Liam guided them to a residential area close to the center of the city, coming to rest outside a large elegant structure that looked like a miniature version of the Parthenon. “Here we are.”
Nick noticed the surly look on Aidan’s face and grabbed his hand, squeezing it. “Let’s just make nice for his mom and get out of here, okay?” he murmured. “How bad could it be?”
Aidan pulled him in, kissing him on the temple. “Bad.”
****
Aidan was wrong, Nick quickly learned. It was worse.
“I do hope you’re enjoying your fish, Bearer,” Lady Eine said. “I’m sorry the first course wasn’t to your taste.”
He looked down at the large pile of raw tuna in front of him. Think of it as sashimi, dammit. He managed a polite smile. “It’s great, thank you.”
As it turned out, mers ate Roman style, lying across a kind of floating shelf anchored to the floor by chains. The shelves were arranged in a circle so that the diners could chat while they ate, and food was brought into the room by servants. Unsurprisingly, sauces were nonexistent, and the food tended to be a variety of fish and different kinds of edible undersea plants.
At least the tuna had been an improvement on the still living crabs that had been the meal’s first course. He’d swallowed hard as Eine, Liam, and Aidan tucked into their crabs with relish. It was no different from tossing a lobster alive into a pot of boiling water, he tried to tell himself. But at least the damn thing is dead when you actually start eating it.
Eine was still watching him. Dammit. He picked up a chunk of tuna and bit off a piece, chewing stoically. The fish was obviously fresh so the taste actually wasn’t bad, but he still would have preferred some soy sauce and pickled ginger.
She smiled. “I was hoping that you would tell us the tale of how you met my son,” she said. “The Oracle had foretold that he would be mated to a la—to a male of the land. We’re all dying to find out how he met you.”
He glanced at Aidan and Liam. The panicked looks on their faces prompted him to improvise. “Aidan had to take shelter in a cove during a bad storm,” he said. “That’s where I met him. Liam came by the next night looking for him.”
“Really?” She nibbled a bit of tuna. “And you weren’t surprised at all to find out that you’d been handed over by the Fates to a pair of creatures whose existence you hadn’t believed in until that moment? Or are you one of those charming humans who always believed in mermaids?”
Oh, this was a minefield. “I admit, finding out I was an agapetos came as a surprise. But now that we’re together, I wouldn’t trade them for the world,” Nick said carefully, giving his mers a reassuring smile. “As for merfolk, I did consider them to be mythical because I hadn’t seen any evidence to the contrary until recently. Now that I know you exist, I think it’s great. Just from the little I’ve seen of it, it’s obvious that Bright Water is a stupendously gorgeous place, and your technology is incredible.”
“Yes, it arose as a direct result of having to hide ourselves from your kind,” Eine said tartly. “Humans have had a millennia-long habit of looting and pillaging people they see as weaker or less human. As we aren’t human at all, I can only imagine what your world would do to ours if they learned about it.”
He had to give her that. “I know my people don’t have the best track record when it comes to dealing fairly with other cultures,” he said, toying with a piece of fish. “But we’re working on it. Things are getting better every year.”
Liam’s mother gave him a thin smile. “Hm. Perhaps in a few centuries we may be able to come out of hiding, then.”
“Mother, have the Elders approved my leave of absence?” Liam cut in quickly. “If I’m going to be spending time on land, I’ll need to put my studies on hold temporarily.”
Eine made a dismissive gesture. “I see no reason why you should need to do that,” she said. “The Bearer can obviously survive in our world, and in any case he’d be much safer here. There’s no reason for any of you to return to the land.”
Nick watched Aidan and Liam exchange a quick look. The damned thing was, she had a point. “I’m afraid I have to go back, Lady Eine,” he said carefully. “For one thing, I have to continue my studies with Chiron.”
“Who can appear here just as easily as he can on land.”
His temper started to rise. “Plus I have to arrange to move out of my apartment and bring all my belongings down from Chicago. Not to mention my dog is at my cottage and I can’t just leave her there.”
“Dog?”
