The Merman and the Barbarian Pirate (23 page)

Jon took hold of Raef, and Raef's world reeled full circle. This was a dream; it had happened too fast to be real. Edith, Cecilia, and the room faded as Raef touched Jon's cheek, drawing him near. Raef was ready to devour and be devoured.

"Oh, for Beelzebub's sake!" Edith tossed the unsigned confession into the fire, tearing Raef back to the present. She reached for the poker by her chair, jerked it back as she would a lever, and the floor slanted away beneath Raef, sucking him and Jon down with it. Raef dropped into a dark pit below. He landed on his front with his face jammed in Jon's groin, his legs entangled with the rug.

Jon roared in pain. Winded, Raef lifted his head to gasp. Edith loomed over the trap they had fallen through. The pistol she'd whipped from beneath her nightgown was aimed with a sharpshooter's steadiness. "Come a step nearer with that knife," she said, addressing Cecilia, "and I'll shoot you through the heart like I did your mama. Now come close this trap for me. That's a dear."

When Cecilia leaned over to obey, her expression was as livid as her reddened face. She mouthed the words,
"I'll get her,"
and pulled the door up. The darkness slammed down hard.

The rushing of blood filled Raef's ears. He could scarcely hear himself panting, let alone get his mind around what had happened or what Jon had just declared. He feared he'd hallucinated.

"Are you hurt?" asked Jon, sounding strained.

"Maybe a bit bruised." Raef pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and puffed his hair from his nose. "Nothing too bad. You?"

"No broken bones, but by the devil, I've been a cod-brained fool." Jon's angry growl rumbled around their dark prison.

"You weren't to blame," said Raef, resting back on his haunches and rubbing sore ribs. "We couldn't know exactly where this pit was and—"

"I don't mean about that." The violence of Jon's assertion had Raef catching his breath. Jon bumped into him, and then pulled him close. "I was anticipating she might pull something like this, and we'll be out of here in a jiffy. But I've been such a damned fool about
you
."

"About me?"

Jon was so close. All Raef's senses—save his sight—overflowed with him. Jon's forehead was pressed to Raef's, their noses rubbed, the tips of their fluttering lashes interwove. He tasted Jon's heady musk, and then Jon's avowals scorched his ears. "These past few days, I've been in hell. I never thought… Oh, God, why couldn't I hear what my gut's been telling me?" Jon's lips brushed Raef's as he spoke. "I'm so sorry. During our time together, I've not wanted to merit my growing feelings. It's all been so new… so baffling.
You've
been as baffling as the desires you've raised in me. But just now, when I tried to kiss Cecilia… It shouldn't have mattered or meant a thing, but I could see your zeal, your pain, and I couldn't do it. I couldn't hurt you further without telling you the truth. You are the one, Raef. You've bewitched me."

"I-I don't understand you." Actually, Raef did. All too well. But while his heart soared and sang, he still daren't believe.

"My belly sickened at the thought of touching another fellow in the alehouse the other night," muttered Jon. "And I missed you embarrassingly when you were gone. I felt like sobbing my heart out and couldn't even lose myself in poetry. My books weren't frivolous distractions anymore; they cut me to the quick. You see, I think I must love you, my jealous little merman." He affirmed the vow with a brief-but-smoldering kiss, communicating a soul-consuming passion better than any speech. "Have I hope?"

"Eh?" Raef's head was still spinning.

"Have I any hope you'll return my ardor, after I've been such a numbskull, wanting to keep you squirreled with my cargo? I should never have tried to make you become a pirate. I was so befuddled, but now everything becomes clear. I want you, man and mer, tail and all. Beilby's balls, I'd scupper the
Alice
for you, my purest pure."

At a time like this, it would help if Jon spoke plainly. Still, Raef gathered the gist, and the truth was sinking in. He'd drawn a declaration of love from a pirate who claimed never to think about it. "Yes." Raef laughed. "You've more than hope. I'm bloody yours!"

Jon renewed the kiss, and Raef allowed the affection to consume him. He surfed a torrent of joy as he allowed himself to place faith in everything he'd seen. Those looks Jon had given him, which had bewildered him—and Jon too, so it transpired—had shouted of love. Jon admitted this also, with actions that summoned bliss. Jon licked tenderly at the corner of Raef's mouth, then bit greedily on his bottom lip, gentleness and roughness blending in a gift only his pirate could give.

