18. The quest. #2
Jayce appears in front of me and grabs my face in his hands.
“I understand. I won’t get in the way of your quest if it comes down to it.
But I’ll make sure the problem won’t even arise.
We’ll help you and get this entire story dealt with in no time.
And if you need more from us after that, we’ll be glad to help you if it means keeping you with us. Alright?”
He always makes everything sound so… simple. It’s no wonder he became a captain. People would follow him to the end of the world—myself included.
“Yes…” I whisper, holding on to his forearms like to a mast during a storm at sea.
I understand my story needed to be told, and I feel relieved, but also eager to put it back where it usually rests: in a locked box inside my memory. I want to clear the air in the room before my trauma catches up with me and haunts the rest of the night.
Jayce’s hands slip from my face as I get to my knees in front of him, and his eyes widen slightly. I love surprising him.
“Harlow…” His voice is deeper than usual, and it sounds like a warning.
“Make me forget?” I say, fumbling with his belt urgently.
Jayce’s sigh is close to a growl. “Of course, Your Royal Highness.”
He helps me free his hardening cock, and I whine, rubbing my face on it like a cat in heat. Tomorrow, I’ll be ashamed, but tonight, I couldn’t care less. My soul is too raw to allow me self-consciousness.
Jayce is… big. I don’t think I’ll be able to take all of him; I never really mastered the art of deep-throating.
In retrospect, it’s not a skill I thought I imperatively needed in life, as my sexual encounters were only a means to release the tension quickly before moving on to more important matters.
But right now, I wish I were more experienced as my blowjob turns wet and sloppy.
Jayce doesn’t seem to mind: his hand is in my hair, following the movement of my head, and his eyes are on me as I lick and suck his cock with abandon.
Pleasing him makes me forget all my troubles, and my erection tents my trousers painfully, and I can’t help but rub my palm on it.
Jayce hums. “Touch yourself… You know you want it. And I want to see you pleasure yourself with your lips around my cock.”
I shiver at his words and the scrape of his nails on my scalp, his hand tightening in my hair. I fumble with my tunic and trousers while sucking on his tip, the salty taste of him on my tongue.
I give myself a few tentative strokes, surprised by how desperate I already feel; my body takes no time to latch on to the distraction.
Jayce’s cock is heavy on my tongue as I moan and breathe through my nose.
Having something—him—in my mouth while I touch myself is…
fucking amazing… My eyes roll back a little.
I’ve always focused on the blowjobs I was doing, wanting to be a good lay, but there can be actual pleasure in doing it for me, too.
“Please…” I mumble when I pull away long enough to take a deep breath. There’s spit on my chin, cold in the night air.
I don’t know what I’m begging for. More? Certainly. But more of what, I’m not sure myself.
But Jayce understands.
He growls, grabbing me by the throat gently and pushing me back until I feel the closed door behind me. My legs are weak, and my knees rub against the carpeted floor. He pries my jaw open wider with his right hand, then buries his cock between my lips.
“That’s it…” he whispers. “Relax for me, love.”
I hold on to his muscular thighs as he thrusts into my mouth, slowly at first, then more vigorously as we both realize I can take it.
Deeper he goes until I feel the tip of his cock hit the back of my throat.
There is no gag reflex, only pure bliss as I stroke my erection and know he’s taking his pleasure from me.
He takes… and takes… just the way I never knew I needed.
The back of my head hits the door behind me, thud… thud… thud…
People will know , I think. Let them all know. I don’t care. I’m in heaven.
My orgasm hits me like a lightning strike, zapping me from between my legs before searing a path over my entire body. I shout around his cock, my cum landing on his shoes, the carpet, my knees…
“How can you be so fucking delicious?” Jayce says. “You’re maddening… Open wide, baby…”
I barely have enough brainpower to heed his request before, seconds later, he comes all over my tongue and face. I swallow every drop, drunk with lust and happiness. So much happiness.
It’s so good… Whatever this is.
Our breathing is loud in the quiet room as we both try to get our heated bodies under control.
Jayce kneels in front of me with a smile on his perfect lips. “Let’s take a bath, Your Royal Highness.”
I nod dazedly and he pulls me up in his arms.
I’m sorer tonight than I was this morning, and so he doesn’t fuck me again. But he eats me out in the bath and milks me to the last drop before tucking me into bed naked and satiated, and I fall asleep as soon as he has thrown his arms around me.
When morning comes, Jayce’s mother awaits us in the common room to say goodbye. She has ordered deliveries of food and goods that are already being loaded on the Blunder as we speak. She kisses me on the cheek like the others, her eyes knowing, before hugging her son.
“I know there’s no point in making you promise to avoid danger,” she says. “But please be careful, all of you.”
I can’t help but feel guilty about pulling them out of the safety of their beds at the inn to send them flying after crazy aristocrats and dragons.
Jayce nods, kissing her on the forehead.
We leave Mandinka like thieves in the night, the sun still hiding behind the Frost Peak as the Blunder rises in the sky, whole again. Wilbur went to bed before we arrived, and Kuroki’s face is stricken as he takes his seat in the control room to man the hot-air balloon.
“Do you think I could go into Wilbur’s cabin and throttle him to death?” I say to Jayce as he comes near me moments later.
“It would only make things worse for the both of them. Beating feelings into compliance doesn’t work. Trust me, I tried.” He winks at me.
I blush, unsure of how to take his comment. Alara watches us from where she’s sitting on her husband’s lap at the bow, a proud smile on her face. We’re never going to live this down, are we?
It feels good to be back on the Blunder after almost a week at the Mermaid’s Ire . I missed the soft motion of the ship in the air, the sound of the sails catching the wind, and the purr of the liquid-fire burner spitting flames in the balloon.
Home , I realize with a start. The ship really does feel like home now.
Gia prepares a quick breakfast for the crew as we head north to the closest female’s territory.
Normally, Kuroki would have gone to wake Wilbur and urge him to eat, but he hesitated for a moment, out of habit, then busied himself with his food instead, looking forlorn.
Their relationship might never be the same, and it saddens me.
Once we’re done with breakfast, Freddy disappears into their cabin to sleep for a few hours while we cruise toward our destination. I hope my guess is right, and the egg thieves were heading to Wyrn’s lair.
I shouldn’t have worried, as a few hours later, we find the dragon chasing the slick vessel with black sails in the twilight sky.