“It’s a pet animal, mother,” Liam said. “Like a moray.”
Eine waved a slender hand at that. “Oh. Well, we can always find you a pet here. Perhaps a nice octopus?”
“I’m not staying,” Nick said bluntly.
The circle went quiet. “I see,” Eine finally said, the words slow but sharp. “But you have no problem keeping my son in your world.”
The barb landed. “I’m not keeping him in my world. He’s free to come and go as he chooses.”
“Except that he can’t if he’s to abandon his studies and become your bodyguard,” she said. “Thus, he’s trapped in your world. Where’s the fairness in that, Bearer?”
Nick glanced at Liam. The tall mer frowned, staring at his plate.
“On the other hand, if you wish to return and take,” she paused, nodding at Aidan, “him with you, that would make more sense. He is a ranger, after all, and is quite accustomed to violence. He’d make a much better bodyguard than my son, who has a great deal of work ahead of him.”
Liam looked up, flushing. “Mother, stop this.”
“Stop what?” Eine said. Spots of color had come out on her cheekbones, and she lifted her chin. “Stop trying to look out for your best interests, and the best interests of our pod? You will be on the Elder council one day. That is your destiny, what you’ve worked towards all your life.”
“Because you pushed me to do it,” Liam snapped. “You never asked me what I wanted to do. You simply arranged my life for me in order to suit what you wanted.”
Eine rose slightly from her shelf, her expression hardening. “I have spent the better part of my life doing what is best for my people,” she said. “Leading them, protecting them, helping them to not only survive but to thrive. How can you think I would not do the same for my son?”
“What you think is best for me and what I think is best are two different things,” Liam fired back. “I’m not a triton, to be ordered about like an obedient soldier. For the gods’ sake, I had to escape my own home and go on a quest just to prove that Aidan was my chuisle.”
She shook her head, fine strands of hair floating around her. “Forgive me for thinking you already had a suitable mate ready and waiting for you. And you were happy with Colm.”
“I was friends with Colm. There’s a difference.”
“That’s enough.” Aidan kicked off his couch, one tail stroke moving him to Nick’s side. “As always, Lady Eine, your hospitality is memorable, but Nick and I are leaving. Liam, you can join us when you’re ready.”
Nick saw the Elder’s jaw drop in outrage as Aidan hauled him out of the room. Yeah, that could have gone better.
Chapter Eleven
Nick managed to snag the propeller he’d left in the anteroom before Aidan pulled him outside. “Is Liam going to be all right?” he said, taking the handholds and turning it on at low speed.
“He’ll be fine,” Aidan bit out, letting him go. “He’s grown a backbone despite Eine’s best efforts.”
Nick bumped up the propeller speed a notch to keep up with Aidan’s angry kicks. “Has she always been like that?”
“Towards me and my family, yes,” Aidan said bitterly. “She’s been trying to push Li and Col together since they were fry. My family aren’t nearly good enough for her, despite the fact that my da was in charge of the grotto’s hydrogen plant for years.” He grimaced, fists clenching at his sides. “They finally moved to Swift Water just to get
away from her nasty little tricks. Gods, I loathe that stuck-up bitch.”
He turned abruptly down a narrow road, flicking his tail and cutting his speed at the end. Nick had to fumble with the propeller to do the same, legs swinging out in front as the little machine pushed him backwards. They wound up in front of a building that looked like the mer equivalent of a duplex, with wide round windows and doors covered with latticework screens. Aidan glided to the upper level’s door, pressing his palm against a round white panel set to the side. The door swung open silently.
“Palm locks,” Nick said faintly, following the mer inside. “Nice.”
The interior was your typical bachelor pad, Nick guessed, judging by the prosaic decorations and random things scattered here and there. It certainly didn’t look anything like Eine’s lavish home. A semi-circular great room with creamy walls and soft moss on both the ceiling and floor had been furnished with velvety net hammocks and other pieces of furniture Nick didn’t recognize. Doors led off to a bedroom, a food prep area, and what he quickly learned was a mer bathroom.
