Slamming the book closed, no longer caring about its worn condition, I toss it to the floor beside my chair as I stand to go look out the barrier window. Maybe I'm imagining things after having gone through that horrible history lesson, but the water seems darker and less inviting today. How is it possible for an entire race of magical beings to be so ignorant? Especially to the point of endangering the lives of their people. My heart hurts for the small children that were sinking beneath those black waves in the drawings.
The dark thoughts lead me back to the prophecy. There's no denying who it's referring to as the daughter of a cruel man; I've felt the water speak to me, and after the witch's revelation of my mother and father, it's plainly obvious. But who are the other three queens?
"I hate riddles," I burst out, letting my frustration seep into my tone.
Whirling around, I find not only my two original companions’ gazes on me but those of Zanthus, Zephyr, and a gray-eyed stranger. The latter three sit around the table with Merrick.
I don't let it stop my tirade as I point at the book I'd love to rip pictures out of and burn. "How much of that is true history?"
"Almost all of it that we’re aware of, damselfish," Zale replies without lifting his head from his book.
Maybe they've all had time to become adjusted to this life of unrest and bloodshed, or they could be as tainted as their ancestors. A guilty pang shoots through me at that thought. I couldn't see any of the Zs ever putting a child's life in danger for selfish reasons. Which leaves option one. If the prophecy is correct, it'll be the queens who bring peace to this realm. Fresh perspectives never hurt in situations, especially ones as dire as these.
Turmoil rolling around in my belly, I don't even realize I'm pacing until I feel three gazes burning a hole into me. The other two are clearly avoiding doing the same.
Without looking at any of them, I announce, "I'm going for a swim."
Zale had asked to take one of them with me at all times, so it's the only reason I warn them before walking out. Assured one of them will undoubtedly be following in my wake, I retrace Zanthus's footsteps from the day before and find the swim hole at the back of the Keep.
Slipping the sundress off my shoulders, I let it pool at my feet in the sand. The first caress of the salty water against my feet tells me I'm exactly where I need to be. Wading out past my knees, I dive the rest of the way in, letting the water completely surround me. The sound of waves crashing against a shore settle down into a calming melody as if patiently awaiting orders.
I don't want to tell the others how much being in this position terrifies me. I don't want to tell them how much reading their history makes me want to run in the other direction. No, what I want to do is keep hiding under the waves for a little longer and ignore responsibilities, curses, and prophecies.
My freedom lasts all of several moments before a hand sneaks around my waist, and lips press against mine. A flash of gold is all I need to know my playful mer is the one to have captured me. As I kiss him back and our tongues tangle, my eyes pop open, realizing I've been underwater much longer than I should be capable of.
I'm greeted with a beautiful tan-skinned, gold-tailed, grinning merman. He's twice as gorgeous underneath the water with those sandy brown locks floating around his head like a halo. A soft glow radiates from around his body like a shadow. It illuminates the gold in both his eyes and tail, sucking me in like we're opposite sides of a magnet at work.
Disregarding the fact that I should have surfaced for air right now, I pull those sinfully pouty lips back to mine. Out of all three brothers, he's the only one who has any kind of scruff on his face, and I love the way it feels rubbing my skin. Working it's way down the side of his head, my hand brushes across his ear, feeling hoops there I'd never noticed. Of course, they're the same yellow gold that stands out against his tan skin.
There's a fizzing of bubbles around us as Zephyr brings us to the surface. By the time we're breaking it, I notice his tail has been swapped out for manly legs again, and a large cock that now pokes into my belly.
"Sorry, little siren," he apologizes, bringing my body flush against his. I wrap my legs around his waist almost lining him up to slide right into me where he belongs. A shudder wracks his body as he adds, "I went outside of the barrier a while ago with Zanthus, so I knew my time would be cut short in here."
"You mean with your tail?" I ask slowly, not seeing the problem with our situation.
