by LM Brown
“Or maybe you’re just noticing them more.”
“Perhaps.” Caspian placed Marin’s foot down on the floor and sat back on his heels. “There you go.”
He moved to rise, but Marin stopped him with a nudge of his foot. “I like you down there.”
Something in Marin’s voice sent a shiver down Caspian’s spine. He glanced at Marin’s groin, saw he was hard and swiftly looked away. There were times when he did rather wish the mer would wear clothing.
“Caspian, I want to have sex with you.”
“Marin…”
Marin placed a finger over Caspian’s lips. “I know what you said before, and I think we’re ready.”
“What makes you think so?” Caspian asked.
“Don’t you think we are?” Marin replied.
“I’m not sure. Sometimes I think so, then you’ll say something or look at me a certain way, and suddenly I’m thinking about Phoebus and remembering how he’d use the same phrase and had the same glint in his eye.”
Marin smiled and shook his head. “Perhaps I’m looking at you the same way because I’m feeling the same as he did.”
Caspian lowered his gaze, his hopes rising along with his cock. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask about Calder, but he couldn’t bring himself to say the words that might shatter this moment.
It seemed that Marin had anticipated his concern. “I’ve not forgotten Calder, and I don’t need to tell you that I never will. But I’m ready to love you too.”
Caspian rose on his knees to meet Marin’s lips as he leaned down.
For a brief moment the memory of the last time he’d kissed Phoebus flitted across his mind. The ghost of his former lover was banished when Marin slipped his tongue into Caspian’s mouth and took control of the kiss.
Caspian moaned as Marin pulled him up onto his lap and tugged at his clothes.
“Damn it, Caspian, robes were so much easier to remove.”
“They aren’t exactly in fashion these days,” Caspian pointed out.
“Which hardly matters here on the island,” Marin replied as he fumbled with the buttons of Caspian’s shirt.
With no such obstacles in his own path, Caspian wasted no time in running his hands over Marin’s chest. So familiar and yet also different. He rubbed his thumb over the nubs of Marin’s nipples, causing Marin to moan loudly in response.
“You like that?” Caspian whispered.
“Yes!”
Caspian pinched the nub, squeezing it tight. “How about that?”
“Fuck!”
Marin pulled back and swatted Caspian’s hands away. “I need you naked, now.”
Caspian chuckled and climbed off him so he could undress. “How would you like to take this upstairs?”
“Is there something wrong with the living room?”
Caspian nodded to the portal crystal. “Only that this is where unexpected guests appear.”
“Ah, I see. I guess I’m not the only one to have changed over the centuries. You didn’t used to be so shy. I remember when you whipped out your cock right there in the temple so I could suck it.”
“That was before I understood what it was to love someone.” Caspian held out his hand for Marin to take.
They went upstairs and Caspian guided Marin over to the bed. “What do you want to do?” he asked.
Marin took hold of Caspian’s cock. “I want to suck this.”
“You know I’d never have a problem with that idea,” Caspian said as he sat on the edge of the bed and tossed a pillow onto the floor.
Marin knelt before him and smiled. “It might not be what I need to break my fever, but I do like the feel of a stiff cock in my mouth and the taste of a man’s pleasure when he comes.”
“No one ever sucked me quite as well as you did.”
“Never?” Marin gave him a skeptical frown.
Caspian took Marin’s face in his hands. “No one.”
With a wicked grin, Marin dove on Caspian’s cock, taking it deep into his mouth, and sucking with such enthusiasm Caspian worried he might embarrass himself.
He didn’t need to worry. Marin knew what to do to hold him on the brink. He gripped him at the root until the desperate need to come had passed, before beginning the process all over again.
Caspian let Marin set the pace. He moaned encouragement but without thrusting into his lover’s mouth.
As Marin licked and teased him, Caspian could tell he was using his knowledge from his time as Phoebus to give him the most pleasure he could. It was strange that even though they were taking their first real steps to becoming lovers, Marin knew his body so well already.
“Marin, I’m going to… Marin…”
Caspian’s warning went ignored. Marin sucked him down to almost the base. Caspian came with a shudder, filling Marin’s mouth with his cum. Marin hummed contentedly as he drank him down before letting him go.
“Good?” he asked.
Caspian snorted. “Like you even need to ask. Now, come up here and kiss me.”
Marin hopped up and pushed Caspian down onto the mattress.
“I like it when you take charge,” Caspian said as he grabbed Marin’s buttocks and pulled him closer.
“Good, because I like being the one on top.”
Marin wriggled around until he was straddling him, his arse nudging Caspian’s cock, which hadn’t yet got the message that he was no longer an immortal with incredible stamina and seemed to want to participate in the next round too.
Caspian waited for Marin to settle down, eager to see what he had in mind now. He wasn’t kept waiting for long. Marin stroked his cock as he met Caspian’s eyes.
“You like watching me?” Marin asked.
“Yes.”
Marin grinned and raised himself up a little. “How about touching me?”
Caspian didn’t need any more encouragement. He slid his hand between Marin’s legs and stroked him.
Marin moaned and rocked against Caspian’s hand, his own hand still on his stiff length. “I need you in me.”