Aidan showed him how to use the negative pressure toilet, a shaped oval projection that looked like a weird urinal. Yanking down his swim briefs, Nick sighed in relief as his bladder, which had been nagging him for the last hour, emptied. “How do you handle solid waste?” he called over his shoulder.
“Turn around and sit on it.”
“What about wiping?”
Aidan stuck his head in the small room. “Oh. Most mer solid waste isn’t all that solid. We usually just squirt it out and let the water wash anything else away. Do you, uh—"
“I’m good for now,” Nick assured him, pulling up his briefs. “But we’re going to have to come up with the marine equivalent of toilet paper if I’m going to be a regular here. Plus food that I can eat without having to look it in the eye.”
“We can get all that set up for you. Are you thirsty at all?”
Nick considered. The fact that he was breathing water kept his throat moist, but it was still salt water. Swallowing it would eventually throw him into sodium overload and shut down his kidneys. “I think I’m going to need some fresh water soon, yeah.”
“Not a problem. We can get that from the hydrogen plant.” Aidan sighed, rubbing at his cheek. “I’m sorry, Nick. I shouldn’t have yanked you out of there like that. Eine just irritates the shit out of me.”
“Yeah, I could tell.” Nick swam closer, wrapping his arms around the mer’s shoulders. “It’s okay, gorgeous. I get the feeling she isn’t going to approve of me either, Bearer or no Bearer.”
Aidan pulled him closer with a soft rumble. “Screw her. The three of us are together, and there’s nothing she can do about it.” He gave Nick a brief but sweet kiss, pulling him back into the great room. “Oh, hey, that reminds me. I want to introduce you to someone.”
Nick recoiled as a long spotted shape moved sinuously from under one of the netting hammocks. “Shit! What is that?” he yelped.
Aidan grinned, tugging him over to the hammock. “That’s Moira, our moray eel.”
“Your what?”
The large eel twined around Aidan’s tail playfully, beaky mouth opening and closing as he scratched her back. “Who’s a good girl then,” he cooed at her. “Come on, Nick, you can pet her. Just keep your hands away from her mouth unless you’re feeding her.”
Gingerly, Nick ran his hand along the moray’s back. It felt like thin, slick plastic with something rubbery and dense underneath. “She’s your pet?”
“Yes. You have Norma, we have Moira.” Aidan chuckled. “Although I don’t think they’re ever going to get a chance to meet.”
“Yeah, probably not.” More comfortable now, Nick rubbed the moray’s head and was rewarded with a happy wriggle. “She’s kinda cute.”
“She’s our sweet girl, aren’t you, baby?” Aidan cooed to the eel, still stroking her. “And so smart. She’s won first place in the Moray Agility Competition the last two years running. My captain borrows her for our search and rescue team when they need to investigate a rockfall.”
Before Nick could ask about that they both heard a dull clank from the door. Liam swum inside, glowering at Aidan. “Are you trying to make this harder for me?” he asked. “Dammit, I know my mother can be difficult, but you’re not helping.”
The smile disappeared from Aidan’s face. “Difficult? She’s a manipulative bitch, and you know it.”
Liam’s mouth tightened. “I need her support to get an exemption from the council and be able to stay on land,” he said. “You storming out and dragging Nick with you didn’t make that any easier.”
Aidan scowled, cuddling Moira closer. “I won’t sit there and be insulted,” he muttered.
The big mer threw his hands up. “If you had stayed, you would have heard me tell her to stop insulting you and start accepting you as her mate-son! Now I have to go back tomorrow and apologize for you as well as grovel for my exemption.”
Nick decided to head off the incipient fight. “Um, guys, just a thought? If all three of us go back tomorrow and make nice with your mother, it might help things.” Aidan opened his mouth, but he held up a hand. “No, Aid, he’s right. We should have stayed there, so now we’ll fix it together.”
He pointed at Liam. “As for getting your exemption, I am the right hand of a god. Your mom might not be impressed by that, but I bet it’ll carry weight with the other Elders. And if necessary I can ask By or Aph to come down here and have a word with them.”
