The Veiled Descendants

by Sophia Menesini

  She brings her hands up, squeezing Shea’s firm backside, pulling her closer.

  Shea moans at the touch and breaks the kiss, instead pressing her lips to the side of Jo’s jaw, trailing down to her neck.

  Her breath comes quicker, and she moans as she feels Shea slipping lower and lower until the captain spreads her legs.

  Jo can barely believe this is happening; after months of waiting, she finally has this gorgeous creature back in her bed.

  Shea’s breath on her sex causes shivers down her pale body, Jo’s stomach clenching in her gut. She huffs a laugh, remembering how a month ago she’d been self-conscious about her body after the little bit of royal weight she’d gained. When there’s a country to run, she’s stuck behind a desk with little time to keep up on her sword training.

  But with Shea, she feels wanted and beautiful.

  That’s how it’s supposed to be, right?

  Jo will deny the squeak that flies from her mouth later as a creaky floorboard, but for now, she can’t hold back the high-pitched noise that escapes as the captain’s tongue presses against her.

  Jo’s hands fly to the rich material covering the bed, the muscles in her legs flexing as Shea’s hands grip her inner thighs.

  The pleasure is mind numbing. Jo can feel her toes curling and gasps as Shea’s tongue delves deeper inside.

  Her eyes flutter over Shea’s gorgeous red hair, gods, she’s been dreaming about that hair for the past year.

  She feels Shea’s hand start to move closer and Jo almost inwardly sighs, ready to tell her that she doesn’t like penetration, when she feels that coarse hand pause and instead slide up.

  She doesn’t remove her mouth, just stays fixated on Jo’s building pleasure center and instead tweaks a nipple.

  Jo moans and has to tell herself not to cry in the middle of sex.

  Shea remembered.

  She’s close. Jo can feel her orgasm building in the pit of her stomach, and as Shea abuses her nipple, she starts babbling.

  “Shea! Yes, you’re so good, baby, oh! Poseidon, yes!”

  Jo shouts as she comes, her mind going blank in ecstasy.

  And then she recounts everything she just said.

  She looks down at Shea with a sheepish smile.

  Shea sits up, purses her lips, eyebrows furrowing, and then frowns.

  “Oh gods,” Shea groans.

  She flops down beside Jo, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and then throwing it over her eyes.

  “I’m sorry…it just kind of…slipped out.”

  Shea hums in acknowledgment, but she doesn’t remove her hand from her eyes.

  “I could still take care of you,” Jo consoles, trying to salvage the moment.

  “No, I’m good. Something about you screaming my father’s name in the middle of sex was akin to a cold-water bath,” Shea gripes, removing her hand only to glare at Jo.

  “Well, I’ve said it before during sex.”

  “That was before!”

  “I know, love, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll try not to say it again,” Jo tells her, kissing Shea’s naked shoulder.

  She smiles softly at Jo, turning her head to look at her.

  “Yeah?”

  “Whatever you want, darling,” Jo murmurs.

  She grins, noticing her captain’s ears blushing from the pet name.

  She files that away for future use.

  A knock sounds at the door, and without waiting for an answer, the person pushes into the room.

  “Caen wanted me to tell you that we’ve reached the border,” Aster informs.

  He freezes when he catches sight of Shea and Jo naked on the bed together.

  “Oh Poseidon!” Aster shrieks.

  “Aster!” Jo shouts, grabbing the pillow under her head to cover up her half-naked form.

  “Aster, what have I told you about barging in?”

  “I knocked,” Aster yells, turning his back on the two of them as they each scramble for their respective clothes.

  “Knocking is only half of it, then you wait to be invited in. Tell Caen I’ll be there in a moment,” Shea orders, pulling her peasant blouse off the ground and over her head.

  “But—”

  “Now!” Shea and Jo both shout at the same time.

  The door slams behind him on his way out.

  Jo’s eyes meet Shea’s; they’re both breathing heavily, hearts pounding, but as soon as their eyes meet, Jo feels the first snort of a giggle. Soon they’re laughing as they clumsily pull on their clothes.

