The Marked Ones (22 page)

‘I’m insulted that you’d think so poorly of Tristan or myself.’ Vana sat down on one of the cane chairs she favored, and motioned for Ivyanne to take the other one, handing her a pure white towel from the railing. ‘Calm down please, and maybe then we can discuss this like
adults.’

Ivyanne’s mouth snapped shut. She actually felt sixteen again-and she didn’t like it.

‘Hello princess!’ Saraya, her mothers assistant, appeared suddenly at the door, pushing open the screen with one hand and smiling at her. With her glossy black hair and full, pouty lips, she was one of the prettiest Court-Zara children and had been her mothers’ assistant for almost twenty years-since Saraya’s own mother had retired from the demanding position. ‘Good to see you! Can I get you a drink?’

‘Hello Saraya,’ Ivyanne smiled at her weakly. ‘Well, I
could go a coffee-’ she glanced at her mother, evaluated her surprised expression, then changed her mind. ‘Actually green tea would be good, thank you Saraya.’

‘Sure thing! Be right out.’ Saraya was gone, her retreat soundless. At almost fifty years old, she still possessed a girlish, pixie-like demeanor and flitted about almost silently.

‘I hope that caffeine is the only drug you’ve become addicted too,’ Vana said, looking concerned and disapproving.

‘No mother, I’m smoking
crack.’ Ivyanne shot back.

Her mother pursed her lips. ‘You’re lucky your father isn’t here to hear you speaking like this young lady.’

Ivyanne almost laughed-her father Ash, was a pushover compared to her mother! ‘Well excuse me, but I’m surprised that I’m not. Do you have any idea what it’s been like for me up there? I think I’m losing my mind! I actually spent last night sleeping in a ball at Oyster point because I couldn’t face my roommate, Tristan cast me out of his room and Ardhi has apparently shacked up with Pintang!’

‘So it’s worse than before?’ Vana asked, her expression going from stern to curious as she fiddled with the black pearl ring on her finger.

Ivyanne nodded. ‘Much. Every time I think I’m going to be okay, something even more disastrous happens! I honestly don’t see how I’m going to choose a prince. I have half a mind to head off for Oahu this very afternoon and marry the only one not giving me a headache.’ She rested her elbows on her table and went to rake her hands through her wet hair, caught her mother’s pointed expression and instantly straightened, and began wringing her hair with the towel, like a lady probably ought to. ‘You shouldn’t have sent Tristan there. I was doing fine until he came along!’

‘Hmm...’ Vana leaned back in her chair, eyeing Ivyanne carefully. ‘That amazes me. I rather thought Tristan would prove to be excellent, uh company.’

Ivyanne’s face began to feel hot. She averted her mothers’ eyes, uncomfortable. ‘He’s okay,’ she said quietly. ‘I mean, a bit deceitful, but...’

‘Fun?’

Ivyanne looked up. Vana’s eyes were twinkling. Ivyanne laughed despite herself. ‘Yes, okay? He’s a lot of fun. One might say, too much fun.’

Vana laughed. ‘Oh! Well,
that makes me happy, at least!’

‘Well don’t get too carried away,’ Ivyanne said quickly, remembering Tristan’s gutted expression from the night before and wincing. ‘Even if we
were bonding, we’ve hit a wall now. And I don’t know how to fix it, or if I even want to.’

‘And is that
Tristan's fault?’ Vana asked briskly. ‘Or Lincoln Grey’s?’

Ivyanne felt her heart hit her feet. She stopped toweling her hair, gaping at her mother in horror as she realized just how sheltered-and observed-she had been growing up.

22.

Mother and daughter sat in such heavy silence, that Ivyanne was only just aware of Saraya coming out, placing a delicate, gold plated cup of steaming green tea in front of each royal, then scampering back inside rather hastily.

When the door swung shut behind Saraya, Ivyanne leaned towards her mother, knowing her expression mirrored her horror. ‘You know about Lincoln?!’ she squeaked.

