20. Eve
EVE
Harven carries me swiftly through the desolate halls.
I’m just as eager for what awaits me once we arrive at my room. Despite my anticipation, I tuck that little tidbit about being forbidden from entering his chambers away.
The seafolk have odd traditions. Multiple lovers? Cool. A shared bedroom? That’s where the line is drawn. There was no way I wasn’t going to be sleeping next to my mate every night.
Mate. The word clangs through me. Warmth seeps from my chest until my fingers tingle.
“Are we going to get married?” I ask.
Harven’s tentacles stumble on the tiles. I try not to read too much into his shocked expression.
“Married?”
“Yes. You know, a ceremony where we exchange vows of commitment and call ourselves husband and wife.”
Harven is quiet. The hazy depths of his eyes swirl like a stormy sky.
“You want to marry me?”
“If we are going to have a kid, yes. I’d like us to be married. To be a family.”
“We don’t have such a custom,” Harven explains. “Mating bonds are the only form of binding relationship. Some seafolk have mating ceremonies, but it’s rare.”
I purse my lips.
“I see.”
Oily disappointment slips down my throat.
Of course, he wouldn’t see the point. Their mating bonds are primal. If the mate is meant to reincarnate, I suppose there’s no reason to bind one iteration of them at a time.
In my short time here, I've learned that concepts like love and devotion don’t mean the same thing to seafolk as they do to humans.
Harven cares for me. He is devoted in a unique way. One that is rife with bloodshed and violence. He shows me what I mean to him through action.
I appreciate that, but I crave the human labels too. The softness of what a soulmate is meant to offer. This will be another topic we’ll need to discuss soon. Along with his Pearls.
The tension between us shifts.
While my anticipation for our night together remains high, I can’t help but feel a bit dejected. Harven senses the shift in my mood.
He lifts my chin.
“This is important to you, Eve? Your human custom.”
“Yes.”
Harven nods once.
“Once you are pregnant with my heir, we will be married.”
I beam up at him. While I’m ecstatic he’s agreed, he needs to understand something.
The brightness between us dims a little as I cup his face.
“I feel it’s imperative to mention that marriages are meant to be sacred.” My thumb teases the rough line of his jaw. “Between two people.”
“I thought we weren’t discussing my Pearls tonight?”
“We’re not,” I sigh. “I’m just telling you what I expect.”
Harven shakes his head. Coarse tendrils drag over my bare arms. His tentacles slip and slide over my bare legs. He tucks me closer and kisses the top of my head.
“Demanding little thing you are.”
I giggle, but don’t deny it. Many conversations await Harven and me before we welcome a child into the world.
There’s another thing I’ve been meaning to bring up to him. I’m not sure how he’ll react.
“Harven?”
“Yes, my mate.”
“On land, I was on the pill.”
“The pill?”
“Yes. A contraceptive. Medicine that prevented me from getting pregnant.”
I’m certain my pills are currently at the bottom of the ocean. The last time I took one was the morning all hell broke loose on board.
I had no idea where I was at on my cycle. Time moves differently down here. I’d have to wait for my period to begin to properly track it. Thank god I was regular.
“But you aren’t taking it now?” Harven asks.
“No. But Harven, you have to understand, humans can only get pregnant during certain times.” He pauses outside my door. “I’m telling you this so—if we start trying and I don’t immediately get pregnant—I don’t want you to think the worst.”
Coming off the pill brings its own challenges. It could take two weeks to get pregnant or a month—longer. I just want Harven to understand that it may take more than one try.
Like anyone who's wanted something for a long time, with it so close, I just worry about disappointing him. I’d hate for sex to become something we had rather than the dominant possession I wanted it to be.
Harven is quiet for a long moment. As the silence trickles, unease cools my burning lust.
“The gods made you for me, Eve,” he says finally. “You are my perfect match—the other half of my soul. You alone will bear the future king. No matter if it takes months or years. I will enjoy every moment of bedding you regularly until you grow round with my heir.”
Laughing, the tension eases away.
“It won’t take years.” My lips twist. “Well, I hope it doesn’t.”
“If it does, I won’t mind. My only concern is for you. The Sea Witch told me that once you are pregnant, the curse will fully lift. You will be transformed and live as one of the seafolk. My heir will provide you with the magic needed to live amongst us.”
It’s hard to wrap my mind around the prospect of not being human. Of wielding magic and living for centuries. It’s hard to fathom that length of time.
What will Harven and my relationship look like in a century? The discussions we need to have are more important than ever. We need to build a strong foundation if we want to withstand the coming years together.
“Does that frighten you, Eve?”
