Chapter 15
She chose to use every bit of her acting training to approach the vortex site. Her heart was pounding, but she was trying to keep her poker face. Cole had made it clear to her that they needed to get back home, away from the carapaces and soon. She didn't want to know what the consequences of waiting too long were.
“Are you ready, Ariel?” Alvin appeared ahead of the rest of the pack. “We are excited to close this one. This is a big one.”
“It's also the last one,” Ariel said, and Alvin froze. “Which you neglected to tell me. You didn't tell me that you were trapping them.”
Alvin went pale.
“You said that they would know,” she continued. “When would they know? When it was too late?”
Alvin said nothing, and she pulled out the photographs.
“This isn't my mother,” she said.
“That is your mother. Do you not see her face? It's–”
“That is her face,” Ariel said. “This is not her body or her job. I'm not an idiot, Alvin. It started with the touring community theater, which is not a thing. “
“I can explain,” Alvin said.
“My husband explained to me already,” Ariel said, “that she was a nurse, and that she was killed in an accident. Google confirms this, which is the same thing I used for an image search. You lied to me.”
“We had to,” he said at last. “We had very little time to close the vortexes, and your brother-in-law was moving fast in his murders. We needed you to understand and relate.”
“My brother-in-law has been in a hazy hell for the past few years,” she replied. “And I'm sure that you would be, too, given what he's been through. You wanted to kill them. They wanted to kill you. I’m sick of it.”
“Carapaces have always been enemies of the dragons.”
“What are we, robots programmed that way?” Ariel snapped. “We can make our own choices. This age-old feud is ridiculous”
“They killed your mother!” Alvin cried.
“Yes, they did,” she said. “Two wrongs don't make a right. When Alexander took the throne, he stopped the carapace slaughter. The sins of the father are not to be revisited on the son.”
“Ariel, we are your family!” Alvin said. “You are my daughter.”
“And you gave me up,” she said. “You didn't have to. You didn't. This is a newsflash to you, but mixed-race relationships are frowned on in many places in the world. People find ways to make it work. And if the carapaces are all united now, it wouldn't have been that hard for you two to figure out. But you chose another path in life. You chose to sit on your thrones, and then, dear God, you give me shit for choosing to sit on another throne.”
“That is not your throne! They are not your family!”
“They were there for me,” she said. “They did not judge me for what I was. They did not leave me on my own. They knew it was a difficult relationship–a mixed relationship–and they didn't run for the hills.”
“Because your husband is addicted to you.”
“Because my husband saved me!” she screamed. “And I will do the same for him. You may be my blood family, but I've had enough of this.”
She was surprised to find tears running down her face. Her body was reacting to the loss, the grief of what could have been overtaking her. It would have been better if she never met them and never saw what she could have had.
But it had taught her a valuable lesson at least. She had thought she was indifferent to her marriage–indifferent to her husband and her in-laws.
She wasn't. She loved him. She wasn't sure that they would ever be a fairy tale couple, but she didn't want to be without him. She didn't want to divorce him. She didn't want to be apart from him anymore.
“We can't do this without you,” Alvin said. “We aren't strong enough. You, Ariel, you are strong enough. You are the missing link.”
“I'm also your queen,” she said, raising her chin. “You and the dragons aren't so different. You have to listen to your queen, and when you die, Alvin, all the carapaces will be mine. What makes you think I won't side with the dragons and get rid of them all?”
“You wouldn't dare,” he said. “You're no better than they are!”
“Wouldn't I?” she raised an eyebrow. “Queens have done worse to end wars, and this war ends here, do you understand?”
“Your mother wouldn't have wanted this,” Alvin said in a last-ditch attempt. But Ariel knew exactly what her mother would have wanted, and she didn't need to be a nurse to understand her.
“She wanted no more slaughter, and no more death. She wanted everyone to stop killing each other. She risked her own life to save people. That's what she wanted.”
Alvin said nothing to that, and Ariel knew she had won. She looked around at the redheads around her, staring at her with stunned faces.
Two days ago, she thought she'd never see her dragon family again. But it was her blood family she would now break ties with.
