Hidden Depths (18 page)

“It can’t be. My blood makes me fit to rule, not to take advantage. I -”

“Sh,” Ty said and pointed at the wall TV.

“This just in,” Kevly Manning was saying, two fingers to his earpiece. The graphic of a black and gold mini-dragon was displayed behind his shoulder.

“Earlier rumors have been confirmed. All the Meimeyo dragons have unaccountably disappeared from the campanile at St. Mark’s. Keepers postulate the dragons figured out how to work the locks on the outer door, stating that their intelligence is similar to that of wereseal four-year-olds. Why the dragons would want to escape is a matter of ongoing speculation. According to folkloric tradition, as long as the Meimeyo reside in the basilica, Oceana cannot fall. We’ve brought in a specialist from the city’s university to comment on this.” The newscaster turned to address a tweedy-looking blue elf who’d appeared on the screen behind him. His black wool turtleneck looked like it must be hot.

Perhaps to counter this, the elf’s dark blue hair was scraped with painful neatness behind his pointy ears.

“Professor Darty,” Manning began, “what do experts in your field make of this development?”

Anso groaned behind his hand. He had an inkling where this was leading.

When he’d been crown prince, Professor Darty had asked him to fund a grant for studying the parallels between ancient Outsider myths and those of the weres.

Anso would have been happy to do so if the elf hadn’t twice been accused of fiscal malfeasance. The charges hadn’t stuck, but the professor himself had set off Anso’s bullshit meter. Six months later, he’d awarded a similar grant to one of Darty’s rivals. Despite his attempts to present a sober facade, the professor’s glee at this lovely chance for revenge was close to bursting from him.

“Obviously, it’s a curse,” he said. “Someone high up in Oceana’s administration has offended the magical balance. Nothing less could trigger an ill omen of this magnitude.”

“What do you mean by
high up
?” Kevly Manning inquired.

“Prime Minister high,” Darty said, somehow managing to convey primness and gloating at the same time. He paused to look portentously into the camera.

“The offender might even come from the royal house.”

“Crap,” Anso said. There could be no doubting Darty meant to implicate him.

“It couldn’t be a coincidence?” Manning asked. “Maybe the Meimeyo snuck out of their roost to chase a nice school of shrimp.”

“This is the Pocket,” Darty said, peering down his long blue nose at the newscaster. “Most people know coincidences mean something.” Overcome with disgust, Anso flicked him off with the remote.

“Well,” Ty said, flopping back on the sofa. “I guess we don’t have to ask what Ellice’s opening gambit is.”

“Come
on
,” James’s voice protested behind them. “They’re talking about a
curse
.”

Anso turned to find James and Olivia standing beneath the sitting room’s archway. Like Ty, they’d dressed in Vitul patterned robes following their shower.

The entire trio was wearing his family symbol. Anso’s brain swooped in a manner he didn’t have time to make sense of.

“Okay,” he said to Ty, “a) we can’t be certain Ellice is behind this, and b)” -

sighing, he turned to James -”while enacting curses is illegal in the Pocket, they aren’t unheard of and they can be real. It’s within the realm of possibility that the Meimeyo constitute a reservoir of good fortune that protects the city.”

“That professor implied you’re the reason the dragons left,” Olivia broke in indignantly. “I haven’t known you one whole day, and I know you care about your people too much to put them at risk.
Oh
!” She covered her mouth as puzzle pieces fell into place. “If your cousin is behind this, she must be laying the groundwork for claiming you violated the magical balance by mating me. Maybe she thinks you’ll give in to public pressure to cast me off.” At least she wasn’t denying they were mated. “I’m afraid that might be her train of thought.
I
know you really are my mate, but you being married isn’t ideal.”

“What a bitch,” Olivia exclaimed, the heat of her defense warming him. “And an irresponsible bitch to boot. She could cause a panic. And what about those cute little dragons? If she arranged for them to be lured from the home they’re used to, they might be in danger from predators.”

“She has a point,” Ty said. “We’d better contact the Oceanic Wildlife Patrol.

Make sure they’re looking for them. Chances are OWP has been notified, but it wouldn’t hurt to check.”

“Tell them I’ll cover overtime and extra personnel myself.” Anso was cynically aware that this would look like a PR stunt, but that was just too bad.