Vana exhaled heavily, toying with the platinum band on her ring finger now. Because of her long life span, Vana had already had to replace her wedding ring three times. This one was only a few years old, and sparkled on her slightly hobbled though unblemished knuckle. ‘Of course I do Ivyanne. I know everything that’s gone on, every second of your rather young life. Really, if it weren’t for Lincoln Grey, there wouldn’t even be much to know, would there? Now.... or even when you were a teenager.... it’s
always been about him.’

Ivyanne absorbed this, shock turning to astonishment as she realized her mother was even more aware of her indiscretions if she was eluding to Ivyanne’s past! ‘Aubrielle....?’ she managed to ask.

Vana looked confused. ‘Why no..... have you told Aubrielle ?’

‘Some,’ Ivyanne whispered. ‘So how-?’

‘It was my job to watch out for you Ivyanne-you’re a crowned princess and my only heir.’ Vana said quickly. ‘Either myself, or another pair of eyes, were always on you. Even when you believed you were off my radar.’ She smiled. ‘That unfamiliar tourist on the beach, the ticket girl at the movie theatre when you went to see Godzilla..... that little kid who came crashing through the woods and discovered your tree fort....’

Ivyanne was floored by the invasion of privacy. ‘You know
everything?!’ her head was spinning. ‘Mother! I cannot believe you!’

‘Then you under-estimated me.’ Vana laughed. ‘But I’m not surprised. Quite the actress, wasn’t I? It makes sense... you see you never really understood how valuable you were, and
still are, to all of us. Measures had to be taken, so I took them, as any smart mother would. While turning a blind-eye to let you explore the world somewhat, unchaperoned, as every young girl needs to.’ She picked up an antique silver spoon on her saucer and stirred the tea. ‘As you will one day, for your own children.’

Ivyanne doubted she’d ever put her children through such a thing. ‘So when I was sixteen....and you told me we had to stop returning to the Seaview...it was because of
Lincoln?’

Vana nodded. ‘Yes. I’d hoped you’d grow out of it, but your feelings for him began putting you in uh, inappropriate situations.’

Ivyanne blushed furiously. ‘Mum I never-’

‘I know.’ Vana said. ‘But your restraint was waning, darling. I had to sever the ties between you two, and so I did.’

Ivyanne absorbed this, understanding that she’d always known Lincoln had been part of the reason Vana had stopped their annual trips to Seaview. Only she thought her mother had been wary of their friendship-not aware of their relationship! She suddenly felt very foolish.

‘But you let me go back! And you knew he was still
working there?’ Ivyanne was beside herself. ‘Why didn’t you forbid me from returning? Have you any idea what a tangled mess I’ve been dealing with?’

‘Let me see..’ Vana was smiling softly. If she was angry at Ivyanne for years of lying to her, she didn’t show it. ‘I imagine you’ve had to think on your feet quite a lot. You probably had to create an alias of sorts, and cover that alias’s tracks as well. I guess a disguise of some sort was necessary, not to mention an almost hourly ability to lie, sometimes layered lies, to several people, all at once.’ Vana took a sip of her tea, her eyes dancing with merriment over the golden rim as she basked in her daughters rapt distress. ‘You wouldn’t have wanted to, but I bet that at least once or twice, you were forced to sing, to aide yourself, and you probably even lay awake at night, judging yourself, keeping a careful eye on the lines you didn’t want to cross and yet being forced to cross some anyway. And amongst all of this, you were more than likely engaged in a minute by minute tug of war, your head against your heart, or your lust against your values.’ The queen returned her cup to the table. ‘To sum up-all of the things you
should have been doing over the past ten years, to develop your skills to live amongst not only the humans but your own kind, compacted into two, incredibly strenuous weeks.’ Vana smiled widely at her daughter. ‘Am I close?’

Ivyanne gaped at her, too floored to form a sentence.

Vana sighed. ‘I know you loved Lincoln in a way you couldn’t love any of the Marked son’s, and the guilt of how you left him has been preventing you from even trying to. I didn’t want you there, but I knew you had to reconcile your past with your future. You needed closure-a way to make things better for him, to finally forgive yourself and move on- without the haze of teenage hormones getting the better of you.’