“This vortex will stay open forever,” she said. “And if I can find a way to open the rest of them again, I will.”
“If you bring your husband back here, he won't survive,” Alvin said. “Not around us. In his kingdom around you, your powers are suppressed enough. But his time on Earth is done. And I understand there are very few who will bring you back here.”
“So be it,” Ariel said, raising her chin high. “I couldn't dance forever. I've known that for a long time. And if I never have to dance Prince of Egypt again, that's fine. I'm not a princess anyways. I'm a queen twice over.”
Alvin softened slightly. “Good for you, Ariel. Many of us wander through life not really knowing who we are. You're one of the rare few.”
Her heart broke, and she lowered her head. “Just leave it open,” she said, turning away. It was time to go home. No one moved, and she didn't turn back. “Just go.”
“Goodbye, daughter,” Alvin said, and she sighed.
“Goodbye, father.”
She waited half an hour after they had cleared out to make sure that the carapace magic was gone. Finally, she sent the text indicating the all clear. When the dragons arrived, she knew they were against the wire.
“You can't come back,” she said to Alexander as she slipped an arm around his waist. “I'm sorry. It's as simple as them being too powerful when they hang out together.”
“I know,” he said, weakly. “Fifteen years, Ariel, and I never thought it would end like this.”
“End?” she replied. “Why would it end?”
His face reflected surprise.
“I can no longer transport you,” he replied. “And I cannot ask my brothers to take the risk.”
“Cole,” Ariel spun around. “Do you love me?”
Cole smirked. “Of course, I love you. I have to come back anyway, all the time. Enya and I won't mind the company, would we?”
“Cole, you can't,” Alexander said. “She is my wife. My responsibility.”
“If you feel so strongly,” Ariel said. “Then we'll stay in the kingdom.”
“What?” Alexander asked, in shock. “You'll give up your life here?”
“If you would have asked me six months ago, I would have told you that you were nuts and pushed the divorce papers on you. But having you away from me and seeing you like that made me realize that I've been taking you for granted. I don't want to be apart from you, Alexander. I don't want our marriage to end.”
He grasped her hand, leaning slightly into her.
“I never wanted that, my dear. I knew what I was saying all those years ago.”
“I think I did, too,” she said. “But it scared me. All I wanted was a home and a family, and it's been staring me in the face this whole time.”
“Shall we go home then?” he said, and she nodded.
“Yes,” she replied. “Now, sit before you fall.”
It took Cole and Peter concentrating and Ariel trying to suppress her magic to get them home. She never thought she'd have been so relieved to land in the ante chamber of the throne room. Nicholas happened to enter just as they emerged.
“Where the hell have you been?” he asked, looking frustrated. “Building a new kingdom?”
“You could say that,” Ariel said as she snaked an arm around Alexander's waist. Back home, he was already regaining color. “We're back now, anyway.”
“Good,” Nicholas said. “Because I've been holding down the fort, and there's so much to do. Alexander–”
“I will take it,” Peter said, grabbing the scrolls Nicholas gave him. “I am king. You will report to me.”
“About bloody time,” Nicholas said. “Cole, I need your help. Let's go.”
“All’s well that ends well,” Ariel said to Alexander in English, as the rest of them left the room. He smiled, kissing her on the cheek.
“You might forget English if you spend enough time here,” he said.
“Dragon lore sounds prettier anyway,” she replied. “I'm content, Alexander. What I spent my whole life searching for is right here. I just needed to realize it.”
“I will do anything I can to keep you happy,” he said, and she shrugged.
“You do make me happy,” she said. “Hell, if I was getting all sappy, I'd say I love you.”
“Oh, my dear,” he said. “I have loved you since the moment I first saw you dance. I knew you were strong; I knew you were different. That’s why I had no hesitation marrying you. I knew that whatever happened, you would find a way, because you've had to find a way your whole life.”
She leaned into him, taking comfort in his arms.
It wouldn't be an easy future ahead of them. But she was determined that, whatever happened, they would get through it together as husband and wife.
***THE END***