Liam’s mouth twitched. “You have a point, love. Although it still sounds so odd to hear the sea lords referred to by nicknames.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not big on formality.” Nick turned to Aidan. “Gorgeous, you in on this?”
The mer ran a hand through his hair, still looking mutinous. “If I have to.”
Liam swam to his finned mate, gently touching his arm. “I’m sorry, my heart. I know how you feel about her. I wouldn’t have taken you there if I didn’t have to.”
Aidan sighed, a stream of bubbles escaping the corner of his mouth. “I know. And I’m sorry, too. She just knows which strands to yank. But you’re right. I shouldn’t have put you in that position.” He pushed back a bit, then sank closer to the floor until his hands rested against it and his tail stretched out behind him. To Nick’s eyes, it looked like a yoga move. “I should be punished for my rudeness, Maighstir.”
“No.” Liam ran his hands through Aidan’s hair before clutching it, pulling his head back gently so that Aidan had to look up. “You should be punished for not trusting me to handle the situation. Have I ever left you undefended, my heart?”
“No, Maighstir.”
“And why is that?”
“Because you will always take care of me and make sure I have what I need.”
“Correct. Now, should we put this off until later, or do you want your punishment now?”
Nick recognized the glint in Aidan’s green eyes, the sign of a sub who wanted his Dom’s attention. “Now, Maighstir. And Nick can help you.”
“Then go to the bedroom and prepare.”
Aidan obeyed, swimming quickly through the first door. Liam planted his fists on his hips, studying Nick. “Do you want to help me with this?”
Nick’s throat tightened with excitement. “I think so. But I’ve never really been on this side before.”
Liam crossed to him, cupping his cheek and gently running a thumb over the stubbled skin. “That’s something we’ll have to explore together,” he said. “You may find that you enjoy it. As for Aidan, he’s very proud of his ability to suffer for my pleasure. I find myself in the mood to indulge him, with your assistance.”
As it turned out, dropping to his knees wasn’t that easy in buoyant salt water. Nick tucked his arms behind his back and bowed his head instead. “I’m yours to use, Maighstir.”
“Excellent. Come with me.”
Liam’s body language changed, becoming more self-assured and commanding as he turned an
d swam into the bedroom. Nick floundered a bit behind him, staring at the sinuous flexing of his Dom’s muscles. Even the mer’s tail was a study in power and beauty.
His eyes widened when they entered the bedroom. He’d already seen the soft netting strung in the corner that served as a mer bed and the built-in shelves that held a variety of things, but the body-sized metal circle suspended from the ceiling was new. He looked up and realized the form had been held against the ceiling when Aidan first showed him the room.
Aidan crouched in the mer form of kneeling in front of the circle, head bowed. “Take your position,” Liam ordered, going to one of the cubbyholes and bringing out a handful of ropes.
Aidan rose, turning to the circle and grabbing it at two places on the upper curve where metal links had been attached. The base of his tail right above the fluke pressed between two other links on the lower curve.
It dawned on Nick that the circle was the mer version of a St. Andrew’s cross. With a solid tail, an X shape would be inappropriate for restraint, and the buoyancy of the water provided extra access to a sub’s body that would be blocked by a Y-shaped restraint. He linked his hands behind his back and let his legs drift open, bent slightly at the knee, as he watched Liam bind Aidan to the ring with rope cuffs.
Once Liam was satisfied that Aidan’s circulation hadn’t been cut off by the cuffs, he went back to the cubby that had held the rope and pulled out something that looked like an oversized cat comb.
“The methods of mer power play differ a bit from human BDSM,” he said to Nick, setting the comb at the nape of Aidan’s neck and gently drawing it down. Aidan’s back humped under the stroke, pressing into it. “Impact toys such as paddles and floggers don’t work well here due to drag. Canes and whips provide some sting, but they aren’t as effective as they are on land. So we use other toys to inflict sensation on a sub.”
Olympic Cove 2-Breaker Zone Page 21