When he nods, I close the distance between our mouths and sweep my tongue inside his to erase that apology from them.
Hoping to push some of those buttons hidden underneath that buoyant exterior, I lick his bottom lip while demanding, "Maybe I don't want your tail right now. Maybe I want you inside of me."
The playfulness disappears instantly as one hand locks around the back of my head and he smashes our lips together even tighter than before. It's nothing for him to powerfully angle my head just enough for his tongue to raid every dark corner, leaving none without his scent. Distracting me with the kiss, his other hand works between our bodies until it's brushing the inside of my thighs, which clench around him in anticipation.
With the first swipe of his thumb through my folds, I let out a hiss of pleasure that he quickly swallows. Then a finger is dipping inside followed quickly by another, and that gold thread hums to life behind my eyelids. We're moving and I couldn't care less to where since he's yet to retract those skillful fingers and tongue from my body.
It's not until my back is pressed against a solid wall that I bother to open my eyes. The molten gold has almost completely swallowed his pupils whole as he slides his fingers out of me and lines his cock up with my entrance. A flash of metal at his neck catches my attention, and I grudgingly force him to pause.
"Give me your necklace," I tell him.
As if his life depends on it, that jewelry is off his neck and onto mine before I take my next breath. Removing the hesitancy in his expression, I impale myself on him.
My name is a drawn-out moan slipping quietly through his clenched teeth, and I feast on the sound.
I may have just taken control to get us started, but that was only because I knew he was afraid of the necklace hurting me. I could see it in his eyes. It's still there if I look hard enough, but the pleasure and inevitability of our mating outweighs what has shown to be nothing more than a flesh wound.
He starts moving, and my head falls back against the wall. I've never had sex in any kind of water before, but if I had, I'd bet it would still be nothing compared to this. Not only is the personified god whom I've got myself secured around like a wrapper on a candy bar awakening every female nerve ending in my body, but the water seems to be encouraging him along while brushing my skin like a second pair of hands.
Dragging my lips across Zeph's jawline and up to his ear, I suck the bottom gold hoop through my teeth and can't help the soft groan. "How have I not seen these before?"
Zephyr chuckles, his warm breath fanning out against my neck.
"You should wear your hair up, so I can see them more." My plea ends on a gasp as he sucks on the spot where my shoulder meets my neck. Apparently, Zanthus isn't the only one with a sweet spot.
"Zeph, please," I beg.
His hips arch into me, picking up their pace with each stroke. Either our angle or the water, likely both, tickles the bundle of nerves that hold the power of my release. Our pants and sharp breathing mingle with the sound of the waves lapping at the shore. As if sensing I'm close, Zephyr shifts our bodies slightly closer to shore. Dipping his head beneath the water, he successfully distracts me for a moment as I watch his hair floating around us. Then his mouth closes over my left nipple and it sucks the breath straight from my chest.
I don't worry about him needing to breathe underwater without his necklace or the fact that my skin is about to become an inferno of pain. When I feel his teeth graze the sensitive bud, my core clenches around him so tightly I wonder how he even fit in the first place, an
d then I'm shattering into shards of gold within his arms. Half a second later, his head breaches the surface, slinging water around us as he shouts his release.
Running my fingers through his hair, we ride out the waves of pleasure together. In the moment of bliss, I completely forget about the talisman. It's barely begun to sting before Zephyr rips it from my neck and tosses it on shore where it explodes into a cloud of gold-colored dust. Just like Zanthus' did.
Zephyr brushes a trail of water across what can't be more than a soft red mark, but I feel it going to work nonetheless.
It must heal, because a satisfied smile takes over his face before he tucks his head beneath my chin.
"I think I'm in love with you, little siren," he whispers between us.
My heart stutters in my chest. Everything has been moving along so fast that I never stopped to think about just how little time I've had to accept all that they've thrown at me. Especially this mate business. Seemingly placing both our paths and hearts in their hands. Not that I'd change it for anything, because I know even without the bonds of mates, it would be easy to let myself fall for any one of these brothers let alone all three. But that doesn't mean his words don't take me by surprise.