‘But I
still care for him deeply!’ Ivyanne said. ‘Being close to him again hasn’t changed that! And if my hormones are less rampant now then it’s news to me!’

‘But Lincoln hasn’t been the only cause behind your blossoming sensuality, has he?’ Her mother demanded gently. ‘Which is precisely why I sent young Tristan along. You’d have to be made of stone not to react to
his charms.’

Ivyanne looked out at the flat, grey sea. It reminded her of Ardhi’s eyes on one of his ‘down’ days. ‘I should have been allowed to decide that for myself.’ She said softly. ‘When I was ready.’

‘But that time wouldn’t have come if I didn’t force it. Ardhi and your father have been poisoning your mind against Tristan for years.’ She touched Ivyanne’s hand. ‘I had to get Tristan and you together alone, so you could come to your own conclusion about his character-which I’ve never found to be anything but delightful.’

‘You’re right. He’s wonderful.’ Ivyanne sniffled. ‘But so is Link. I wish I’d never seen him again! It’s making it harder-not easier!’

Vana sighed. ‘That’s a shame-and I understand. Were I older, and able to turn him for you-’

‘Don’t even
suggest that.’ Ivyanne swallowed. ‘I need you.’

Vana smiled sadly. ‘You’re too kind to ask that of me, I know. But even if I could-I wouldn’t. Not when there are three fine young men with lineage for you to choose from now, an option I
never had. Just as you currently have no option but to make a clean break.’

Ivyanne looked her mother in the eye. ‘But how? Lincoln’s never stopped loving me mother, and it’s been killing him slowly since I left. He thinks I’m the little sister of the girl who broke his heart-and
still he’s fallen for me.’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t crush him a second time, not now that I know the damage I did as Ivanna. The guilt will eat me alive.’

Vana’s expression became serious. ‘My meddling put you back in this situation Ivyanne, I admit that. But your weakness, both then and now, your inability to let him go-is the
true cause of his pain. And as future ruler of this kingdom, you need to learn how to make hard decisions.’ Her mother stood up and frowned out at the overcast sky. ‘We never would have gotten to where we are if Anna hadn’t-or if the Court Zara women were too soft to raise children alone and put the needs of the human fathers’ out of their minds.’ She shrugged. ‘Being a mermaid means doing things that might not sit well with the human side of us....but if we don’t, the siren side will never survive. It’s not cruelty-it’s self preservation. Believe me darling, eighty years ago, a human male-even Lincoln-wouldn’t have thought twice about hurting you. It’s the strength we exhibit as women that have helped progress that. You know this- you studied our involvement with the suffrage movement.’

Ivyanne nodded feebly. She was well aware of all of that. But her poor heart....

‘You have to go back Ivyanne-kiss him good-bye, like you never got to before-and then leave. Tell him you love him if you must, but make it clear that it will never be. Use Ivanna as a reason-and exit his life leaving nothing in your wake. The smallest drop of hope could destroy you both.’

Ivyanne nodded. Hadn’t that been her intention, all along?

‘Once you choose to walk away from him, your heart will begin to heal.’ Her mother went on. ‘Because the truth is that the only shot you have at eternal love is to choose someone from within your own kind. And you will find it-just as I did with your father. Do you think he was the only man I cared for in all of these years?’

Ivyanne glanced out over the water-it was like a sheet of grey-the sky, meeting a sheet of
deeper grey-the ocean. It reflected how she felt inside. But there was a peak of sunlight glowing through-a chance to hope. Her heart was crying out that she loved Lincoln, but what did it really know? Her mother, however, knew what it was to carry the flame of love for centuries.

‘Okay,’ Ivyanne finally said. ‘I can do that.’

Her mother reached over and squeezed her hand. ‘I know you can.’

Ivyanne glanced up into her mother’s eyes. ‘Tristan isn’t the only problem mum. If you know about Link, then I assume you know about Ardhi also?’