Like most of Oceana, he’d adored the Meimeyo since he was a boy. His favorite Sunday morning cartoon had been
Mini-Dragons to the Rescue
.

Ty had dug up a cell phone, and was already speaking to someone. Anso pressed his temples between his fists, trying to think what else he ought to do.

Contact Lord Noth? Try to talk sense to Ellice? He couldn’t give her what she wanted, so that seemed unlikely to produce good results. The mini sea dragons were a protected species. If she admitted what she’d done, the consequences would be uncomfortable for her.

“Damn it,” Ty said, knocking the now closed cell phone against his brow. He looked as frustrated as Anso felt. “I should have known something was up when I saw that dragon outside the service wing. I told OWP where I spotted it,” he added. “They’d been notified straight away by the St. Mark’s keepers, but they appreciate being able to put extra squads on the search.”

“Good.” Anso sagged back on the sofa. To his surprise, a small pair of hands settled on his shoulders, kneading gently to either side of his neck.

“It’s late,” Olivia said. “And you both look exhausted. Is there anything else you really need to do tonight?”

Anso looked at Ty, who pulled a face and shrugged. “Apart from confronting Ellice, who has too much to lose to tell the truth, we could probably tackle this tomorrow.”

“Then do,” Olivia said. “You’ll make better decisions after a good night’s rest.”

She sounded like a caring mother. That made Anso smile until he remembered she was one.

“You’ll stay?” he asked, doing his damnedest not to let it come out a plea.

Olivia looked at James, who nodded back at her.

“We’ll stay,” she confirmed to Anso.

* * *

Anso’s protective instincts demanded that he spoon Olivia. She, not surprisingly, curled up behind her husband, who rolled around to face her. Anso discovered he didn’t mind the pair exchanging quiet glances, or them twining their fingers together before they closed their eyes. Ty filled the stretch of mattress behind Anso. At first he lay on his back, but when Anso reached backward to rub his arm, he sighed and rolled into him.

Anso’s reaction to Ty’s weight settling at his back was extraordinary. A strong flush of heat spread out from his center, as if a new array of hormones were releasing. The effect wasn’t sexual. Though he took pleasure in being surrounded by beautiful bodies in silk robes, he didn’t grow more aroused as the endorphins or whatever they were spread through his bloodstream. Instead, his body became totally peaceful. The feeling was more profound than mere relaxation. It was as if, in that moment, every atom in the universe was in its proper place - including the atoms that made up him.

Olivia murmured in her sleep, her soft little bottom wriggling closer to his groin. Her movement didn’t break the spell. In truth, Anso felt it deepening.

In some seal species males collected harems, if they were strong enough to defeat rivals. Perhaps this situation had triggered those responses inside of him.

He couldn’t doubt he had a bigger atavistic streak than most. He
had
gone spawning to find his queen. Smiling, he settled his arm more comfortably around Olivia’s waist. As he did, his hand came to rest on James’s forearm.

The man didn’t stir. No one was awake but the king. Bubbles ticked soothingly in the courtyard garden, a lullaby he’d known his whole life.

They’re
all
mine
, he couldn’t help thinking.

Because he couldn’t help it, he let that be his final thought before he sank into slumber.

* * *

James was at best half awake when he extricated himself from the sleeping bodies on the low bed. The floor was the same smooth black stone that ran through most of the royal suite. He shuffled across it as well as he could toward the sound of a pounding shower, praying to every god he could think of that Oceana served coffee. His nose must have been more alert than the rest of him.

Anso’s rooms smelled amazing, as if a bed of spicy-sweet summer flowers were blooming just around the corner.

The tantalizing fragrance followed him into the huge marble bathroom, which boasted a toilet stall and a urinal. James grumbled at his unusually stiff morning wood, something he thought he should have been too old for. Ignoring an incipient urge to rub one off, he gave his penis an annoyed pinch, waited a couple seconds, then emptied his bladder.

Maybe he’d slept longer than he realized. The stream was strong and went on for a while. Done at last, he turned to wash his hands.

He didn’t look at himself in the mirror. Whatever age Ty and Anso were, they were as fit as if they were twenty, with the perfectly developed muscles of pro-athletes. James had eye circles in the morning, not to mention patches of gray whiskers. Olivia always gazed at him like the most gorgeous man on earth, but his own eyes could be less kind. He’d stare down his reflection after he’d had caffeine.