  Shea finishes tucking in her blouse and then ties her belt off on the side of her hip; her boots are on and she grabs her hat off her desk and places it on her head.

  She strolls closer to Jo as the queen finishes buttoning up her blue naval uniform.

  Shea waves Jo’s hands away and buttons the last three. She looks up at her, and Jo smiles down at her elf.

  She places a chaste kiss on those sweet lips and laughs when Shea deepens it.

  They break apart.

  “I’m still in this,” Shea whispers to her.

  And before Jo can ask her if she heard everything from before, the redhead is gone and out the cabin door.

  Chapter 14: Get to Know Me

  Beck

  Voices and colors swirl behind Beck’s eyes. He can hear his father’s voice screaming as the wooden shard that killed him collides with his abdomen.

  His mother’s tortured cries fill his ears and a fractured outline of her still, lifeless form in her pretty yellow dress fills his sight.

  He can barely feel his lungs filling with air until he gasps as he sees black gates and dark swirling water rushing toward him. He cries out as the water crashes into him, drowning him. His head is in agony as the pressure builds and he tries not to breathe in the bubbling water, until he can’t do it anymore. It invades his lungs and he’s choking on it.

  A distant voice calls his name.

  He turns his head in the direction of the sound.

  ​His eyes open, and he gasps, jack-knifing on the medical table as he sits up, coming out of the excruciating dream. Except not all of it was a dream—his parent’s deaths, those were real.

  ​Beck groans, falling back to his forearms, lying on the table. He hears his name again and turns to see a vaguely familiar man with spectacles and blond-grayish hair tied back in a ponytail. His face choppily shaven.

  ​“You’re,” Beck croaks, then clears his throat and tries again, “you’re the doctor?”

  The man nods with a soft smile and helps Beck sit up and swing his legs around so he’s sitting on the edge of the table.

  “I’m Dr. Nol. How are you feeling?”

  “Like someone hit me over the head with the hilt of a sword.”

  “Yes, I’m afraid you’ll have to thank the captain on that one. She wanted you to get some rest.”

  “So she knocked me out?” Beck asks, reaching to touch the back of his head, searching for the bump.

  “More like willed you asleep, her magic sort of intervened,” Nol explains.

  It’s then Beck notices Nol observing him before writing in a journal.

  “She knocked me out with magic?” Beck asks, searching for clarification.

  “Pretty much.”

  So much for a doctor’s perspective.

  Beck pushes off the table, attempting to stand, but he almost falls over as his legs buckle underneath him.

  Nol rushes to his aid, helping him back onto the table.

  “Easy there, it may take you a moment to get your sea legs back.”

  Beck eases down, closing his eyes. He manages to take a shallow breath as sweat drips down the back of his neck.

  “How long was I out?”

  Nol smiles.

  “Not long. Fifteen, twenty minutes or so, she brought you down, but whatever happened didn’t keep you out too long. We should be coming up on the boundary pretty soon.”

  As Nol finishes his comment, Aster bursts into the medical
bay with a quick knock on the door.

  He sees Beck on the table and his eyes seem to widen with horror before he sighs, taking in Beck’s appearance with relief.

  “Good, you’re dressed,” Aster comments with a wide grin.

  Nol’s eyebrow quirks and Beck chuckles.

  “Should I not be?” Beck inquires.

  He tries to push off the table once again and is happy to find he can stand.

  Beck’s question catches the teen off guard, and he feels the young man’s eyes rake over his lean frame, resulting in Aster’s cheeks staining a light pink.

  “Mister Caen,” Aster squeaks, but clears his throat to avoid his voice cracking, “Mister Caen wanted me to alert you, Dr. Nol, that we’ve arrived at the boundary. The captain has been notified and has given orders to make sure the medicines are locked down and safe.”

  “I’ll get it done now, thank you,” Nol replies and quickly gets to work crating the various glass vials around his cabin.

