Chapter 16
Dawson wasn’t sure what had been discussed between Ul and the tall, gray-skinned woman, only that plans had been made, and he was supposed to follow the king.
Katrina had been surprised to see him, as she hadn’t realized the doctor was visiting the king.
Last night, they had compared notes, though he’d left out the part about the pink freckles because that didn’t seem like something he should share.
He’d also left out his reaction to Ul touching him, mostly because he was still trying to figure that one out.
He wanted to chalk it up to curiosity, but he could honestly say that he was fairly vanilla—though that had not stopped him from dreaming about those suckers moving over his body.
Today, he’d spend the morning listening to Ul and his personal assistant talking and writing letters. At one point, he’d closed his eyes and tried not to listen with his ears. He might have fallen asleep.
Once again, they walked along corridors and downstairs, but these were different stairs.
They weren’t as rough, and the corridor was wider.
They went through a very sturdy door, and then he stood in a cave illuminated by shafts of sunlight from above.
Light sparkled on the water in two rock pools that looked far too smooth to be natural.
Had they built rock pools into the castle?
Or had they built the castle on top of the rock pools?
Either way, the effect was beautiful.
And aside from the soldiers, the one who followed him and the ones who followed Ul, they were alone.
Or at least he thought they were until another blue-skinned person stepped around the corner holding towels.
The person bowed and had a short conversation with Ul, which Dawson assumed was asking the king which of the rock pools he’d like to use.
At least he hoped that’s what it was. The person might be telling the king which rock pool contained the best fish and snacks or asking why the human was visiting.
Ul walked over to the smaller pool and removed his shoes, tucking them beneath a bench built against the rock wall. He hung his cloak on a hook with one tentacle as another undid the fastening on the back of his tunic before pulling it over his head.
Dawson glanced away even though the curiosity to look burned within him.
As Ul walked towards the pool, Dawson risked a glance at his back.
More smooth blue skin and dark freckles in loops and whorls.
It was clear they weren’t freckles, but he didn’t know what else to call them.
Ul’s hand was formed by the branching of his arm tentacle into three long fingers, and his toes were formed the same way.
Much longer than what Dawson was used to.
He drew in a breath. None of this was what he was used to.
What was he supposed to do? He walked over to the bench to sit and wait, but Ul, who was now in the pool, smiled and beckoned him over.
Dawson guessed his words were an invitation to join him as the rock pool attendant came over and placed two piles of towels on the side of the rock pool.
Great, now he needed to get naked, and everyone was going to realize he was wearing underwear under his tunic. The same underwear that he washed and dried in front of the fire every night.
He smiled. “Thank you.”
Dear God, kill me now.
This is where he made a mistake that caused an international incident or something.
Why had he volunteered for this? Because he wanted off the fucking platform and he’d rather be doing something than sitting and going hungry.
He’d done enough of that as a kid between paydays, and that was assuming his father had work.
Assuming his father bothered to turn up and hadn’t spent all the money at the pub or gambling.
By the time he was ten, he’d learned how to scab free meals and dumpster dive.
His mother would’ve been horrified, but it was better than the alternative, which was going hungry.
His younger brother had joined the military as soon as he was old enough.
But the moment Dawson heard about oil platforms, he knew that’s what he wanted.
He wanted to be able to see the horizon and be away from the rest of the world.
He liked the isolation. He was not the kind of person who should be in charge of meeting a king.
Once the king learned English, he wouldn’t be needed. Management could negotiate for food until a boat turned up to collect them.
Dawson hesitated, and Ul watched him without hiding his interest, which didn’t help because his dick got all kinds of wrong ideas. He closed his eyes, but all he saw was that stained glass window with the guy fucking the octopus.
Which was even more unhelpful.
He tried to will away his hard-on, but even thinking about the international incident his dick was about to create did nothing.
You’ve never wanted to fuck your calamari, so pull it together.
Except the king wasn’t calamari. He was weird and, yeah, he was pretty despite his pointed ears and teeth and all the tentacles…or maybe because of them?
Fuck, he didn’t know. But curiosity had become attraction, and he wasn’t sure when or how that had happened.
Maybe if he’d been thrown in a soggy dungeon, that would’ve helped.
He took his shoes off and paused, not knowing if he should remove his underwear or the tunic first. Not that it mattered, as it was a difference of ten seconds.
He opted for underwear first, hoping a quick pinch to his inner thigh would reduce the problem. He felt Ul’s gaze on him, and his skin heated. Was the king curious? Surely, he’d seen humans naked before?
He kept his back to the king and pulled the tunic over his head. His dick bumped in front of him. It had been a while since such an awkward and unwanted erection had appeared. He needed to put his hand over it and act like it didn’t exist.
Classy, real classy, Dawson.
He hoped the water was fucking freezing.
It had to be since the tide must reach these rock pools.
He strode over with his hand over his junk, hoping he didn’t look as awkward as he felt.
There was a ledge in the rock pool, which gave him the impression these pools had been specially built.
He stepped in and didn’t lose his balance, but the water was not nearly as cold as he’d been hoping for.
It didn’t bite his flesh the way the sea had yesterday evening, but it was cold enough to distract him, especially as he sat and his balls tried to crawl inside.
What happened now that he was sharing a bath with the king?
Ul rested both his arms on the edge, and his back tentacles drifted just beneath the surface of the water, close enough that if Dawson reached out, he’d be able to touch one.
That was a bad idea, but the temptation remained. He wanted to watch the king’s freckles turn pink again. Ul glanced past him and nodded. Dawson glanced over his shoulder as the soldiers took up positions further away. The person who had delivered the towels was nowhere to be seen.
Dawson swallowed. Something was definitely up. Had Ul brought him here for a reason?
Did the king want to fuck him?
That was all it took for his dick to become fully hard again despite the awkwardness and the cool water. And he was damn sure Ul noticed.
Ul spoke, and it sounded very much like a proposition. Sure, he’d been with guys before when they didn’t speak the same language, but they’d also been human, and they had both known it was a holiday hook-up. This did not have that vibe.
He wanted to slither out of the pool and bundle himself up in the towels so he couldn’t mess this up.
Ul made the motion for him to speak.
“It’s a lovely rock pool you have, but I’m not sure why I’m sitting in it.
” Was it rude to say no to a king? He wasn’t sure he wanted to…
which was also fucking weird. “I’m giving mixed signals.
I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what you want, and I don’t know what I want, and I’m sitting here with a hard-on because I want to feel those little suckers on my skin. ”
Because of the sunlight on the water, he couldn’t tell what Ul had going on between his thighs. He’d been assuming that every blue-skinned person he saw was male because of the lack of breasts, but that might be a wrong assumption.
That realization made everything ten times more confusing.
Great, so now he was attracted to men and blue people. Yeah, that made perfect sense.
“So, are we just hanging out in the bath for a change of scenery, or did you bring me down here to…see how far I’ll go?” He wasn’t sure of the answer to that question.
Ul tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.
Oh shit, had he said the wrong thing? “Are you able to understand me?”
Ul smiled and shook his head. His voice washed over Dawson, and whatever he said wasn’t a question. It wasn’t in order either. For several heartbeats, they looked at each other, neither of them moving. Then one of Ul’s back tentacles made the smallest motion, inviting Dawson to come closer.
He couldn’t hear anything over the beating of his heart as he slid within tentacle range.