by Sandra Heath
“Well, if Neptune can find and keep the quizzing glass, then it must be all right for you to find and keep the valise. So, then what?”
“Well, it contained a blue-sprigged muslin gown, very modish, a dark blue leghorn bonnet and matching velvet spencer, some shoes, and white silk stockings. The lady would have worn such clothes for walking, and that was how I decided to wear them.”
Anemone was impressed by her friend’s knowledge of such things. “How do you know which human clothes are fashionable and which aren’t? Or where they’d be worn? I wouldn’t know something like that even if I lived to be a thousand.”
“Oh I’m not being amazingly clever, nor is it due to my human blood. I happened on a London journal one day. Someone had left it behind after an alfresco lunch by the river, and since humans in this country speak English just as we do, I could understand what was in it. There were some pages about the latest styles, for men and women.”
“How does it feel to wear such clothes?”
“Very good,” Sabrina admitted. “Very…right.”
“That’syour human side.”
“Probably.”
Anemone was highly interested. “Have you seen inside Winterleigh Court? Maybe you’ve been right inside?”
“No, I’ve only looked through some windows.” Sabrina remembered looking into the great hall. The view had been restricted to just the beautifully carved wooden griffins guarding the foot of the grand staircase, and the full-length portrait of her father on the oak paneling where the staircase divided in two. She’d felt as if he were looking at her, smiling in welcome because she was family too.
“If you’ve been doing it for over three years, you must have seen Sir Jake. Did you?” Anemone asked curiously.
Sabrina flushed with guilty color. “Yes, a number of times. The last time, just before he left, was when he instructed his gamekeepers.” When I saw more of him than I should.
“Is he as handsome as everyone says?”
Sabrina glanced away. “Yes,” she said softly.
Anemone looked intently at her. “Sabrina? Did he make that much of an impression on you?” There was no answer, so she prompted again. “Sabrina?”
“Yes, he did. Oh Anemone, he stole my heart. I went ashore more and more, just to see him, but I was afraid to let him see me. I mean, humans just don’t believe in us, do they?”
“Your father did. And you don’t even look like a mermaid.”
“I know, but… Oh well, you know. As soon as he realized the truth, he’d shun me. But I would love to surrender to him. If my virginity is to be given to anyone, I want it to be him. I long for him, Anemone, and feel such desire that I cannot sleep for its torment.”
Anemone gaped at her. “I—I can hardly believe I’m hearing you say such things. Not you, the most pure and untouched mermaid in all the rivers and seas. I thought you had ice for a heart and weren’t interested in fleshly things.”
Sabrina smiled ruefully. “Oh I’m interested, believe me, but only in this one man. I crave him, imagine being with him, doing all the things I can see going on around us right now. You see those two over there? The merman is from Scotland and always wears that tartan hat with the woolly ball on top. Well, I’d adore having Jake do that to me.”
Anemone craned her neck. “I see them. My, what are they doing? Oh I see, he’s, well, to put it crudely, sucking her juices. Mmm, if her ecstatic expression is any gauge, he’s doing it rather well. I wouldn’t mind a little of that myself.” She squirmed a little and then slid her fingers between her legs, stroking herself expertly until her face went quite pink and her breathing became heavy.
Sabrina glanced at her. “You’re incorrigible, Anemone. I trust you’ve finished now?”
Anemone drew a long, satisfied breath. “Oh, that was pleasantly unexpected. Now, if Neptune were to pay me such a compliment, I’d—”
“Probably faint with shock,” Sabrina interrupted.
Anemone glanced at her. “You’re cross with me again, and I don’t blame you. All I think about is copulation of one sort or another. Tell me about you and Sir Jake.”
“There isn’t anything to tell. I haven’t even spoken to him. And that’s the whole agony of it. I’ve been seeking fulfillment through imagination, thinking about being with him and then hiding away to do the sort of thing you’ve just done. But I’m still a silly virgin, yearning for the impossible.”
“It’s hardly impossible. After all, your mother and father did it.”
“Yes, but my father was actually here. Sir Jake is in London, and has been these three years.”