Harven pushes into my room. He sets me on my feet, his hands sliding to my waist. His magic slams the door shut and locks it.
We aren’t to be disturbed.
“It’s just a lot to process.” I bite my lip. “Things move very quickly here. We’ve only had three dates and are already planning marriage and a baby.”
His dark chuckle spreads over my skin like warm honey. My breath hitches as his lips find my ear. The sheer size of him will always inflame my desire.
“Let me make tonight very simple.”
His fingers shove my skirt down. Lifting my arms, I let him remove my top until I’m clad in only the thin chain of pearls and my necklace. Plucking the tiara from my head, he sets it and his crown on my bedside table.
Strong hands shift through my hair as tentacles nuzzle against my ankles.
“Beautiful, Eve.” His nose skims up my cheek. “You take my breath away.”
Every light in my room flares to life. There’s nowhere to hide from Harven. He’s seen into my soul. I’ve given him my heart.
Whether it was wise or not, I couldn’t stop it.
The king’s mouth descends on mine. The firm press of his mouth makes my body come alive. Heat spreads through my blood. Wetness pools between my thighs.
Harven’s hard cock pressed tightly against my stomach. I writhe against it, swallowing his snarl.
His tongue tangles with mine. It’s a dance of sliding muscles and clashing teeth. I surrender to the brutal nature of his kiss. My hands fall to his back and dig into his hard flanks.
Harven kisses down my neck.
When he reaches my breast, he roughly palms one, while his tentacle wraps around the other. His mouth licks my hard nipple, causing my head to fall back. His sandalwood scent overwhelms me.
He releases my breast with a pop.
“These fill my hands perfectly.”
A tentacle glides up my leg. I shiver at the intrusive appendage that smears my wetness and the king’s dried release over my folds. It nuzzles at my clit, making my knees wobble. I gasp as another one joins it.
Both slide slowly inside of me
“Harven.”
“You’re soaked, Eve. Wetter than the fucking ocean.”
A lazy smile curls my lips. I absorb each decadent inch with relish.
“All for you, my king.”
His tentacles punch deep, earning a gasp. Harven smirks, then sinks his teeth into my skin.
“I need to prepare you for my cock.”
His tentacle thrusts in and out of me while he suckles at my breasts. I moan as his teeth tease my nipple.
Another tentacle suctions to my clit with force. I’m already on edge from his early teasing. My peak looms close.
My muscles tighten around his sliding appendage. One more thrust and I’ll—
Harven stops moving them.
The tentacles fall away from me as he nuzzles between my breasts. Anger flares to life, spurred by my desperate need for release.
“Let me come, you sadistic bastard!” I snap.
The feral set to his lips makes me turn obscenely wet. A challenge sparks in his eyes, and I know I’m in for it. Good. I need him to be as rough as he was last night.
I crave it almost as much as my climax.
“I don’t appreciate your tone, Eve.”
“And I don’t appreciate you edging me all night. It’s cruel.”
“Cruel?” Erotic menace seeps into his deep voice. “You haven’t seen cruel, my mate. Allow me to show you.”
Before I can speak, his tentacles wrap tightly around my arms and legs. He hoists me into the air, completely immobile. I buck against my restraints, but that only makes them grip me tighter. His suckers suction tight to my skin
Harven tips my body forward until my pussy is before his hungry gaze.
“What are you—”
A tentacle wraps around my head, slipping between my lips.
He’s just gagged me. The bastard.
“Shh,” he murmurs. “I don’t want to hear your voice right now.”
My ire blazes to the surface. I glare at him, trying to bite the tentacle keeping my mouth open. I snarl curses, but they are all garbled against my gag.
Harven chuckles, teasing his fingers up my thigh.
“There it is. That fire. Only I can play with it—tame it. I am your master, Eve. You are my plaything. My mate.”
A tentacle slithers through my wetness before settling at my back entrance. My breath catches, unable to do anything but withstand his sensual torment.
“My toy to fuck whenever I want.”
His tentacle pushes past the tight ring of muscle. I scream against my gag, but it’s useless. Fighting the restraints only makes his slick appendage push deeper.
The burn is obscenely decadent. Tears sting my eyes and slide thickly down my cheeks.
“I told you something would be going in this little hole very soon.”
His other tentacles tease my sensitive skin. Strung up like a puppet, I’m completely at his mercy. I’m a toy for his personal use.
My only purpose is to withstand his sensual assault.
“I used to dream about what you’d look like.” His hands fall to my splayed thighs, forcing them wider. “Wondered what kind of human the gods crafted for me. If you would be worth all the death it took for me to finally claim you.”