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.
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 and 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.”