Anemone leaned across to put a gentle green hand on Sabrina’s pale forearm. “Oh my poor friend. I had no idea you were in such torment. I really don’t know what to say. Are you sure it can only be him? I mean, most of the mermen here tonight would gladly give you the fuck you need.”
“I’m sure they would, all of them a variation on Derwent. But I don’t just want any old fuck, I want a fuck with Sir Jake, a really fiery, pounding, ecstatic, wanton coupling that will make my whole body vibrate for a week.” Her nipples prickled even to think of it.
Anemone was bemused. “I’m shocked, truly I am. You always look so cool and collected. I wish you’d confided in me before.”
Sabrina smiled. “I didn’t know I was going to tonight. It’s something too private, and embarrassing. I mean, can you imagine the teasing I’d have?”
“Not from me. I’m not that insensitive. I know I whine a lot and get silly, but I wouldn’t tell anyone else something like this. You must believe that.”
“I do.” Tears suddenly stung Sabrina’s eyes. “Oh Anemone, I love him so much, and I know he’s beyond my reach. I’m so desperately unhappy.”
“Oh my poor darling!” Anemone scrambled to her side and pulled her close. “I’ll pray to the goddess Salacia for you.”
“Neptune’s queen? I hardly think she’ll listen to you. She must know that you’ve been hungering for Neptune since this time last year.”
Anemone smiled. “No, she doesn’t care about the likes of me, she’s had too much of Neptune, but I think she’ll care about the likes of you and your heartache. She’ll listen to me. I’ll pray to her right now!”
“Without a shrine? Or an offering? You can’t do that.”
“I can, and I am. See?” Anemone knelt up and put her hands together in prayer. Sabrina couldn’t hear what she said, but all of a sudden, as if in direct response, conch shell horns blasted a summons into the night. Anemone gasped with a mixture of dismayed realization and excitement. “It’s midnight! Oh my comb! My comb!”
Sabrina handed the mother-of-pearl comb to her, and rescued the discarded mirror. Anemone did what she could in a few moments, and then looked anxiously at her friend. “How do I look? Is my hair all right? Is my belt as it should be?”
“You look wonderful,” Sabrina said soothingly, taking the comb and mirror from her. “You’ll conduct yourself superbly, and before the night is out you’ll have spread your new legs for Neptune.”
Anemone smiled and handed Sabrina her golden lute. “Then you had better hope I charm him, because if I don’t, and you play a false note, we’ll both be in disgrace.”
The orchestra and the entire gathering fell expectantly silent as the two mermaids approached the throne, and as usual there was much whispering from those who had never seen Sabrina before. But as she sat with the lute, all eyes moved to Anemone and the god. After its mystifying inaction, his phallus had suddenly become upright, and was a very impressive sight to behold. Certainly it was ready for anything!
He gazed lustfully at Anemone. It would have been more pleasant to describe his expression as adoring, but the look in his eyes and the alertness of his loins told tales on him. He had an itch for the saucy little temptress who’d been displaying her neat little crotch to him all night, and it had amused him to seem to ignore her. Officially, her first duty was to wait upon him from a table that groaned with delic
ious fruit, but he halted her.
“I have no appetite for that, my dear. Come here.” He patted his thigh, coincidentally in time to the lute.
Coloring, but clearly excited, Anemone went to him. His cock was enormous, she thought apprehensively. How on earth could it squeeze into a little mermaid like her?
He smiled and took his penis in his hand to masturbate until the head shone with moisture. Then he put his knees together. “On my knees, my dear. There, that’s better. Now, we are so different in size, my little sweetheart, that things have to be done a little unconventionally, but just follow what I say, and we’ll both have a fine old time. Right, it’s time to have a little ride, but don’t imagine this will be like a jaunt on your seahorse. Lean right forward now. No, don’t worry, for I have you tightly by the waist.”
Anemone did as he asked, although she felt unsafe as he slowly parted his thighs until she slipped gently down until her genitals were tilted toward his. Then, gently but firmly, he extended one arm around her waist and used his other hand to manipulate his cock to her entrance. “Now then, sweetheart, Neptune’s knob is about to slip homeward. There, gently does it, for I don’t want to hurt you.”
