The Marked Ones (30 page)

Lincoln studied her guardedly. ‘I guess I can understand...though I’d be a lot more understanding if it was some
other sap you had questioning his sanity.’ Lincoln hated the fact that it was all starting to make sense. ‘What about the other two? Ardhi and asshole? How old are they?’

‘Ardhi is three years younger than I am, and …’ she hesitated, looking pained. ‘Tristan is closer to forty.’

‘Forty.’ Lincoln whispered, his ego taking it hard. He was losing a girl to someone not much younger than his father! ‘Bloody hell....’

‘An infant by our standards,’ Ivyanne said softly.

Lincoln tried not to notice the slight lift to the corner of her lips as she spoke about Tristan. ‘Are they using their real names?’

She nodded. ‘Yep. Ironically, you’re the only one who ever called me Ivanna. You thought it was my name, and I didn’t correct you. I mean, you were pretty out of it when we first met-so I wore that name when I was with you, and it made me feel like I could be someone else.’ She smiled. ‘Then dad heard you call me it one day and we agreed, as a family, to call me that around you to avoid confusion.’

Lincoln lifted his brow. ‘So if I’d had your name right from the start….?’

‘I wouldn’t have had a damn thing to hide behind when you recognised me, last week. I would have sung my appearance out of your head, fled, and never returned.’

Lincoln groaned to learn of the way he’d assisted with her lie. He turned to the sea, trying to blink back tears. Ivyanne was finally being honest with him, he knew he should be grateful for that. But suddenly, the fact that Ivanna and Ivyanne were the same person seemed inconsequential -because now they’d both broken his heart.

30.

‘What about the fix up, with your parents? Was that all a lie too?’ Lincoln finally asked, when he’d succeeded in breathing deeply enough to hold back the swell of emotions threatening to capsize him.

Ivyanne shook her head, sitting beside him. ‘The creator-a princess of France-was my great, great grandmother. It makes me a royal as well....next in line to the throne.’

A princess! Lincoln’s mouth fell open and he couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized this sooner. A mermaid princess! Well, no wonder she was playing hard to get-she’s impossible to get! ‘That’s why they’re so strict with you?!’

‘Yes.’ Ivyanne raised her hand in a gesture of hopelessness, her expression apologetic. ‘There’s my issue, see? I need to choose a husband-from a
very small pool of worthy candidates to keep my bloodline undiluted. I couldn’t make a choice because I didn’t love any of them, so I ran away. Unfortunately, the two biggest pains, Tristan and Ardhi, followed me here.’

‘
Ardhi?’ Lincoln squeaked. ‘Pintang’s brother? He’s here to marry you too?’

‘Yup.’ Ivyanne made a face, then cocked her head. ‘Hang on..when did
you meet Ardhi?’

‘Last night. In front of your room. He said he was visiting Pintang and looking for her, and I never thought twice about it. Why?’

Ivyanne looked down at her feet. ‘Never mind.’

‘What makes
them worthy?’ Lincoln couldn’t help but ask.

Ivyanne reclined against the railing, looking almost exhausted as he felt. ‘Obviously, starting and sustaining a civilization is not an easy task. After she’d created a family of her own, Anna encouraged them to run off and turn others-only none of them could do it. When they breathed into men, it simply saved them-like I did to you.’

Lincoln could remember waking up, his chest expanding with her breath. ‘Oh.....’

She nodded. ‘Anyway, the girls, once they grew into women, learned that they could lure men into their beds and get pregnant with their children, giving birth to more mer-folk nine months later and raising them alone-but the mer
men couldn’t breed outside their species. Well they could, but they could father only human children with human women-a by-product, it’s theorized, created by the curse which Anne had lain upon her ex husbands head.’

You’ll never bear a child as worthy as mine again!
Anna’s disembodied cry reverberated in his brain. ‘That makes sense,’ Lincoln said, then caught himself. ‘Well it would, if logic didn’t exist.’

Ivyanne smirked. ‘Anyway she realized it wouldn’t do. The half breed children were fine, but nothing like their parents-created by a full mermaid, and a turned merman or vice versa. Full-bloods were stronger, faster and more beautiful-but
all of the full-bloods were related.’

Lincoln wrinkled his nose as he did the math. ‘If you want me to get over you, you’re heading down the right, two-headed track.....’

Ivyanne laughed again. ‘No. Ivy, who had been born after the change, was the strongest and most glorious of all. Her mother turned an unrelated human man for her, trying to keep the genetic line pure. It was a perfect solution, in theory. Only Ivy had a hard time falling with child-she didn’t get pregnant for over three hundred years.’

‘With
your mother?’