“I can’t get it up again just yet,” Caspian said with a laugh.
“Use your fingers,” Marin ordered. “Fuck, Caspian, I should have asked Finn to order some of his toys for us.”
Caspian nearly choked. “What do you know about Finn’s toys?”
“Enough to know I should have put an order in months ago,” Marin replied. “That’s it, Caspian. You feel so good inside me. I need more, give me more.”
Caspian inserted a second finger into Marin’s arse and was surprised to find the merman stretched more than he would have expected. “Are you sure you’ve not been borrowing one of Finn’s toys?”
Marin shook his head and moaned loudly. “No…fuck…just been doing a bit to prepare myself the last few days.”
“It sounds like you’ve been planning this.”
Marin gave him a what a stupid question sort of look. “I have. Fuck!”
Caspian stroked Marin’s prostate, causing him to cry out as he began to spill over his chest. “That’s it, Marin. Let me see you come.”
Marin didn’t need Caspian to do much. He fucked himself on Caspian’s fingers with the determination of a man who knew what he wanted and had every intention of getting it.
“More… fuck… more,” Marin pleaded, until Caspian eased a third finger inside, and Marin lost the power of speech altogether.
Watching his lover lose control was as thrilling to Caspian as anything else they had done, and he cursed his lack of stamina. He yearned to be inside Marin, watching his merman ride his cock with the same abandon he now rode his fingers.
Marin cried out as he came, collapsing onto Caspian’s chest, his breathing ragged and short.
“Caspian?” Marin whispered a short while later.
“Yes?”
“Are you sure you can’t persuade your parents to at least give you back your power to come a dozen times a night?”
Caspian laughed. “Sorry, darling, bu
t I’m afraid you’re going to have to put up with a mere mortal from now on.”
Marin propped his chin on Caspian’s chest. “Darling?”
Caspian’s face heated. “Sorry. It just slipped out.”
“It’s fine. I like it. I’m just worried about the solstice.”
“Why? I told you. Whatever you need from me, you can have it. I let you fuck me last solstice, remember?”
“I know… It’s just…”
“Marin, whenever you want to fuck me, you only have to ask, and on the solstice, you don’t even need to do that. I’ll be right here, my legs spread, ready for you to give my arse a pounding.”
“I know. It’s not that that’s worrying me.”
“Then what is it?”
“I’m mer and you know what our sex drives are like during the mating season. What if I wear you out?”
Caspian couldn’t help it. He laughed loudly until Marin smacked him on the chest.
“I’m serious. When we were together—when I was Phoebus, I mean—we fucked all the time. I’m just as horny now.”
Caspian got his mirth under control, though not without some difficulty. “Marin, just across the island there is a human named Jake. He lives with two mermen who both go through the mating season, the same as you do. As far as I’ve seen, he manages to keep up with them, satisfy them and even do chores around the house. I’m pretty sure that if he can keep up with two of you sex maniacs, I can manage one.”
“Then you’re not missing your powers right now?”
Caspian sighed. “I’m always missing my powers but there’s nothing I can do about it, so why worry about something I can’t change?”
“Is there no chance they could be restored to you? I mean, is it even possible?”
“Oh yes, it’s possible but highly unlikely. Besides, I’m not sure I’d even want to be immortal again, not now.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Probably, but I would rather not watch the man I love grow old and die while I stay forever young. I’m quite fond of the idea of sitting out there on the veranda with you beside me, watching the sun go down during the twilight of our lives.”
“That was very poetic,” Marin teased. “Have you been reading those stories in Atlantis too?”
“There’s no need for me to read them. I was alive when the events they portray were happening.”
Marin chuckled as he snuggled into Caspian’s side. “You can’t fool me. You’re a closet romantic.”
Caspian harrumphed and declined to comment. He supposed there were worse things to be.
Chapter Twenty-One
Of all the things Caspian missed about being immortal, being summoned to attend a council of the gods definitely wasn’t one of them. Admittedly, there had been relatively few meetings during the centuries while the vast majority of the immortals had been sleeping. During those years, Andaman had taken on the role of leader of the pantheon. As a bit of a loner, he’d only called a meeting when he absolutely had to. After the rest of the gods had woken, the meetings had occurred with annoying frequency.
Having been stripped of his powers, he’d thought that would be the last time he’d have to hear the call to come and sit through one of the wretched things.
“What is it?” Marin asked.
Caspian smiled down at the sleep-rumpled merman. “Nothing to worry about, just a summons from the gods. They probably didn’t mean to include me in it. Just go back to sleep.”
Marin nudged him with his morning wood. “I’m wide awake now.”
“So I see,” Caspian replied as he dove under the covers and took Marin’s cock into his mouth.
He ignored the second summons, just as he had the first. When he visited his mother, he’d ask her to mention to the pantheon that he was still being included in the general call, and hopefully they would figure out a way to take him out of the loop.
“Caspian!”
The sound of his mother yelling his name was enough to kill his erection entirely.
“Maybe they did mean to include you in the summons,” Marin suggested with a sigh of annoyance.
