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When it was finally over, a long time later, I rolled to my back and pulled him with me, unable to bear parting from him. He lay sprawled on top of me, his legs splayed open, and his cock still erect and pointing straight out from his body. I eased him off me and then got up on my knees to examine him. He wasn’t torn, thank the gods, and I vowed never to do this to him again. Never.
More than likely, anyway.
Not unless he said I could.
Chapter Ten
Brandon
The next morning passed in a kind of blur. I felt almost drunk, and I was so sore I was convinced I couldn’t walk. Like most things, of course, that was my body’s exaggeration. Roxbury was worried sick and went to fetch Grimora, though I ordered him not to.
Grimora came and examined me, which was excruciatingly embarrassing for all three of us, since Roxbury was hovering over me like a mother hen. Grimora went to his shelves and came back with a jar of ointment and one of his tisanes for me to choke down, and Roxbury insisted on rubbing on the salve and on feeding me the tisane.
He held a spoon of the potion up to my mouth coaxingly, pretending to have patience. When I turned my head away from the smell of it, he snapped. “You have to take this, damn it. Grimora said it would help, and you still have to walk all the way down to the boat when it gets here. Don’t think I’m going to be hauling you down there. You’re way too heavy.”
“Thanks,” I said. “It’s good of you to come to me in my hour of need to yell at me like this.”
He narrowed his eyes at me and shook the teaspoon again, spilling most of it back in the bowl. In the end, I got most of it down, and it tasted horrible, but it worked like—well, like a charm. By mid-morning, I felt pretty much back to normal, and I knew Grimora’s magic, though he’d downplayed it earlier—must be pretty powerful indeed.
I lay back on the furs after the potion, resting, while Roxbury went out and signaled to his ship for his men to begin making their way to shore.
When I started moving around a bit, I allowed Grimora to coax me into eating something, though it was still hard to face him. He acted so matter-of-fact about it, though, that I tried to play along, like all the noise Roxbury and I had both made the night before hadn’t disturbed anyone. If he could pretend, then so could I.
“You should begin to see the effects of the mating and blood exchange soon,” Grimora said. “Within the next few days, if my theory is correct. You should begin to feel better.”
I nodded, and the next minute, Roxbury came back in, bringing with him the smell of the sea. He’d been down to the beach, and his trousers still had wet sand clinging to them.
“Get ready, Brandon, the boat is here to pick us up and the men are nervous.” He turned to Grimora and self-consciously, it seemed to me, held out his hand. “Thank you,” he said. “What do I owe you?”
“Whatever you think it was worth.”
He turned a little pale but pulled out a pouch from the small bag he’d brought onshore with us the day before. Without looking inside, Grimora nodded and slipped it in his robe. “Come back if you need to. Remember what I said and keep doing what feels like the right thing. Your instincts have been good so far.”
“I wonder if it would be possible for me to speak to Banshira before we leave.”
Grimora and I both looked at him with surprise.
“I won’t upset him. I promise.”
Grimora stared at him a few seconds and then nodded. He got up and went back inside the cave.
“What are you going to say to him?” I asked. “Please don’t be mean.”
Roxbury glanced at me uncertainly and then nodded. I waited nervously beside him until Grimora came with him to the mouth of the cave. Banshira still stood in the shadows, but at least he wasn’t screaming this morning. His eyes glowed at us.
Roxbury stepped closer. “I wish I knew your name, so I don’t have to call you Banshira. You know, I took the name of my old captain, Jack Devane, so I’m not using my old name anymore. You can have it if you like. My given name is William or Will. May I call you that?”
Banshira turned his head to the side and then made a grunting noise that we both took for an assent. Roxbury smiled. “Good. Can I speak to you in private for a second?”
He motioned for Banshira to step to the side and then he went over to speak softly to him. In a few seconds he was back, holding out an impatient hand to me.
“Come along, Brandon. We need to get back on the ship.”
“It’s not me that’s holding us up.”
From deep inside the cave, we could hear soft crying starting up, but this time it didn’t sound as frantic and angry. Roxbury shifted his feet uncomfortably.
“If anything should happen…if those villagers ever come looking for him, can you protect yourself?”