With a grunt of private approval for this decision, he dropped his robe and stepped around the white Carrara dividing wall for his wake-up shower.

Someone was using the big enclosure, but it wasn’t Olivia. Ty stood under the pelting spray: tall, golden, and steamier than the chamber in which he stood.

James’s gaze dropped helplessly down his naked body. Ty’s soapy hand was around his penis, tugging it by the flare from his groin. At first James thought he was whacking off, which made his previously discouraged morning wood slap back against his belly.

Then James squinted harder at what he was looking at. Ty was indeed tugging on his penis, but the organ wasn’t jacking-off erect. He seemed to be holding it out from some sort of smooth skinned pocket, which was surrounded by his wet pubic fur. The open slit sent a shudder down his tailbone. James honestly couldn’t tell if he were repelled or aroused.

“What the fuck?” he exclaimed hoarsely.

Ty was too startled by the intrusion to maintain his hold on himself. The crest of his penis slipped through his soapy fingers, the whole thing flipping back and disappearing into the fold of skin. His pubic pelt sealed together, creating the appearance that he was wearing a generously filled fur jockstrap.

“What. The. Fuck,” James repeated, starting to back away in alarm. His heart was pounding so hard he nearly had to swallow it.

“Oh for Christ’s sake,” Ty snapped, his hand flashing at faster than normal speed to catch James’s arm. “I’m a wereseal. Of course I’m built differently. The penile sheath protects my genitalia when I’m swimming. Wouldn’t want the lobsters nipping my favorite bits.”

“But -” James said, then couldn’t decide what he wanted to object to.

Ty sensed his confusion. He smiled at him, his annoyance sliding away.

“Okay,” he said. “You weren’t prepared to see that. I wasn’t prepared to see you.

I thought you were Anso out there, peeing like a racehorse.” Now James felt stupid for having cursed at him. The spray of the open shower was catching him on the arm, but he couldn’t seem to move away. “I assumed you were Olivia.”

“That was
quite
an assumption.” Ty’s eyes were glowing now, and not only with amusement.

“My brain doesn’t wake up until I’ve had coffee.”

“Some parts of you appear lively,” Ty observed.

The crazy erection he’d woken with was bouncing in front of him. Ty smiled more broadly, tugging James half a step closer. Then he wrapped his hand around him.

“Oh God,” James moaned, because Ty’s hand was soapy.

“Put your hand on me,” Ty said, low and intense. “Feel my cock slide out of its sheath when you make me hard.”

James’s eyes had closed with bliss, and he was afraid to open them. What if his libido decided this was too weird? Despite his trepidation, he couldn’t resist cupping Ty’s crotch, feeling the silky seal fur, and the seam, and the swelling head starting to push out. This time when he shuddered, he knew he was aroused.

“This is crazy,” James said. “This shouldn’t turn me on.” Ty’s mouth was grinning when he kissed him.

The kiss was full out - no shyness, no you’re-a-straight-guy-so-I’ll-go-easy-on-you restraint. Maybe James wasn’t so straight anyway. Maybe he was closer to half bent.

He was getting used the strangeness of Ty’s equipment, or at least very interested. He stroked his penis as it emerged, loving its growing hardness within his palm. He was almost sorry when it was out all the way. Apart from his ball sac not dangling the same way, Ty’s cock felt like a normal erection.

Not that feeling other men’s erections was normal for him. Anyway, it hadn’t used to be.

“I should stop,” he said, tearing free of Ty’s very active kiss. The other man’s lips were temptingly reddened.

“Should you?” Ty slanted his mouth over James’s again.

James remembered Ty had hormones in his saliva, which acted as aphrodisiacs. That reminder couldn’t make him stop kissing him. Truthfully, he enjoyed it so much he couldn’t convince himself he was coerced. He groaned as Ty backed him into the buffed marble tile, his slightly greater weight holding James prisoner there. Wound up plenty by that, James stretched to align the few inch in their heights. Though it was a sacrifice at first, he let go of Ty’s cock in favor of rubbing their soap sluiced erections together. As soon as those hard rods touched, Ty writhed against his front like a sex-crazed eel.