Her lips formed a startled O as his firm tip pushed just inside her, stretching her private flesh in a most extraordinarily exciting way. It was quite a squeeze, but such a one. Her eyes widened and she squirmed against him, unable to control the waves of pleasure that were already washing through her. Neptune was inside her, a god was copulating with her! She was so swept along with pleasure that she began to bounce against him, squealing all the time, and her nipples were so hard and outstanding that she felt sure they would suddenly fly off like one of Mr. Congreve’s newfangled rockets, of which she’d heard two officers speaking as they stood on the little quay at Blakenham. Neptune laughed with his own pleasure, holding the base of his cock so that it wouldn’t be jolted out and spoil the reward.
Sabrina tried to keep playing the lute, but it wasn’t easy. Anemone didn’t care that the crowd was watching or how much noise she made, nor was she concerned that many of the mermen were masturbating. Most of the mermaids stared in fascination, while those who’d occupied the god’s lap previously were more wistful. Anemone was oblivious to everything but the hefty phallus upon which she was pinned. She was having Neptune, and it felt good, good, GOOD!
“Yes!” she screeched. “Oh stop! No, keeping doing it! Oh, oh, oooooh!”
Neptune laughed again. He’d had too many mermaids to remember, but this one was entertaining. His dick was being pleasured most rewardingly, and in a moment she would find out what happened when a god came.
“Hold on, my dear,” he gasped, his laughter dying away as he felt the moment approaching. “No, no, keep bouncing. That’s it! Yessssssssss!” He bellowed as the first pulse shot up his shaft. It was so forceful and strong that he had to hold on to Anemone more tightly for fear she’d be catapulted away.
For a moment Anemone’s face was a picture of shock, but in a second she was squealing again, exulting in every divine, jerking pulse. The likes of Derwent would never do again, not after this!
Sabrina gave up trying to play. The lute was lost in the carnal racket, so there was little point.
Chapter Four
Meanwhile, Jake was making his way cautiously through the ancient woodland, climbing over moss-covered fallen trees, and around the gnarled girths of those still standing. He could hear many voices and was wary of happening upon a band of armed salmon poachers. The lights were still visible now and then, but they weren’t moving. Lanterns on the ground and on poles, he thought. The scoundrels were brazen, he thought, but then halted in alarm as the blasts of the conch shell horns sounded midnight. What in the name of Hades was that? He’d never heard such horns before.
He kept listening, but silence had fallen, and if it weren’t for the glimmer of lanterns he might almost have thought the riverbank was deserted. Then the most awful screeching carried on the still air. He was reminded of Dorothea von Hochgarten’s almost operatic peaks, which would surely have eclipsed the most shrill, daunting, full-bosomed, tremulous soprano at Covent Garden.
Then there was a great cheer, and a gabble of voices until all were silenced again by a stentorian male voice that seemed to boom through the night. Some great fellow was making a speech! What impudence, damn it! Jake’s indignation mounted as he neared the edge of the trees, but then he stepped on a tinder-dry twig that snapped very loudly.
In the clearing, Neptune broke off as he was about to toast the gathering, and there were uneasy gasps all around as everyone turned toward the sound. Only then did one of the god’s lookouts raise a belated alarm. There was instant pandemonium. Valuables were snatched up as the whole herd stampeded for the river, where the combined splashes sounded like an immense waterfall. The throne, tables, cushions, numerous belongings, and the telltale remains of a meal were left on the grass. As Neptune leapt into his shell chariot, taking Anemone with him, he realized the quizzing-glass was still on the throne. He shouted an order to Derwent, who pretended not to hear, and dived into the water, which seethed and boiled with the sheer number of escaping merfolk.
Sabrina was a little behind everyone, and cried out to Neptune that she would go back for the quizzing glass. The god waved gratefully before urging the four nervous hippocampi away from the bank. But as Sabrina ran back to the throne, Jake walked into the clearing only about thirty feet from her. She froze, the quizzing glass forgotten.