Ivyanne nodded. ‘Right. And my mother couldn’t conceive with
her first husband at all. After he died, she asked Anna-who was seven hundred by then- to turn a second husband for her. My mother married him, and almost a hundred years later, they had me.’

Lincoln was trying to follow. ‘So if your great-grandmother, who died, is the
only one who can turn-how have you guys managed to get on for hundreds of years without crossing DNA?’

‘I’m glad you asked-it shows that you’re keeping up,’ Ivyanne said, sounding like a proud teacher. ‘In the very beginning, when her second husband and children were flourishing, Anna took it upon herself to sire fifteen
new mermaids-from all corners of the globe. She explained the legend with a shell, like I just have with you- and taught them our ways, but forbid them from breeding amongst themselves, or with any relations of Maxwell Zara, her second husband. They were created to merge with my bloodline alone.’

‘But if your bloodline have only produced one child every..,’ he did the math again, ‘...three hundred years, why would they agree to
that?’

Ivyanne beamed. ‘For the privilege of being eligible to marry into the royal family one day.’ She inhaled. ‘Every mer descended from the ‘Marked’, as we call them, bears a similar tattoo to mine to distinguish them. As time has gone on, one or two members of
those families have showed a talent for turning as well, which means they each have a pure family tree.’ She smiled. ‘Ardhi and Tristan, and a third boy whom you’ve never met-Bane, are all full-bloods, from some of the oldest families. Since I was born, I’ve known that I’d have to breed with one of the Marked one day.’

‘No turned human for you?’ Lincoln tried to sound like he was joking, but he knew he wouldn’t pull it off. Any hope he’d had for a future with her now that he knew the truth was falling like a ruined soufflé.

Ivyanne shook her head. ‘I’m actually the first offspring of Anna’s who can take advantage of The Marked prospects-it took centuries to get the numbers up, because mermaids tend to breed more girls than boys. In that sense, it’s a relief that I have them as an option, because there’s nobody around who can turn for me now.’

Lincoln frowned. ‘But you said there are over a thousand of you!’

Ivyanne nodded. ‘Yes, but being born with the ability to turn at will is like winning the genetic lottery-you need to have been born, or created by an incredibly powerful mermaid who could do the same to even have a chance. So far, there have only ever been eight. Twenty years ago we had three, but now they’ve all passed away.’

‘So why didn’t they turn humans like crazy when they were alive to increase the odds?’ Lincoln felt agitated-as thought the Mers had cheated him of a future with Ivyanne.

‘Because we don’t want millions of us Lincoln.’ She said, her expression grim. ‘Keeping the secret is hard enough now while the population is considered critically low.’ She furrowed her pretty brow. ‘That’s another reason why my mother wants me to get married now-the chances of bearing a child who can turn will be that much higher in a Marked/Court union and we really need one again.’

Lincoln did not like the idea of Ivyanne being bred like a racehorse with Tristan or Ardhi because it might give them special children. ‘You said....
turn at will? Is there another way?’

Ivyanne nodded. ‘Yes. All of us can do it Lincoln-I could turn
you right now.’

Lincoln sat up, his interest piqued. ‘Sign me up then!’

But she laughed and looked away. ‘Believe me I would....’ She darted her eyes back to him, and they were sombre. ‘But it would literally kill me.’

Lincoln swallowed. ‘What?’

Ivyanne nodded. ‘We can all turn-if that breath is our last. It’s no small matter-but a choice we have to make. The life leaves our body, and transforms a human-if they’re within our grasp, of course. Then, we die.’

‘Oh my
god....’

Ivyanne nodded. ‘A few mers have had mates created that way-it’s usually an intentional maneuver, plotted by an elderly relative who is ready for the next life. There would be a line of mers willing to do that for me, the princess-above their
own children.’ She looked at him. ‘But not now that there are Marked Sons for me to marry. I couldn’t ask someone to give up their life so I could marry a human and turn my nose up at the system. So if you were wondering, if I plan on turning you, unfortunately-that’s the answer. It’s not possible.’

‘Oh.’ Lincoln swallowed down his burst bubble. ‘But...if it’s been common knowledge that you’re in line for a very important throne, why are you only just choosing a match
now?’ Why didn’t you have me turned ten years ago if you loved me so much?! He accused silently.

Ivyanne’s face clouded in the silvery light. In that moment, she didn’t seem old
or young-simply ageless. ‘I had a match before, Link, in fact, I had two. But both were killed way before their time-it was a massive loss to out community.’

Lincoln felt a stab of sympathy laced with jealousy. She’d been promised to other men? Twice? ‘Were you in love with them?’