‘I didn’t. Until yesterday.’ All softness left Vana’s expression. ‘I’ve been trying to deal with him, and yet he remains elusive.’

‘What will you do when you pin him down?’ Ivyanne asked, concerned for her friend. She twisted the necklace she’d donned when she’d ducked back into her room the evening before-the whelk Ardhi had given her. Every time she felt a surge of rage at her circumstances, she touched it, and it reminded her of who she was, and where her destiny lay-in the ocean. Regardless of with who, she was a creature of the sea, and a guardian of others like her. And the time had become to act like the current and not the driftwood caught in it.

‘Put him to work. Somewhere far from here where he can learn to control his temper, and his powers.’ The Queen frowned. ‘I just don’t know where he is.’

‘Lingering around the resort. I know
that much.’ Ivyanne stood. ‘If I can get him to come out here with me tonight, say ten...can you be prepared for him?’

Vana’s eyes widened, but she nodded. ‘What do you have in mind?’

Ivyanne smiled grimly. ‘An offer he can’t refuse.’

Her mother said nothing, but nodded in understanding.

‘Anyway, I have untangling to do.’ Ivyanne didn’t know how she’d say good-bye to Lincoln, but resigning her job was a good start. She could come back here for awhile, licking her wounds, and then maybe try mainland life somewhere else-somewhere new and unbiased. ‘But before I go,’ she smiled at her mother, ‘I want to know the name of at least one of your spies......’

‘Ivyanne! You don’t plan on exacting revenge, do you?’ Vana asked, horrified. ‘After all, it was
my doing.’

‘
One name.’ Ivyanne said softly. ‘Of the person who’s been lurking around me the most,’ she looked back at her mother. ‘You don’t want even one subject laughing at the future Queens’ naivety, do you?’

To her surprise, her mother grinned. ‘Well...when you put it
that way..…’

⁓

Because Wednesday was the day that the Rainforest Safari bus ran a tour to the Blue Gorge Falls, two hours to the south, it was generally the quietest day at the resort, and a RDO for half of the staff. The heat, if not the sun, had come out around midday, so the beach was busier than it usually was-the tourists not gorge-bound escaping from their rooms to the sand after twenty four hours of torrential rain.

Tristan was taking advantage of that by opting to spend the afternoon at the beach with Pintang, Caleb, Ilsa and Liv. He wasn’t in the mood to socialize, but he wasn’t the type to sit in his room and brood either, so he lay on his towel, head buried into the crook of his arm, listening to the girl’s gossip around him as the sun warmed his back.

However, it wasn’t the kind of gossip he could tune out, not knowing how directly it concerned him. So he feigned sleep and listened avidly.

‘Adele thinks that Ivyanne is after Link.’ Ilsa whispered. ‘And that’s why he’s dumped her.’

‘Adele is deluded with a capital D.’ Livia giggled. ‘Link’s great...but the calibre of his competition is way too fine to be overlooked.’

Tristan smirked into his arm.

‘Nothing will ever happen between Ivyanne and Link.’ Pintang said quietly. ‘She’s not the home wrecker sort. Besides, she’s got more than one extra option, and he’s almost as cute as Tristan and crazy in love with her. He’s like, her best friend.’

Tristan’s smirk turned into a scowl.

There was a gasp. ‘Seriously? Some girls have all the luck!’

‘It’s the hair.’ Livia said. ‘Bitch.’

‘Sure of it.’ Ilsa giggled. ‘How do you know so much about Ivyanne anyway, Pintang?’

‘We’re getting close. At least, I
think we are.’

‘So you know she wants Tristan, not Link then? If I can tell Adele that Ivyanne’s not going to go there, it’ll probably calm her down.’

‘I don’t know who she wants. Like I said, option three is probably best suited to her though-but Lincoln doesn’t have a shot in hell, so tell Adele by all means.’

Tristan rolled over onto his back. ‘Okay ladies seriously….there’s nothing covert about using actual
names when gossiping.’

The girls looked at him, blushed, and started laughing.