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Still, I didn’t want to move away from those probing fingers. I leaned back on his hand and began to make some embarrassing noises as I squirmed and rubbed. Meanwhile, my hand was moving faster over his cock, and from the sounds he was making, I knew he was close to coming too. He put his hand over mine and took over, aggressive and demanding, sweeping away any protests I might have and making me take it. When my release came, it was at the same time as his, and it was sudden and intense. I cried out so loudly he had to put a hand over my mouth to keep me from flying apart. It went on and on, ending in little shock waves of pleasure that left us both drained and panting for breath.
When it was over, he lay beside me and trailed a hand down my back and hips. I think he drowsed a bit. The gods know, neither of us had slept much the night before. But then he rose to go over to the little table by the door for water from the pitcher. He made a grunting sound when he found it empty and opened the door to go out in the passageway, heedless of his nakedness.
He soon returned, making me think there must be a water barrel somewhere close by, and he had a pitcher full of water. He splashed some in the bowl and washed himself. Then he dipped a towel in the water and carefully wrung it out to bring it over to the bed and begin dabbing it at me.
“It’s cold, but better than nothing.”
It was so reminiscent of the old days when we used to “practice” in his room late at night that it caused me to choke up a little. I took it away from him in the end, because he was spending far more time than was necessary “cleaning” my groin. He began dressing again to go back up on deck. When he was done, he came over to stand beside me.
“As my prisoner, you’re mine to take care of. That’s all any of this was. Nothing more, so don’t get any ideas.”
The pain of his words struck me like a fist. I closed my eyes and rolled to my side to get away from him.
“I’m taking you to a healer I know by the name of Grimora. He’s more of a sorcerer, but he’ll know what to do. Can you put aside all this…whatever it is for now? At least until you see him? I was honest about my feelings for you. You can’t say I wasn’t.”
I frowned at the words—though they were true. If this Grimora had magical powers, then who better to remove this evil spell of depression and residual, unrequited feelings from me than a powerful sorcerer, if that’s what he truly was? The sooner it was lifted, along with any old, stubborn feelings I still had for Captain Devane, the better. Obviously, my Roxbury was gone, and I just needed to face it.
I turned my head slightly to speak to him over my shoulder. “Whatever, Captain. I’m not asking anything of you. Not ever again.”
He didn’t say a word in reply but just stood there staring down at me. After a while, he turned on his heel to stride toward the door. “Stay in here and batten down. We’re headed into a storm, and it’ll get much worse before the sun sets.”
With that ominous prediction, he left to go above, and I settled down, expecting an afternoon of rough seas. I wasn’t disappointed. Even though I had a strong stomach, it wasn’t strong enough for the pitch and roll of the ship. It was emptied of everything by nightfall, and I was braced in Roxbury’s bed, with my back wedged against one wall and my feet against the other, clinging to the sides. Even though we weren’t far out to sea, we were being pummeled by the waves.
Finally, after another couple of hours, things began to calm down and we weren’t being tossed around so much. After another hour passed, Roxbury came in, gray with exhaustion and carrying a small sea chest with him that he threw down by the door. He was so tired he was staggering and murmured only a few words to me before sliding off his boots and falling on the bed beside me like a pole-axed steer. I got up by crawling over him and then spent a few minutes looking down at him. Finally, I gave in and wrestled with his wet clothing. I removed as much of it as I could, then covered him with a blanket, grabbed another one for myself and made myself as comfortable as I could in his big captain’s chair.
I realized that now he was here beside me, I could finally relax. And how pathetic was that?
The ancient Greeks—or perhaps it was the Babylonians… Sumerians? Anyway, somebody had creation stories about when the world began that I’d found interesting. Many cultures have these origin stories, and I thought they were all fascinating to hear, but I’d always loved this one the most. It was about how when the ancient gods made men, they made them with two bodies, but stuck the bodies together, like conjoined twins. Men were happy that way, and they felt complete. But the gods became jealous, because men were so fulfilled in just themselves—there was no need for anyone or anything else. So, jealously, they split men in two, and ever since then, we have searched endlessly for our other half. Unfortunately, few of us ever found them again. I thought maybe I’d found mine when I was still just a boy.
Now he was back, after so many years apart, and we simply couldn’t fit the pieces back together again. I was ready to stop trying. Now if only I could convince my heart.
Chapter Six
Roxbury
I barely even remembered lying down, much less going to sleep, but I awoke the next morning as the sun came filtering through the porthole right into my eyes. I felt for Brandon and was alarmed not to find him beside me. I sat bolt upright and was ready to run up to the deck to search for him when I heard the soft snores coming from across the room.
I fell back against the pillow then, my heartbeat settling back to normal. Now that I had him again, the thought of losing him was alarming and abhorrent. I didn’t want to examine the reasons too much, but I was pleased that he’d had enough sense to stay in my quarters during the storm and not venture out on deck against my orders, though at one point I’d been afraid of the huge waves swamping us, and I’d almost gone below to fetch him and keep him at my side. Better to have him there beside me if things had gotten any worse. Thankfully, we’d passed through the worst of it without too much damage, and I’d told the first mate to put us in at the nearest port, so we could see to repairs.
The storm had blown us past the tip of Cardmon and we were now nearing the southern tip of Igella. The country’s main port was close to its border with Morovia, and seeing as how the king of Morovia and the King’s Regent of Igella were two of my dearest enemies, I’d do a great deal to avoid both of them. I settled instead for a small, isolated and rocky cove on the eastern coast, where we could drop anchor and see to repairs with little danger of being observed.
It was a wild area, full of granite boulders that reached into the sea and rugged mountains, with no settlements close by. It was perfect for my purposes. We wouldn’t be there for a couple of hours yet, so while I wanted nothing more than to turn over and go back to sleep, I made myself get up to wash and find clean clothing. Well, cleaner, anyway, all things being relative. I settled for dry pants and a shirt, and then I went above to forage for some food for both of us, as I was starving.
Having cajoled the cook to give me a couple of pieces of dried beef, some cheese, a few boiled eggs that I knew Brandon would like, along with a piece of salt pork and a loaf of bread, I went below with my feast. I was pleased to see Brandon was up and had moved over to the bed, which he was trying to straighten up from the night before.
“Come and eat,” I told him, unloading everything onto my desk. I knew he was used to much finer fare, but I was pleased to see him look up with interest and then after a moment when I thought he might refuse, he finally came over to dig in, paying special attention to the cheese and eggs.
“Tell me about the storm,” he said softly, and I shrugged.
“Not much to tell. The Lumian Sea is known for them at this time of year. We’ll have to keep a sharp eye until we pass into the Gilead Bay, but I think the storms have passed for now. It’s getting late for them. They need warmer seas to develop.”
“Why have we dropped anchor?”
“We need to make some repairs to the ship and the men need some time ashore to replenish our stores.”
“Here in the middle of nowhere?” he asked, gesturing toward the porthole, where nothing but tall mountains could be seen.
“The men can hunt. Game is plentiful in Igella. And we can find some fresh water to replenish our barrels.”