Caspian didn’t blame him for his irritation. He was similarly frustrated right now.
“Caspian, didn’t you hear the summons?” Her voice was closer now, right at the bottom of the stairs. Caspian supposed he should be grateful that she hadn’t materialized right in the bedroom.
“Yes, I heard it,” Caspian called as he staggered out of bed and pulled on a bathrobe. He covered himself just in time for his mother to appear in the doorway.
“Then what are you still doing in bed?” Odessa asked.
“Sucking Marin’s cock,” Caspian replied with a wink at Marin, whose face was turning various shades of red.
“You know that’s not what I meant. When the council summon you, you have a duty to answer the call immediately.”
Caspian shrugged. “I thought I was included by mistake. It’s not like I have any say in the matters of the gods now.”
“You have a say in this one,” his mother stated. “Now get dressed and present yourself in the council chamber.”
Caspian walked over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
“You aren’t going to wear those, are you?” Odessa frowned critically at his chosen clothing.
“They’re clean,” Caspian replied, right before his mother ripped them out of his hands and tossed them aside.
“Let me see,” she said as she rifled through his wardrobe, tutting and huffing as she discarded one outfit after another. “How is it my son has no taste in clothes at all?”
“I have plenty of taste,” Caspian argued. “I just happen to have moved with the times.”
His mother gave up on his clothing collection and dressed him herself with a wave of her hand.
“Urgh,” Caspian moaned when he realized what she had put him in.
“What are you complaining about?” Odessa asked. “It’s modern.”
“I don’t wear suits,” Caspian muttered.
“You’re attending a meeting of the Atlantean pantheon. You can put up with it for an hour or two.”
“How long is this meeting going to last?” The thought of a couple of hours listening to the immortals squabbling wasn’t pleasant and certainly not how he’d intended to spend the morning. He glanced at Marin. So much for a lazy morning in bed with his lover.
His mother ignored his question and grabbed him by the arm. A moment later they stood in the council chamber. Caspian tried to hide an ill-timed yawn. Damn it. Had they always called these things at the crack of dawn?
“It’s about time,” Antar said. “Did you think that being mortal meant you could show up here whenever you felt like it?”
Caspian sat down in his usual seat. “I thought it was a mistake.”
“The gods don’t make mistakes.”
“Of course you do,” Caspian replied. “You just don’t admit it.”
He stifled a second yawn while silently cursing his lack of coffee. His father, seated on his right, produced a steaming mug and placed it in front of him. Caspian thought he had quite possibly never loved his father more than he did in that moment. It was funny how he was fully alert when he’d been going down on Marin, but now that he had to sit through a meeting, he could barely keep his eyes open.
“Now that we’re all here,” Antar said, “let’s get down to business. We all know what the problem is.”
Caspian didn’t have a clue, but he had no intention of prolonging the agony by asking. He’d no doubt figure it out as the meeting dragged on, along with why he’d been summoned.
It seemed Caspian was the only one in the dark. Everyone else around the table nodded and there was a fair amount of whispering. Unfortunately, he no longer had the power to pick up anything of what they were saying.
Antar gestured to Cari for her to take the floor. “Granddaughter, if you’d like to tell us what your Oracle reported to you.”
Ca
ri stood and faced the room. She didn’t meet Caspian’s eyes and seemed to be focusing at the opposite end of the table. He should have tried to pin her down and find out what the problem was before now. He had just been so busy, learning how to be human, as well as getting to know Marin. He guessed he had been neglecting his sister, but in fairness, she hadn’t made any effort to see him either and appeared to be avoiding him.
“Ula, my current Oracle of the future, had a prolonged and distressing vision last night. She saw an attack on the new mer colony by Mariana’s priests. There were many casualties, caused by the destruction of the caverns the mer are currently inhabiting.”
Cari sat down.
“Thank you,” Antar said. “Mariana, explain yourself.”
“What’s to explain?” Mariana replied.
“You stated that as long as the mer vacated Atlantis and the surrounding waters, they would be left in peace. Why are your priests now heading for the new colony?”
“My priests go where they please. I do not seek to restrict them in how they carry out their duties.”
“Their duties appear to be terrorizing the mer. This isn’t the first time we’ve had to call a meeting regarding the actions of your sea dragons. For the last two months, they have been dangerously close to discovery by humans, risking the exposure of not only themselves, but also the mer.”
“I really don’t see the problem,” Mariana said.
“The problem,” Cari snarled, “is that your priests seem to have made it their mission in life to drive the mer from the oceans, and when they meet with resistance, they murder whoever stands in their way.”
“Those mutants are not fit to live in my domain. If you all love them so much, find them somewhere to live on land.”
“The mer are creatures of the sea,” Caspian pointed out. “They need the water to survive.”
Mariana glared at him. “You stay out of this. As a mortal, this has nothing to do with you. I don’t even see why you’ve been brought to this meeting.”
“That makes two of us,” Caspian said. “But since I am here, I might as well offer my opinion.”
Antar banged on the table. “You’re here, Caspian, because you have close ties with the mer and because the majority of the gods feel you should be allowed to participate in the forthcoming vote.”