Chapter Sixteen #2
Jem cried out, clutching Cador’s knee. “Oh!” he breathed as the dred’s mighty wings flapped, water splashing in the gray sea as its talons emerged gripping a massive fish. It disappeared from view, surely returning to its nest on the cliff’s side below them.
Cador felt Jem’s shiver and wasn’t sure if it was fear or excitement. Both, he thought.
“It goes on forever,” Jem said, his head turned to the sea.
“Mmm,” Cador agreed.
“Has anyone ever tried to find how far it goes?”
“There are tales of it, usually ending in the gods forcing ships back to Ergh or sinking them into the depths.”
“Naturally,” Jem said. After a silence, he added, “It terrified me when we sailed here from Onan. I’ve seen Onan’s Southern Sea and it too had an endless horizon. But it didn’t fill me with such…emptiness. Perhaps because it was warm, or because I wasn’t alone.”
Cador’s throat went tight. “And now? Does the Askorn Sea terrify you?”
“A little.” He laughed softly, his thumb still stroking Cador’s knee. “I try to think of how fearless Morvoren would be and let her guide me.”
“Is she a friend from Neuvella?”
Jem laughed again. “Yes, but she lives in the pages of my tales. She charges into one adventure after another with her muscled merman lover.”
The guilt over the books knifed through him. Cador wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. “What kind of lover?”
“A merman. From the sea.”
He had to laugh. “Does he have a tail like a fish?”
“When he’s in the water. On land, he has legs like ours.”
“Hmm. I wonder what kind of cock a merman has.”
“Oh, it’s huge. In the water and on land.”
“This is mentioned in the book?”
“Yes. Morvoren describes it in great detail.”
“Do you jest?”
Jem shifted to look behind with a smirk. “Not at all. Morvoren is a woman of…lusty appetites.”
He laughed in surprise. “And this is all written down?”
“Are you scandalized? Does Ergh truly only have books written by the clerics?”
“As far as I know, but I’ve never been one for reading. Perhaps I’d be keener if I could read about this Morvoren.” He didn’t add that he could if he hadn’t dumped the books from Jem’s trunk. How terribly petty he’d been.
“I could tell you the story of Morvoren.”
“Would that please you?”
“It would. I miss her so much. I’ve been telling the children all of her stories. They come to the stable when their lessons are over.”
Cador sputtered. “You’ve been telling the children stories of a merman’s giant cock?”
Jem laughed. “Of course not. I’ve recounted a carefully edited version for them with no more than a dramatic kiss, which made some of the children squirm but their mothers swoon.”
“Mothers?”
“A few have joined the story time. Other parents too. It’s lovely to be given smiles instead of suspicious stares.”
Cador’s chest ached to think of how alone Jem must have felt on Ergh and how little he’d done to ease that.
Jem added, “Perhaps the word will spread that the Neuvellan prince isn’t so terrible after all.”
He smoothed back Jem’s hair and kissed his forehead, unable to find the right words.
With a little smile, Jem asked, “Shall I tell you, then?”
Massen ambled along, the wind easing pleasantly so that Cador’s ears didn’t burn. He listened happily as Jem recited Morvoren’s adventures and how she’d come to have a merman lover with a giant cock.
“Was she innocent when they met?”
“Yes.” Jem had faced forward again, and he glanced back now through thick lashes. “Her merman was gentle with her at first.”
“Mmm.” He idly stroked Jem’s stomach, his hand slipping beneath his cloak. The tunic bunched under his fingers.
“Then she begged him to take her hard.”
“Did he?”
Biting his lip, Jem nodded. He looked forward again, a tremor rippling through his stomach under Cador’s palm. “They were on a beach—soft, white sand and warm water flowing around them as the tide came in.”
Cador glanced down at the black rocks below. “I can hardly imagine such a place.”
“It’s wonderful. You can walk right into the water without a flinch. It’s clear as glass and the richest blue.”
The Holy Place’s heat and explosion of green and flowers had been foreign enough. This kind of sea would be breathtaking. “And did Morvoren beg her merman to fuck her on this beach?”
“She did.” Jem hesitated. “On her hands and knees, she begged him to take her.”
Cador dropped his hand to cup and squeeze Jem’s prick, the leather straining. “You’re already hard. I bet she was wet for her lover before he even touched her.”
“Yes,” Jem breathed, pushing back against Cador and rolling his hips up. “He filled her with his cock, and they rutted like animals in the shallows.”
“Right there in the open?” He thought of Jem’s shock that first night of their journey when others had fucked under the stars. Pulling up Jem’s cloak to his chest, he quickly freed his prick and exposed him to the gray midday. “Where anyone could come along and see?”