  Aster turns to leave, but Beck stops him.

  “I’ll accompany you up, something tells me I’d prefer to be above deck anyway,” he mutters and Aster nods in acknowledgment, leading the young governor back up to the top deck.

  They pass naval officers and crew members along their way. Right before the steps leading above, Beck spots an Arethusian naval officer. Her blond hair is tied in a braid with what looks to be some kind of ribbon.

  He mutters to Aster to go ahead, hoping to talk to the officer and see if she needs any help.

  He comes up right behind her and places a soft hand on her shoulder, and when she turns, Beck finds himself face-to-face with Queen Joana.

  “Oh Triton,” Beck curses quietly, but Joana’s smirk makes him think it wasn’t quietly enough.

  “Careful, Shea has a new thing about her family members being used as passionate curse words,” Joana warns him.

  And if he actually liked her, he might’ve laughed, but instead he simply hums with a nod.

  Her light smile disappears from her features and she crosses her arms over her chest.

  “Something you need, Governor?”

  “No, Your Majesty. I was just looking for Shea,” Beck tells her, avoiding her gaze.

  “She’s up above on the afterdeck, I needed to finish…fixing myself, so I let her go ahead. Apparently we’ve stopped short of the boundary, they’re preparing the battle stations before we cross.”

  Beck tries not to think about what “fixing herself” means and instead turns to start up the steps.

  “Beck!”

  He stops but doesn’t turn back to Joana. Instead he waits for her to come up the couple of steps until she’s across from him.

  He looks up and meets her eyes.

  “I feel as if we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot,” she tries, and Beck chuckles at her attempt.

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes. I think it is. We’re allies, our countries. And I think we could even be friends.”

  Beck goes silent and he can see Joana is really trying.

  Her face is so earnest, but there’s this little dark voice that whispers from the back of his mind.

  He listens to it.

  “No,” Beck states and then takes another few steps until he’s right at the double doors leading out onto the quarterdeck.

  He feels Joana’s hand wrap around his upper arm to pull him back toward her.

  She’s on the step below and he looks down into her fiery gaze.

  “No?”

  “No.” Beck shrugs.

  “Could we at least try having a conversation?”

  “There’s nothing you could say.”

  “What is your problem?” Jo accuses, and she tightens her grip on his arm.

  “I don’t like you.” He shrugs. “I think you’re arrogant and righteous and definitely one of those people who always thinks they’re right. So no, I don’t see us being friends.”

  Beck dismisses her hand and reaches for the door handle.

  “That’s not it. You don’t like me because I have something you want.”

  ​Beck freezes. He knows he shouldn’t have because he’s inadvertently proven her right, not that he’d admit it.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, come on, I see the way you look at her,” Joana growls.

  Beck smirks and turns back to the queen. “Then you’ve also seen the way she looks at me.”

  She takes a sudden deep breath but composes herself with a cold smile.

  “Yes. I have, but I also trust her and what we have. So knowing how she feels about you, I thought maybe we could find some common ground and be friends. We’re both rulers. We have things in common, like ruling young.”

  “No, I became governor because of circumstances I couldn’t control. My father died!”

  “I lost my father too,” Jo exclaims. “He died last year.”

  “My father was taken from me, you murdered yours! I’d say that’s a big difference,” Beck shouts, seething with pain.

  Joana’s mouth clamps shut. Her eyes gloss over, but she doesn’t allow any tears to fall. She swallows hard and looks up into Beck’s eyes.

  “I killed him to save Shea, and it was the hardest and easiest decision I have ever had to make. But don’t think it didn’t affect me, not for one second. Because I still dream of plunging that sword through his back every night. You don’t know me. But maybe if you could get over yourself, you could get to.”

  Jo pushes past Beck, and he lets her.

  He watches her stride ahead past the crewmen on deck and feels his own eyes start to burn.

  Two crew members push past him down the steps, and he takes a deep breath before following the wounded queen to the afterdeck.