This was what he wanted. What he'd always craved. This man. This pirate. Best of all, Jon wanted him back.

He remained faintly aware they were in mortal peril, that the most dangerous parts of this adventure still lay ahead. Another more sinister voice reminded him Kemp could be changeable as the winds, and that finding a path together still might not be easy. But as they worked the kiss with their whole bodies, Raef's spirit flew higher than the stars. The delicate thread that had formed between them hardened to iron in accord with their needy loins.

"Take me!" Raef broke away and combed his fingers with a flourish down the length of Jon's hair. He wanted this man to get inside him.

"Believe me, I want nothing more." Jon's stubble rasped against Raef's cheek as he crushed Raef tighter. "But we've got to get out of here." A heavy grating sounded from above. "I hate to think what's going on up there. Cecilia might need help."

"I understand." He was still jubilant from the impact of Jon's confession, bolstered by Jon's relentless embrace. But their mission was failing. Cecilia, Sarah, and the donkey could be in more trouble than they were, and they must relinquish each other for now. Jon pressed lips to Raef's brow and then edged backward. Raef shivered, bereft without him.

"I'll have a go at the trap door," said Jon. "You feel around the walls and floor and see if we've any other options."

Raef did as he was bid, crawling off through layers of grime that he'd been oblivious to when wrapped in Jon's arms. At some point, his faculties would regroup, and he'd think sensibly again. He might even be scared, but not yet. Nothing could wipe the grin from Raef's face, not even an insect rushing over his hand.

"We can make it together," said Jon as they worked. "You can swim with the ship, or we'll find an island in the tropics with shallow waters where we can both wallow all day."

That prospect made Raef glow inside. His discoveries—or rather, his lack of them—dampened his mood a tad. The floor and walls of this chamber were constructed of vast stone blocks. As Jon learned, the vaulted ceiling was too low for them to stand upright and solid as the sides, save the trap door cut in it. To add to their woes, no light leaked in at all, and they were still blind as when the portal had closed above them. After much searching, cursing, and fiddling, Jon managed to trace the edges of the trap using his knife.

"I'm going to pry this open," whispered Jon, as Raef felt the way back toward him. "When it falls down, I'll have my dagger drawn, and you need to be ready to use my pistol."

Raef collided headfirst with Jon, who straightened him up, then passed him the gun. "It's primed, loaded, and half-cocked," said Jon, manipulating Raef's hand so he was holding the weapon correctly. Raef wracked his memory for everything Jon had taught him about shooting. "You need to be ready to release the trigger. If Edith or one of her manservants is guarding it, it'll be a matter of kill or be killed. You think you can do that?"

Raef quashed a horrifying image of Jon crumpling dead beside him, brains blown out. He wasn't a killer, but he'd do anything to defend Jon, so they could find those balmy waters and swim together.

"Yes, I can do it," he said. Moving the pistol safe behind him, he traced Jon's mouth with his fingertips. He savored what he couldn't see, while the now-familiar anticipation of excitement vied with his mounting nerves. "Good luck."

"You too." Jon kissed his hand, then let him go. "Now, careful with that flintlock, lad. I don't want to be popped with my own iron." Jon laughed recklessly, and Raef could've the sworn the twinkle in his eyes pierced the gloom.

"Here we go," breathed Jon.

Raef aimed the pistol upward, praying he was pointing in the right direction. A click sounded, then… silence. Not a streak of candlelight broke the darkness. "Bugger," said Jon.

"Can't you open it?"

"It's open, wide open." Jon knocked against what sounded like another layer of hard wood. "Edith's men have moved something solid on top of it, probably that dresser. We need to tip it over and if we're lucky, we'll pulverize the old crone beneath."

They tried, using hands and shoulders, straining and sweating as one, and all to no avail. The solid oak dresser stayed put, scarce rewarding them with a creak. At length, they collapsed onto the rug, flat on their backs and side by side. Though their fingers brushed, Raef panted and ached in a far less pleasant fashion than before.

"They've loaded that dresser with rocks," muttered Jon. "It weighs a bloody ton."

Raef nearly asked,
What do we do now?
but bit his tongue. If Jon had a plan, he'd hear it soon enough. Besides, as much as he trusted Jon, escape need not be down to Jon alone.

