her period, just like the rest of us, and now, all hell’s broken loose again.’
‘Why?’ Ardhi asked.
She threw her shirt at him. ‘Because she thought she was pregnant to Tristan, Ardhi. There’s the mystery revealed for you. She wasn’t so hung up on him that she couldn’t let him go-she was convinced that she wouldn’t be able to.’ The woman glared at him through the dusk. ‘So now that she’s out of the woods, it’s kind of put what you did in perspective for me. It wasn’t necessary at all. She and Lincoln are as good as engaged-and no amount of sobbing on her part is going to convince me that it was ever going to end up any other way.’
‘You’re mad at me?’ He demanded. He was shocked to learn this new bit of information too, but it didn’t make him regret taking Tristan out.
She squeezed water out of her hair. ‘What do you expect, Ardhi? I’ve got my period. I’m mad at ninety nine percent of the people I’ve encountered today.’
‘Oh.’ He felt foolish. And embarrassed. ‘Uh...sorry about that.’
‘Not as sorry as I am. It was so much easier as a human, spread out over seven days.’ She cupped her stomach. ‘I’ll never get used to this ache, even if I live for another three hundred years.’
Ardhi was getting bored with the subject. ‘So...if Link and Ivyanne are getting close now-’
‘It means I’ve had no luck. And my one chance was thwarted by your darling sister. Link’s barely looked at me
since, and if I look at him, everyone looks at me.’ She held her hands up. ‘I’ve got nothing to work with. When are you going to come out of the coffin, hmm? I could use someone drawing focus.’
‘Soon.’ He said firmly. ‘I just needed enough time to pass to know that Tristan stayed as dead as I intended.’
‘Well he is, and I’m horny as hell, and lonely.’ She got to her feet. ‘And this holding pattern is driving me insane.’
Ardhi shrugged. ‘So shake it up. That’s why I enlisted you, Blondie. Who cares who looks at you? They’re mer. They’ll get over it.’ He smiled. ‘Bend over in front of him, pretend to need help with a problem, or just pull out all the stops, declaring love. I don’t care what it is you do, but anything that drives a wedge between them will help me out.’
She frowned at him. ‘I feel like I’ve already tried everything.’
‘Then try it again. If she’s sad about not being pregnant, use that as an in. Give him some sympathy.’
‘And if he doesn’t want my sympathy?’ She demanded lightly.
Ardhi got to his feet. ‘The I’ll call Adele back into the fray.’
The girl glared at him. ‘She doesn’t deserve him anymore than Ivyanne does.’
‘Good.’ Ardhi said, waving good-bye. ‘Convince him of that, and we’re golden.’
12.
When Ivyanne answered the door on Friday morning, she looked less than thrilled to see Lincoln. In fact, she looked half asleep. She was wearing fuzzy yellow pajamas, and her hair was in two frizzy pigtails. A pillowcase mark was indented in her cheek.
It was the most adorable she’d ever looked, even with the scowl.
‘You’re in hospitality,’ Ivyanne said by way of greeting, rubbing her bleary eyes. ‘Shouldn’t you still be in bed at this hour?’
Lincoln’s wedged his sneaker in the door, the urge to laugh out loud in delight to have lain eyes on her again threatening to overcome his poise. ‘You were in hospitality too,’ he countered cheerfully. ‘Shouldn’t you greet a guest with a smile?’
Ivyanne opened the door. ‘Finding it hard to smile sir,’ she retorted. ‘Sorry.’
‘Then let me give you cause to.’ Lincoln caught the door, holding it open, then handed her a small white takeaway box with the other hand. ‘I brought you the chocolate covered strawberries you love so much.’
Ivyanne stared down at the box, her face softening. ‘Wow...Lincoln, thank you.’
‘Yeah well, I’m a bit of a darling, you know.’ He said charmingly. ‘Now...give me a minute to….’
Ivyanne stiffened when he cupped her face in his hands and bend down slightly, peering at her, letting his eyes fall upon every feature on her face.
‘What are you doing?’ She stammered, nervous.
He smiled. ‘Basking.’ He pressed his lips to her forehead chastely. ‘You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.’
Ivyanne relaxed, even managing a timid smile. ‘I’ve missed you too.’
Lincoln wrapped his arms around her, holding her to him, determined to comfort her and not let her see how her devastation over not being pregnant hurt him. He understood, as it was just one more loss for her, not necessarily a Tristan thing. In fact, Lincoln actually felt like it was too soon to see her in wake of such a loss, but Vana had taken him by surprise once more the previous evening, by calling him and begging him to go to her daughter.
Besides, Vana had spoken wisely: You couldn’t lose something you’d never had.
So there he was, following orders, determined to fill not only the hole in Ivyanne’s heart, but the one her mother was now nursing. He hadn’t had a mother in a long time, and he couldn’t believe how amazing it felt to be welcomed into a family, by a matriarch who was finally letting down her guard and proving herself to be quite warm.
Lincoln walked into the room, surprised that it was a brighter space than he’d imagined. ‘It’s a sweet pad,’ he said. He stopped and smiled when he saw the flower arrangements he’d had Pintang bring over now sat on the edge of each stair. Their blooms added warmth to the space, and a lovely fragrance was in the air that was almost overwhelming.
Ivyanne followed his gaze. ‘Your doing, I assume?’ she asked.