It feels lame to return the sentiment after such a long pause, but Zeph saves me with a chuckle and quick kiss to my lips.
I can feel the excitement flowing through him, and I can't help but ask, "Your curse is broken, isn't it?"
In response, I feel him pull from my body right before there's a flash of gold over his shoulder in the water. Exhilaration shoots through me, but I'm quick to figure out that it's his magic reaching out to play.
Pushing him back, I point towards the barrier. "Go, I'll be here when you get back."
When he rushes me, I expect a rough claiming of his lips, but their pressure is soft. A promise to return before there's a flash of gold, and I'm alone in our pool.
Lazing on my back to stare up at the barrier, I try to get a feel for Zephyr's magic. Zanthus' was easy. It came to me. His brother's, however, is there, but it feels wild and untamable. Clasping both mental hands around the golden thread, I give it a tiny tug. It takes a few seconds, but I start to see a few colorful streaks outside the dome, and it brings another smile to my face.
As soon as I see a school of fish, I let go of Zephyr's magic, content to relax and wait on my mate to come back to me. An inky blackness blots out the light for a moment before it's gone, and all is right again. It happens so fast that one could say I’d blinked and imagined it. Although I know I didn’t, and that knowledge is enough to have my heart beating rapidly behind my ribcage.
Being so distracted, I hadn't felt Zeph sneak underneath me. His tail brushes against my bare back a second before he yanks me down. I suck in a lungful of water in surprise. It instantly flows right back out, but that doesn't stop the sputtering as I kick back to the surface again. My useless coughs continue as the sensation still burns through my chest.
"I'm sorry, little siren," Zephyr apologizes as he surfaces and pulls our bodies together. His hands rubbing a soothing pattern up and down my back helps ward off the rest of the hacking.
He lifts my chin to capture my gaze. "You do realize you can't drown, right? Even if you could, I'd never let you."
"It's not that I thought I could drown," I tell him. Trying to explain the feeling is impossible so I don't even try. Instead, I just squeeze his torso tighter and kiss the bottom of his chin.
One of his hands skims up my arm, snagging something along the way.
"What's this, little siren?" he asks, grasping my gifted bead between his fingers.
"Zanthus gave it to me," I admit proudly.
A deep hum resonates through his chest as he stares at my gift like he's lost in thought. It's obvious when he comes to whatever conclusion that has him puzzled because his face morphs into a god-like beauty with nothing more than a smile. He doesn't give me a chance to inquire either. Lifting my body up his chest, he grabs the back of my thighs, wrapping my legs around his waist.
I can feel the moment his tail shifts back to human legs, and it's not just from the appendage already standing at attention and poking me in the ass. Striding through the water, he has us on the shore fast enough to let me know he's a man on a mission. I'm surprised when he doesn't bother stopping to grab our clothes. Zanthus is going to strangle him if one of the other mermen gets a glimpse of my naked ass.
Turns out that is an unnecessary worry because he races up the stairs that lead into their suites in a flash. We've barely made it through the door before he's dropping me softly to a waterbed. It makes me laugh, feeling the movement underneath.
"Haven't these things been uncool since the nineties?" I ask.
He holds up a finger as he paces once then twice at the foot of his bed. I laugh again as I lay back and the mattress jiggles. Of course, with the motion, it's not the only thing. My breasts bounce with each wave, and it momentarily distracts my playful mer mate. Corners of his lips turned up, he spins toward the closet, leaving me alone in the room. It only takes half a second before all of that sexy tanned naked skin is making its reappearance.
Hopping up on the bed, he makes the water go crazy and then sits back on his heels to watch my breasts bounce again.
"Out of fashion or not, I now believe this has to be one of my best investments ever," he confesses, crawling the rest of the way up to where he can straddle my body with one knee on each side of my stomach.