  Chapter 15: Whose Side Are You On?

  Shea

  The boundary is straight ahead, and Shea doesn’t need her spyglass to see. The sheer amount of power is visible even to a mortal eye. The first light of the morning shines brightly on the barrier. The presence ripples and cracks with energy, a glistening screen cutting straight down into the water and clear up past the clouds. Every bird that flies through the shimmering mist screeches as if in pain before continuing on.

  Shea finishes the letter to Phoebus on the helm’s desk and makes quick work of attaching it to Caeruleus’s paw. She doesn’t want him losing it, and she doesn’t want her familiar anywhere near the ship when they cross.

  Caeruleus will make it through and she’d rather Phoebus and Dari were apprised of their upcoming arrival so they could collect the supplies quickly and then head on to Tenaro.

  Shea can feel the unease of the crew. She watches as some of them stop what they’re doing to glance at the magnificent display of raw magic.

  The horizon looks more like a mirage through the boundary, wavy, like looking through heat rising off the ground. The clouds above are dark, but the sunrays are still fighting to shine through, casting a strange aura on the dark ocean water.

  Caen is next to her, and unfortunately Poseidon is on her other side as she finishes her message to be carried by Caeruleus; they’re double-checking the charts.

  The harpoon launchers are primed, and gunners have been placed at every cannon, whatever is coming their way won’t know what hit them.

  Once the letter is attached, she picks Caeruleus up and brings him to the ship’s rail.

  “Okay, old man, you get there in one piece, you hear, no catching fish on your way or getting eaten by sea serpents,” Shea murmurs into his ear.

  Caeruleus growls at the old man comment but ultimately purrs as Shea flinches when he kneads her hand, causing puncture wounds.

  “I’ll see you there,” Shea tells him and throws him into the air.

  Caeruleus spreads his wings and catches the wind with a yowl. He flies toward the boundary and Shea’s fists clench as he crosses. He yowls once more but besides a brief falter, he keeps flying to Orena.

  They wait another moment, a
nd nothing happens, so Shea figures they can proceed.

  Aster shouts down to Tero from the crow’s nest, confirming a clear view, and then Tero shouts orders to James.

  James nods, awaiting his captain’s orders.

  Shea looks down to the steps and finds Jo coming up them; she smiles but then frowns when she notices Jo’s sullen expression.

  Beck is behind her, but instead of following her up, he takes off toward the two Oceanan officers near the bow, the woman and young man who accompanied him on the voyage.

  The woman, Officer Leone, is an experienced harpoon gunner, so Shea put her and her fellow soldier to work manning the right gun under Tero.

  “Hey,” Shea offers, drawing Jo’s attention.

  “I really hate people not liking me.” Jo sighs, looking behind her.

  “That’s crazy,” Shea comforts, closing the distance and rubbing her hand up and down Jo’s suited arms. “Who doesn’t like you?”

  “I don’t like her; she’s bossy for one thing,” Caen pipes up.

  Shea looks over at him with wide eyes, glaring at her quartermaster. She uncaps her waterskin at her side and quickly smacks him upside the head with a water whip.

  “I was kidding,” Caen gripes, rubbing the back of his head.

  Shea summons the water back into the pouch and ignores Poseidon’s wide grin at her blatant use of magic.

  The only smile that matters is the one on Jo’s face and the warm gaze from those beautiful blue eyes as they land on Shea in appreciation for making her feel better.

  Shea’s heart skips a beat.

  James clears his throat and everyone looks back to the young helmsman.

  “The ship is ready, Captain, we await orders. Do we sail?”

  Shea takes a deep breath, looking at Jo, and then her eyes, of their own volition, find Beck near the starboard harpoon gun.

  As if he can feel her gaze, he looks back to the steering deck.

  She can just barely make out a smile.

  Let the adventure begin.

  “Release the sails, full speed ahead,” Shea orders.

  Caen salutes, but this time it’s in all seriousness, and he steps to the helm’s rail looking down over the quarterdeck.