He shrugged. ‘They’re from the guests. I just had them brought here.’
‘Well they’re lovely-thank you. And pass that on to the guests who sent them.’ She looked around. ‘So you like it? It’s a bit modern…’
‘I love it,’ he said honestly. ‘Could use a bit more furniture, and the art sucks...But I could definitely get comfortable here.’
‘Actually-I quite like the art. It’s clean and bright.’ Ivyanne sat down on the couch, patting the space beside her. ‘So I take it that mum told you? That I’m not..’ her voice faltered.
Lincoln tried to look collected, and concerned. He was concerned, of course, but her closeness clouded the sad part of his mind. He stretched his arm behind her head. ‘She did,’ he said gravely. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Are you?’
Lincoln looked up, knowing she could see right through him. He toyed with one of her large curls, running the strand between his fingers. ‘I’m sorry that you’re sad,’ he said honestly, staring into her brilliant green eyes. ‘I was willing to help you, and love the child, if it was born…..But I can’t pretend that I don’t love the idea of a clean slate for us as well.’
Ivyanne rested her cheek against his hand. ‘Of course you do,’ she said softly. ‘I’d know you were lying if you said otherwise. And this will make things easier on us, but….’
‘But you wanted a part of him?’ Lincoln asked.
She nodded. ‘Yes. My feelings aside-this is the second full-blood boy from the Loveridge family to be wasted in a year. His parents are so upset, they can’t even talk. I would have felt so much better if I’d brought a grand-child into the sea for them, to replace the sons they’d lost.’
Lincoln hadn’t actually realized that before-but Ivyanne was right. Tristan’s parents had lost both of their sons. It was horrific. He started to feel awful that he’d been glad that Ivyanne wasn’t pregnant. It was a devastating loss to the kingdom.
‘Don’t you go looking guilty,’ Ivyanne said quickly. ‘That’s my issue Link. You’re allowed to be relieved.’
‘No, I’m an asshole,’ Lincoln muttered. ‘A complete, selfish asshole.’
She ran her face down his arm, settling against the groove of his shoulder. ‘No, you’re not.’
‘Yes, I am,’ Lincoln ran a hand through his hair. ‘Becoming a merman has changed me, Ivyanne. I’ve been acting like a-’
‘Like a merman,’ Ivyanne said softly. Her hand rested on his heart. ‘This is beating faster and harder-it exaggerates things,’ she slid her hand up to his head. ‘Doing the nice thing isn’t a priority in here anymore, Link, it comes second to survival. And as far as survival goes….’ her hand drifted down, resting on his upper thigh. ‘This is dictating you more than you realize. The desire to spread your seed….it’s not because you look shit-hot now Link-it’s because your life focus has shifted. You’re not as self-aware now as you were as a man, or as you will be when you’ve become accustomed to this body….but in time, you’ll get it.’
Lincoln tilted her face up to look at him. ‘You’re telling me that it’s normal for our priorities to get messed up?’
‘Not messed up-our priorities are simply different.’ Ivyanne toyed with a strand of hair absently. ‘That’s why I’m cuddled up to you now, despite the fact that a man I loved died tragically a week ago-it’s a survival instinct. A large part of me wants to cry, but the rational part of me understands that things have happened, and now I have to find a new way to bear children...it’s not even something we think of Link, and it’s not really anything we expect each other to explain.’
‘Fair enough…’ Lincoln mulled it over, fondling her hair. ‘But the way you blew up the other day….when you thought I’d been with those girls...’ he cringed, loathe to raise the
subject but knowing it needed to be aired out.
‘Oh so we’re going to go there?’ She chuckled. ‘I may have expected less from Tristan, Link, but I’m no more used to you being a mer than you are.’ Her eyes flashed green fire. ‘And the spa thing was a bit much to take. Even Tristan would have been ripped a new one over that.’
‘I crossed a line,’ he whispered, kissing the top of her head. ‘I was afraid of losing you and Sherri and Lux were topping up my self esteem, I guess. It felt good, but I knew I’d put myself in a stupid situation the moment Lux-’ He glanced down at her. ‘She kissed me, Ivyanne-but I was about to push her away when I saw Pintang. You have to believe me.’
‘I do. I did straight away. That just wasn’t the point.’
Lincoln caught her hand, brought it to his lips, kissing it in gratitude. But the silkiness of her skin was more stimulating than he’d anticipated, and everything inside him seemed to lean towards her, aching when it couldn’t connect fully. He groaned, shocked at his own audacity-being aroused by a grieving girl he’d come to comfort was despicable.
‘God, here I go again…’ he pushed her hand away, and inched over to the other side of the couch. ‘I’m actually really upset over all of this, but when you touch me…’
‘Survival instinct,’ she said softly, hugging a cushion to her chest, eyes sparkling. ‘Me too. The drugs Aubrielle has me on probably aren’t hurting either.’ She sighed, pulling up her knees, blocking him. ‘Back when my great-grandmother was very young, love was basically unheard of within our kind. A side effect, I suppose, of living so long...falling in love was pointless. There were no marriages between mermaids for the first two hundred years. It was like no one cared about exclusivity. We followed our natural instincts.’ She rested her feet against his thigh. ‘I suppose we’ll evolve in time, when there are more of us and our existence is less precarious. But until then, we’re stuck with these instincts.’