Jem moaned, his fingers digging into Cador’s thighs, his own legs spread over Massen’s broad back. His cock was flushed and full despite the cold air. Cador spit into his palm and worked him patiently.
“Did the merman fill her with his seed?”
“Yes.” Jem whined, leaning back even more for leverage. “Faster. Please.”
Cador did as he asked, increasing the speed and grip of his strokes. Fluid leaked from the straining head. He put it to his task, spreading it with his thumb. “And you pleasured yourself like this while you read about Morvoren taking cock?”
“So many nights. Mornings. Afternoons.”
Laughing, Cador bit his earlobe. “I bet you did. And you fucked yourself with that candle and dreamed of a lover like her merman.”
“Yes. But also like you.”
His own cock had swelled in his trousers, and now Cador groaned. “Me?”
“Big and tall. Strong. Hairy. Twice my size. Overpowering.”
Fuck. Cador had only intended to bring off Jem, but now he battled the urge to bury himself in Jem’s tight arse. He thrust, leather between them, and Jem ground down.
Jerking Jem’s shaft even faster, Cador gritted out, “If I’d thought to bring oil, I’d have you on your knees so fast. I’d plunge inside you and fuck you until you screamed. Fill you with my seed and lick it from your arse and feed it to you with my kiss.”
Jem did cry out then, spurting creamy seed into Cador’s hand, head back against his shoulder and mouth open.
Massen had stopped as they’d begun thrusting together, and Cador didn’t hesitate, yanking his cloak over his head and tossing it to the ground.
He tore and tugged at his own trousers and Jem’s, pushing him forward enough so that he could angle his cock between the cheeks of Jem’s round little arse.
They’d probably tumble off if he tried to actually penetrate him on horseback, and without oil it would be too painful given Jem had been a virgin not a day before.
Cador wouldn’t risk hurting him no matter how much Jem urged him on.
This was close enough—Jem braced on Cador’s arm around his middle, tipping forward as Cador fucked along the tight crease of his arse.
He came quickly, spending on Jem’s bare skin and the hem of his tunic. Gasping against the nape of his neck, Cador leaned them back. Massen snorted impatiently, and Jem giggled in Cador’s arms, his shoulders shaking.
“He deserves extra treats,” Jem said.
“He does. I wonder—” Cador’s musing died on his tongue as the hoof beats echoed close. Too close. Had he mistaken their approach for the drum of his heart?
Jem had gone rigid, and now he scrambled to right his trousers and cloak. “Who is it?”
Normally, Cador wouldn’t give a damn if someone caught him at play. There was no shame in it. But it was different with Jem. He didn’t have time to examine why—he only wanted to cover Jem quickly and tell whoever it was to fuck off.
But Jem was so frantic he lost his balance, and Cador couldn’t untangle his hands from the fastening on his trousers fast enough to catch him.
With a cry and muffled thud, Jem hit the ground.
A burst of panic seized Cador. Jem was a few arms’ breadths from the cliff’s edge, but it was still too close.
Of course it was Bryok who appeared atop a gentle rise, and Cador froze in his brother’s glare as if he’d been turned to rock.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Bryok reined in his mount. Blood splattered his cheeks. His glare lowered.
Cador followed it to Jem on the ground. Heart thumping, Cador moved to at least reach down his hand, though it would be far too high for Jem to take. Jem jumped to his feet, his gaze finding Bryok’s before skittering away, his head lowering.
He didn’t seem hurt, at least. Cador wanted to leap down and run his hands over Jem to ensure he was unbroken, yet he remained frozen in place.
Coward.
Another rider had approached, and now Delen watched the three of them from her horse. Calmly, she said, “We wondered if all was well. It’s not like you to miss a fine day for hunting. Ruan spotted you at a distance riding this way.”
Cador searched for an excuse. His mind was blank.
“I asked to visit the sea,” Jem said. He stood straight-backed, his cloak in place, the hem muddy.
“Ah.” Delen tilted her head and smiled. “You didn’t seem keen on it during the voyage. Well, it’s a fine day for it.” Her gaze dropped to the ground.
Cador’s discarded cloak was abandoned on the muddy, yellow grass. Fuck . Cador wouldn’t let himself look down at his tunic or trousers—which felt too low on his hips, as though he hadn’t been able to fasten them properly in time.
“Prince Jowan, let me show you the Rocks of Lowenn,” Delen said, dismounting. “It’s an interesting tale.” She plucked Cador’s cloak from the mud and tossed it to him before striding off. Jem followed without a glance at Cador. Delen’s loyal horse wandered nearby to nose at the ground.
They were barely out of earshot when Bryok growled, “Don’t tell me you’re fucking that mainland scum. I wouldn’t let my dog mount him.”