Fantasyland 01 Wildest Dreams (44 page)

In other words, I was having the time of my
life.

“Right, wee one,” Frey spoke, his deep voice
light with amusement, taking my attention back to him, “after you
get finished prancing around on deck with your lovely arse on
display in your tight breeches, making certain every single one of
my men is lying abed in their hammocks at night with their fists
wrapped around their cocks and their thoughts on your arse, then
we’ll meet back here this afternoon.”

I blinked up at him and whispered, “They are
not doing that.”

“They are,” Frey returned.

“No they aren’t.” I was still
whispering.

“Finnie, am I a man?” Frey asked.

“Yes,” I gave the obvious answer.

“Then I know they’re doing that.”

“But,” I protested, “I’m your wife and you
said they wouldn’t –”

Frey cut me off. “They won’t stare and they
won’t make their interest obvious for this would cause my
displeasure. But I do not control their thoughts. They see, what
they see is a pleasing image that is burned behind their eyes, so
they don’t forget.”

Oh God.

“Maybe I should quit wearing breeches,” I
suggested but Frey grinned wickedly and dipped his face to
mine.

“
You do, my love, then
I
won’t get to watch you prance around on deck with
your lovely arse on display and, fortunately, when I’m abed at
night,
I
have a wife
who gladly wraps a number of things around my cock that are far,
far better than my fist.”

Hmm. This was true.

It also explained why Frey had not said a
word against me wearing breeches.

And lastly, it made me warm in a variety of
places.

“This is true,” I muttered and Frey threw
back his head and laughed.

When he tipped it back down, he lifted his
hand, wrapped it around my head and pulled me in and up for another
touch of his lips on my forehead.

When he let me go, he caught my eyes and
said softly, “Until later, my love.”

“Later, baby,” I said softly back.

He smiled at me and I watched him walk out
of the cabin.

Then I went to my trunks, got down on my
knees in front of one, opened it and started sorting through in
order to decide what I was going to wear that day.

While I was at the trunks, my mind went over
the last week and a half and the things I had learned.

One of them was the story of Kell, who was
the salty sea dog I’d seen my first night on the ship. Back in the
day, Kell had been first mate on the first ship Frey worked on.
Frey had followed Kell when he’d briefly captained a vessel for a
merchant and then Kell had followed Frey when he’d used the
inheritance his Grandmother Eugenie left him to order his first
galleon to be built and it was put to sea.

And Kell had been with Frey ever since.

Kell and Frey were tight, I could tell
(though Frey also told me). It wasn’t like they did man hugs or
bumped fists all the time but there was no doubt about it; that
closeness was there. It ran deep and Frey had explained Kell taught
him everything he knew and then when Frey struck out on his own,
Frey had earned Kell’s respect because Frey lived his life in a way
that he kept learning.

Luckily, Frey told me Kell hadn’t been
looking at me like he wanted to throw me overboard that first night
because he was mentally plotting my murder. Unluckily, Frey told me
Kell was looking at me like he wanted to throw me overboard because
he did not (at all) like women on board ships and further thought
they served one purpose and one purpose only and therefore,
although he’d known his fair share of them, all of them practiced
the same profession.

By the way, even though most people liked me
right off the bat because I was open, warm and friendly, or I could
get through to them being open, warm and friendly, Kell had not
thawed even a little bit.

The other thing I had learned was that the
purpose of this mission was to recover an elfin relic of great
importance. Many Lunwynians had been searching for it literally for
centuries. There had been many rumors of it surfacing which meant
equally numerous operations were launched but in the end these were
fruitless. Frey himself had planned and executed three such
maneuvers since he started raiding, all ending in
disappointment.

He told me he did not hold high hopes for
this one either. That said, he also told me that his informant this
time was far more reliable than the last three.

Regardless the relic, a petrified branch
of an adela tree, or
the
adela tree, the first one the goddess Adele created, was
important enough to make an attempt so that was what he was
doing.

We were now out of Lunwynian waters and in
those of Middleland. The relic, Frey’s informant told him, was in
the possession of Phobin who happened to be the lover of Princess
Sjofn’s cousin, Broderick who was King Baldur’s son.

Frey didn’t have a lot to say about
Broderick but, reading between the lines, I got the sense he didn’t
like him much. He had less to say about Phobin but what he did say
you didn’t have to read between the lines. He disliked Phobin flat
out. And I got the feeling he would have probably liked Broderick
more if he hadn’t chosen Phobin as partner.

Frey had also cautiously informed me that
this mission was complicated. And it was complicated because Frey
had been to Middleland recently and his last mission there had been
dangerous. It had also been secret. Further, it had been
politically sensitive. And lastly, my father didn’t know about it
nor, incidentally, the one Frey was currently planning.

This was because Frey tended to tell
Atticus about these missions
after
they were successful for if things went awry (eek!),
Atticus could honestly claim no knowledge of them. Unless, of
course, it was my father who asked Frey to accomplish
them.

Though, that said, the last one was
so
sensitive, Father still didn’t
know about it.

King Baldur also hadn’t known about Frey’s
previous mission, Frey wasn’t fired up for either brother to know
and he was intent upon entering Middleland, hopefully retrieving
the relic and exiting without anyone being the wiser about this
mission and, with any luck, they were still no one wiser about the
last.

As the story goes, Thad had a communication
from a woman he had once had a somewhat long affair with and still
held in high regard. This communication was an urgent request to
aid in the escape of another woman as she was desperate to flee her
captor.