This mating thing must've turned me into a sex-craved maniac because it takes me a moment to break my stare with his cock practically in my face to glance up at him. A sly grin greets me, admitting our position was no accident.
"Zanthus got to give you a mating present, so it's only fair I do the same, right?" he asks, acting as though I've already answered.
Clasping two of the hoops from his ear, he undoes them both and offers them in an open palm. Which quickly closes tighter than a clam's shell as my hand lifts toward them. Bending his torso down, he starts removing the studs in my ear as he asks, "Are these important? We can save them if they are."
I shake my head, but he's already putting them on one of the shelves of the headboard. Then, turning his focus back, he's got both hoops hooked and closed through my ears before I can protest.
"Zeph, I can't take your earrings," I try anyway, letting my fingers play over the cold surface.
He chuckles deeply. "Of course you can, and you are. They were melted and formed with gold from our original clan leader's crown. Mother gave them to me when she realized I was going to be as much of a free spirit as she was."
"Now I really can't," I whisper.
Stopping my hands from moving back to my ears, his smile turns sad. "She would've loved you, little siren. Maybe as much as my brothers and me. Keep them, please."
How can I possibly argue with that?
"What about you? I loved seeing them in your ear," I confess.
This brings his fun side back out to play as he holds out his other hand. "Already got it covered." He starts putting the gold replacements in while adding, "I wasn't going to risk not feeling your tongue on them again, so I had to request a spare."
"You would've felt my tongue there again with or without them," I tell him. "I'd love to put it all over your body. Starting with here--"
I break off my words to slip his cock past my lips, and true to my promise, I lick him from as far down as I can reach back up to the tip. His breath whooshes out of his chest in an almost hiss. From this position, when I flick my eyes upward, all I see is my golden merman. The way his thighs bunch from restraint at holding back from pushing himself further into my mouth. Biceps that flex as one hand weaves into my hair and the other drops to my right breast. Chiseled Adonis belt that leads up into a mouthwatering six pack and then to a broad chest with beaded sandy brown hair resting against it from where it flows down. Last but not least, that normally amused face. Humor slipping into desire with freshly-kissed lips and gold
en eyes that flare like there's liquid gold behind them. Especially as I suck him in even deeper.
I'd gladly take any part of this beautiful creature in front of me, so I don't complain as he pulls himself out of my mouth to drop his weight down on top of me. As our mouths touch, a tingle of warmth spreads from my chest to fingertips. If I look hard enough, I'd be able to see that gold thread between us thrumming with life. Zephyr trails a fiery path of tongue and lips up my jawline to my ear. He sucks on one of those gifted gold hoops, taking my earlobe with it and eliciting a soft moan from me. There wouldn't be any stopping them if I tried as my thighs clench around his hips.
A soft huff of air is the last thing I hear before he backs away. However, it's only long enough to guide me over to my belly. When his hands grasp my waist, I bring my knees up, giving him a full display of everything my body has to offer from the back. Hesitating for only a moment like he did in the pool room, Zeph then settles himself deep at home within me while I struggle to catch up. It doesn't help that the mattress beneath us moves. With every jerk of his pelvis against my ass, the water rolls with him. All of it makes me feel like we never left the pool at all. Which brings a question to that tiny corner of my mind not consumed by Zephyr.
Mentally tapping into the magic given to me by my other mer mate, the water trapped under the surface responds to my calling. Instead of rolling forward with our natural movement, it forces me back even harder on Zephyr's cock. I gasp at the new level of sensitivity this brings to my clit. Especially as his balls start hitting it with every thrust. My playful mer unleashes a whole new level of wildness that could rival that of his magic.
His release hits him with such force, it drives me right over the edge of mine. My name is a shout so loud on his lips that it leaves my ears ringing. As he bends down to kiss the small of my back, that long hair brushing against tender skin has me tightening down on him again, but not in release this time. Just an automatic response.
Sunken Empire Page 12