He felt into the pocket of his breeches, locating the golden conch. Clenching it in his palm, he brought it out and rested it on his breast. He didn't want to use it to form a new tribe anymore. It would be ideal if he could be the one to save the day and prove they were a true partnership, lovers and comrades. He could blow the conch and summon his tribe in the hope of rescue, but as he pondered this, despondency crept through him. Even borne on a tide of magic, their rescuers could never get this far inland. Misery began to break him down, and he couldn't even bring himself to tell Jon about it. What was the point?

"We might die in here," he said softly, tucking the conch back where it had been. "Or, if Edith's fellows unblock the trap, they might kill us before we know what's upon us."

Jon took Raef's hand and squeezed it. "I don't like to admit defeat… but, yes, that might happen." He turned his head, so his moist breaths filled Raef's ear. "Though we'll fight to the damned last, backs against the wall if we must."

"I know we will," said Raef, a lump forming in his throat. Maybe they'd starve here, withering together in the darkness. Perhaps he'd never
see
Jon again. The horrors pummeling him made his resolution all the clearer. "Jon, I don't want to die without… um…"

Raef wasn't sure how to finish his sentence and didn't need to. Jon rolled on top of him, pinning him, and they joined their lips once more. The kiss deepened, and their rising passions pitched them on a journey, which this time could have no return.

"Oh God, Raef." Jon sucked Raef's earlobe, nibbling down his throat, finding more and more patches of sensitive flesh that Raef didn't know existed. Jon sent powerful waves of pleasure crashing through him, all his blood rushing to his prick as they stripped each other's shirts. Seams ripped and brass buttons flew. They rolled and grappled, wrestling and embracing, elevating Raef beyond the brink of desperation.

"I need you!" He exalted, forgetting everything in the universe, save Jon. "I need you so much."

"The feeling's mutual." Jon let loose a possessive snarl. Raef shuddered with pleasure and a rising sense of apprehension, which proved equally delicious. "I could never give you away. I'd slaughter an army if a single soul wished to touch you. Dear Lord, this
must
be goddamn love."

Raef's joys burgeoned in tandem with his carnal needs, choking a shout of adoration so all he could do was whimper. While he loved fighting at Jon's side and adventuring as equals, now he needed this pirate to be ruthless with him, to take the lead. And so Jon did. Raef discovered he was trapped, his wrists clamped above his head. He was unable to move other than to buck and writhe, moaning and encouraging.

"Have I ever told you," muttered Jon, "how beautiful your body is? Your arms. Gnnng." Here, he found and kissed the solid curve of Raef's biceps. "You're a sturdy lad."

"It's… uh… all the swimming. Oh!" Raef wriggled with delight on the rug. Jon worked his lips down Raef's sensitive underarm, across his torso, and then Jon captured a nipple with his teeth and bit lightly. Raef emitted a high-pitched squeak, his toes curling; it felt wonderful. Jon lapped and sucked both nubs 'til they hardened like pebbles. He traveled lower, deeper, crawling down Raef's body, and littering kisses that seared to Raef's heart.

Jon's breaths blazed over Raef's tightly-sucked-in belly. Then he hooked his fingers in Raef's waistband and tore down his breeches. This was a relief because the conch shell had been digging in, but Raef forgot that fast. Warmth, heat, and sheer paradise engulfed his naked member. Jon had taken Raef in his mouth.

Raef clonked his head back and panted. Now he knew the meaning of happiness, squirming and simmering, rucking up the rug beneath him. Jon licked his length, locating yet more tender places that Raef had little knowledge of. When Jon began to pump, sandstorms whirled in Raef's gut, and lights prickled beneath his tightly-squeezed eyes. Though Raef craved to see Jon, it mattered little now. Touch and feel said everything. This was perfect… so
nearly
perfect. But to hurtle through the barrier of ecstasy that now veered on his horizons, he needed Jon even closer.

Want you… inside me. Want you there now.

All he could manage was another whimper, but it struck its target. Jon slipped those soft lips off him and tugged his breeches down farther, large hands roaming all over his arse and thighs, coarse and reassuring.

"Wait there." Jon pulled away, leaving Raef sweating in anticipation. He balled his fists in the mat while Jon rustled, searching for something or other in the discarded clothing. Then Jon hitched Raef's knees up, nudging him so his arse was borne before him, making him feel exposed, scared, and cherished all at once. The rounded head of Jon's member nudged at his cleft.