Thad, still carrying feelings for his
ex-lover and therefore trusting her, agreed to assist without
actually getting all the information. Frey had not meant to go,
seeing as he was getting married, though he did offer Thad one of
his vessels. But, once married and deciding he’d rather be at sea
doing dangerous deeds with his men than hanging with a lesbian (in
all fairness, I could see this) at his wedding celebration to her
and after, he’d changed his mind, deposited me at his hunting cabin
and gone.

Once they arrived, they found that Thad’s
friend was actually the maid to King Baldur’s personal sorceress, a
woman with great power but even so, she was controlled by
Baldur.

It was a sad story, actually, because Frey
and Thad had learned from the maid that this sorceress, named Circe
(totally kickass name, by the by) had displayed she held magic from
practically birth. In order to control her power, Baldur had
kidnapped her when she was very young. And to make certain to keep
her with no attempts made to gain her return; he’d executed both of
her parents.

Yes, executed two people in order to steal
their daughter.

It seemed my uncle was a true peach.

Unfortunately for her, not only did she hold
a great deal of magic, she also grew into great beauty. So my
lovely uncle (not), had started forcing himself on her when she was
fourteen and she was still known to be his mistress even though she
was more than double that age now.

That was to say, Circe was his
unwilling
mistress.

Nevertheless, she was a prized possession of
King Baldur’s for more reasons than one and assisting her to escape
was, as Frey phrased it, “politically sensitive” (but what he meant
was politically explosive thus Father still being none the
wiser).

However, two things happened. One, Frey was
Frey and Thad told me that, upon learning her story, he didn’t
hesitate to agree to help her escape. Two, the sorceress’s maid had
relayed that Circe had information about the elfin relic everyone
was seeking and she would pay for their efforts by providing this
information to Frey.

Therefore, Circe was Frey’s source and
although centuries of experience with disappointment made him keep
his expectations in check, as the days went by and launching the
operation came closer, I could feel the men’s restless
excitement.

Expectations might be in check but there was
still hope.

Yes, this was how important the relic
was.

Thinking of all this, I pushed deeper into
my trunk to find a clean pair of breeches to wear, pulled some out,
a small pouch dropped out of a fold and with it a piece of paper
fluttered.

I stared at the tiny, purple satin pouch on
the floor by my knee then reached down to pick up the folded piece
of paper.

I opened it and read:

Sweet Finnie,

We hope you find this sooner rather than
later.

We’ve packed some adela tea for you to use
with your husband.

We don’t know if you’ve read about this in
your books but in case you haven’t, we’ll explain.

Harvesting anything from adela trees, which
grow very slowly and are very susceptible to disease, is strictly
controlled. Any adela tree is sacred for they are created by the
goddess but also they are the entry point of the elves from their
realm into ours. If anything were to happen to the adelas, the
elves would be trapped under the earth for eternity and no one
wants that so they are handled carefully.

Adela tree branches can be gathered only for
wedding bundles and their bark is harvested cautiously and used for
a special tea. Adela tea is quite expensive, very rare and not used
widely.

We were not able to purchase
more than just enough for you to make one cup but one cup, shared
by lovers, is just
(this
underlined)
enough.

You see, the tea serves to
heighten your senses, touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing, and also
it significantly heightens arousal. Alyssa has an ongoing dalliance
with the head of the Ulfr House, she is a particular favorite of
his and she visits him every time he comes to Fyngaard. Once, he
had some tea that he shared with her and she said it was
marvelous
(underlined
twice)
.

Please do not worry, the affects are not
debilitating nor are they lasting. Alyssa says that half a cup each
for her and her gentleman lasted several hours, they slept well and
woke up refreshed.

With your spirit, we thought
this was an adventure you had
(underlined three times)
to take.

So this is our gift to you and The
Drakkar.

Enjoy, sweet Finnie, and we
look forward to seeing you upon your return and hearing all
(underlined four times)
about
it.

With love,

Jocelyn, Alyssa, Esther and Bess

I picked up the pouch and fingered the soft
parcel.

Then I grinned.

My girls were the… absolute…
best.

And this was one reason of many, including
the fact that they’d procured and provided me with a powder they
promised (because they all used it) that I could sprinkle just a
touch into water or coffee and it would keep me from getting
pregnant. I had to do it every day and luckily it tasted pretty
good, though weird, like a minty orange. Although it hadn’t been
very long, so far, so good (since, unfortunately and fortunately,
considering it was unfun having your period in this world and I
knew that because I’d already experienced it twice – not to mention
doing it on a ship with a bunch of guys, but two days into the
voyage, I had it and luckily, four days later I was done and this
meant I was free and clear… for now).

The door opened, I jumped and looked that
way to see Skylar standing in it, keeping well away from me.

“Eggs, bacon and toast, milady?” he asked
like he asked every morning for reasons I didn’t know because I’d
learned from Frey that unless I picked just eggs and toast or just
bacon and toast, or I wanted lunch for breakfast, that was my only
choice for the ship’s cook was nearly as cranky as Kell, he wasn’t
hot on personal orders and didn’t do anything “girlie” such as
pancakes apparently were.

I smiled gently at the boy and said softly,
“Yes, Skylar, that would be lovely. Thank you.”

He nodded once and moved quickly out of the
room.

I stared at the closed door wondering what,
if anything, I could do about that.

Then I decided to talk to Frey about it
later.

My eyes drifted down to the pouch in my hand
and again my mouth curled into a smile.

Yes, I’d talk to him about it.

Much
later.

* * * * *

I watched my dagger skitter across the deck
and come to a stop against some rope.

Then I bit my lip and ignored Stephan, Max
and Gunner, who I knew would be grinning, thinking this was
hilarious, and Kell, who would be scowling, thinking I should be
hiding in Frey’s cabin for the duration of the trip repeating to
myself that I would never again set foot on the ship that was named
after me… or any ship for that matter.