Ivyanne wiped away a tear. ‘I barely knew either-but Roan and I had been matched since early childhood. Not only born on the same day-but betrothed since I turned sixteen. He could turn-there was no questioning his eligibility.’ She looked at Lincoln. ‘That’s why I had to leave you. I was to be married at twenty five, and spend the eight years beforehand preparing myself- traveling, studying our history and all of that before making an eternal commitment.’

‘You’d known it was coming all along though, right?’ Lincoln asked quietly. ‘That’s why you never let me get too close?’

Ivyanne nodded sadly. ‘I wasn’t supposed to fall for anyone-let alone a human. But I told myself that what we were doing was innocent-until it stopped being so innocent. I thought I’d be back for one last summer when I turned seventeen, but mother took me to Hawaii instead. Which is why I never got to say a proper good-bye, like I’d planned.’

Lincoln rubbed his temples. ‘What happened to him?’ he asked wearily.

‘Roan was killed in the Boxing Day Tsunami, in oh four. He was visiting the only other living mystic who could turn, on his way here to visit with me. He was in Car Nicobar when the wave hit and flattened the whole island.’ She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and hugged herself. ‘I was twenty-two.’

‘Oh god.’ Lincoln felt ill. ‘What killed the other one?’

‘Tristan’s older brother Nigara?’ Ivyanne sighed heavily. ‘He had actually enlisted in the war on terror after September eleven. I needed time to adjust to marrying someone else, and he wanted to do two more active duties before he became king-so we delayed the wedding until Christmas, this year just gone.’ She hugged herself tightly, looking back out at the ocean. ‘He stepped on a land mine in June and was obliterated instantly.’

Lincoln shuddered. ‘What was a mermaid doing in a battle field?!’

Ivyanne laughed without humor. ‘He was a mer first, but an American citizen second- no one could talk him out of his patriotic duty.’ Ivyanne seemed to have a hard time meeting Lincoln’s eyes as she discussed her former fiancés. ‘Nigara barely needed the water, unlike the rest of us. He thought it was a sign-so off to the desert he went.’ She frowned. ‘Come to think of it...Tristan doesn’t swim half as often as I do...he must have a high tolerance as well.’

‘So I’m assuming Tristan is a favorite?’

‘Of my mother’s-and the kingdom’s in general-yes. But my dad isn’t a big fan...not sure why though.’

Lincoln could think of several reasons why a father wouldn’t want a man like Tristan Loveridge around their virginal daughter, but he knew it was the wrong time to point those out. ‘And Ardhi?’

‘My best friend,’ Ivyanne whispered. ‘At least he was, until he fell in love with me, and ruined everything. That’s why I came here-because I couldn’t handle the pressure. I wasn’t in love with anyone, and couldn’t get used to the fact that suddenly, a decision was finally mine.’

‘And the other guy?’ Lincoln asked tightly, hoping it wasn’t someone else he knew.

‘Tristan’s nephew Bane. Though he doesn’t like leaving Hawaii or the resort he manages there with his parents, and I’ve been grateful for that lately.’ She finally looked at him. ‘As you can see, the other two have been shadowing me and making life...complicated.’ She reached over and patted his leg. ‘Like I’m doing to you. Are you okay?’

‘I need a minute, okay?’ Lincoln got to his feet, rubbing his head, trying to file all of the information she had just dumped on him away according to logic and relevance. He’d been so grateful to be in her company and fascinated by her story, that he’d forgotten she was there to tell him it was over. But he was seeing that now, and it terrified and angered him in equal measures.

‘So where do I factor into all of this?’ Lincoln finally asked, not looking at her. ‘A stupid victim?’ he turned to her. ‘That’s what mermaids do, isn’t it? Some part of the legends must be true. You sing, you bewitch, you steer ships into rocks and use men for breeding...’

‘Sometimes,’ Ivyanne said. ‘The breeding thing is important, and we don’t apologize for that. No race would. It’s to preserve a way of
life. The singing is also true, but nine times out of ten, we were trying to steer them in the right direction.’

‘So, what about
me?’ he asked. ‘Why did you draw me in?’

‘That’s where you have it backwards.’ Ivyanne smiled tenderly at him. ‘You’re the one who bewitched
me, Link. And I’ll be paying the price, long after you’re released from this thrall.’

Lincoln treated Ivyanne to his best, skeptical look. ‘Excuse me? I did
what? Bewitched you?’

Ivyanne shrugged, her facial features arranged into an expression of nonchalance. ‘You’re beautiful,’ she began, reaching out to tuck a floppy lock of hair out of his eyes. ‘Charismatic. Cheeky.’

‘Not like you,’ he said quickly, ‘or your other boyfriends.’