They stared at each other, and he recovered first. “Hey! You!”
Panic-stricken, she began to run away, but in the heat of the moment made for the trees, not the river. Dashing through the fringe of ferns into the shadows, she flung herself into the bushes and ferns where she’d hidden the valise of clothes in an old rabbit hole. There she lay still, trying not to breathe heavily, for the night was suddenly as silent as the grave.
Jake was rooted to the spot, so shocked that she was the only thing he noticed about the clearing. Whatever he’d expected to find, it hadn’t been a solitary young woman as delightfully naked as the day she’d been born. From the noise and number of lights, he’d thought to come upon a considerable number of people, but instead had heard their escape into the river. Except for her. Perhaps he’d imagined her? No, he hadn’t, for the ferns were still trembling where she’d passed. He began to pursue her, still unobservant of the throne or anything else, but as he reached the spot where she’d disappeared, everything was now so still and motionless that he knew he stood no chance of finding her. He paused, listening, but all he heard was the distant hooting of an owl. Who was she? He could almost fancy she’d been a naiad, for there had certainly been something otherworldly about her. Yes, surely she had to be a water nymph.
Sabrina parted the leaves and fronds to peep out at him. No, to gaze adoringly upon him for the first time in what seemed a lifetime. Was this how her mother had felt on seeing her father? She watched how the delicate breeze fluttered his shirt, and how the rippling cloth showed the dark hairs on his chest. How good it would be to be close enough to pull the shirt out of those tight breeches, and to slip her arms around him to kiss his chest and then his lips. His mouth would be soft but knowing, skilled but true, and his kiss would be like the breath of life itself to her. She longed to feel the warmth of his body and the hardness of his cock, which she dreamed would rise for her. It would…until he discovered she was half mermaid. The sting of salt told of her tears. She loved him with all her heart, which was still tender, even though it was only half human.
He suddenly sensed the secret scrutiny and turned sharply to look directly toward her. “Who are you? What are you doing on my land?” he demanded.
Convinced he could actually see her, Sabrina scrambled to her feet. He certainly saw her then, the moonlight revealing round, yielding breasts with nipples that cast little shadows. So too could he see the rest of her, the gentle curves, sweetly formed thighs, and the seductive little brush of ha
ir at her loins. He tore his eyes from her body to meet her eyes. In spite of the darkness he knew they were blue, just as he could tell that her tumbling curls were that delightful shade called tawny. His cock was awakening, for he thought her the loveliest woman he had ever seen, lovelier by far than Evangeline. He felt the tightening in his breeches, and wanted to enclose it with his hand in order to squeeze it and enjoy the sensation. But he didn’t. Not for anything on God’s own earth would he be crass enough to play with himself in front of her!
“Who are you?” he asked again, more civilly this time.
She didn’t answer. A thrill of desire delved between her legs and clutched her breasts. She fought against her craving, which urged her to run to him and kiss him with all the pent-up passion of the past years. But if she did that, he would capture her, which was something she dared not risk. So instead she gave in to the fear and fled again, this time disappearing completely among the trees.
Jake was spellbound by her haunting beauty, which lingered with him like a dream on waking. There was something about her that was almost bewitching…. He drew himself up angrily. His pretty nymph was a trespasser, and clearly up to no good or she wouldn’t have made a run for it! But oh how he’d like to sample that exquisite little body. He would imagine the delight of her warm flesh enclosing his cock, and of the acute gratification of coming inside her.
Now that she’d gone, he felt able to clutch his genitals and squeeze them tightly. Waves of excitement washed through him, but were they enough? No, they weren’t. She had aroused him too much, and he needed relief. Ashamed of himself, but unable to extinguish the ferocious need she’d generated, he moved in the cover of the trees, leaned back against a trunk and unfastened his breeches. His cock sprang out into his hand and he took it firmly between fingers and thumb, moving his hand with the same urgency as his craving. He didn’t want it to take long, he simply needed to alleviate the fleshly agony she caused him.