Aquatic Alliance

AQUATIC ALLIANCE

Mary Winter

® www.loose-id.com

Warning This e-book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. Loose Id® e-books are for sale to adults ONLY, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

Aquatic Alliance Mary Winter This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Published by Loose Id LLC 1802 N Carson Street, Suite 212-2924 Carson City NV 89701-1215 www.loose-id.com

Copyright © December 2007 by Mary Winter All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared in any form, including, but not limited to printing, photocopying, faxing, or emailing without prior written permission from Loose Id LLC.

ISBN 978-1-59632-584-5 Available in Adobe PDF, HTML, MobiPocket, and MS Reader

Printed in the United States of America

Editor: Crystal Esau Cover Artist: Anne Cain

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Chapter One

Sitting in his uncle’s den, surrounded by artifacts from the surface dwellers, Egeus Silverfin listened to his uncle Auden’s words of concern over Egeus’s upcoming marriage. Egeus kicked his leg, watching his ankle fins flutter in the ocean currents. Legends spoke of his people walking both on land and living undersea. Now, their legs, just like the surface dwellers, were the only reminders. He tapped his foot against the stone floor. “I understand what you’re saying, Uncle, but you know what this marriage means to my father. To finally join our two clans, perhaps put the past behind us.” Egeus stilled his foot as he spoke telepathically. He watched his uncle, his father’s younger brother. Though he sat as straight as a clan leader on his throne, Auden looked tired. His age weighed upon him like a mantle, his white hair cut short, his scales no longer the deep green of a thick bed of sea grasses. Egeus stared at his own dark green skin, a symbol for all to see that he was a male of prime breeding age. His marriage would mean more than peace between the Silverfin and Shimmertail clans. It would mean heirs. “Herma blames us for her aunt’s disappearance, and in that, I don’t blame her. She wants revenge. That’s why she’s agreed to the marriage. What will happen when she

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discovers that I can grant her greatest wish? I can send her to the surface.” Loss shadowed Auden’s eyes. His gill slits moved back and forth, stirring small currents around them. “You miss her, don’t you?” “I do,” Auden agreed. “More than she will ever know. But I offered Herma’s aunt a chance at the life she wanted, and she took it. What could I do? I had to let her go.” He clenched and released his fist, the fins at his wrists jerking angrily back and forth. “I had to let her go.” The sorrow in Auden’s mental voice cut Egeus to the quick. He knew, if he went through with this marriage, in a few years he could be sitting in this exact same spot, feeling exactly as his uncle felt now. His intended longed for the surface. She swam in the sundappled waters close to the surface, never mind those from above who hunted in these waters. His people worked harder now to stay hidden from the surface dwellers now that their boats took them farther away from land. “I have to do it,” Egeus replied. He stood and drifted over to the wall behind him where every shelf held some bauble from the surface. From glass jars and jewelry to coins held in crystal boxes, lest the salt of the water corrode them. Parts of ships made up the very chair on which he’d sat. With the cavern open to the sky, sunlight dappled through the water mingling with the glowing crystal lights that illuminated every inch of the palace including this room. “I have to do it.” He reached for a strand of pearls. Running them through his fingers, he savored their cool touch, the rattle of the small orbs, each one perfectly sized, against his fingers. A part of him mourned for his underwater brethren who died in the creation of such beauty. How anyone would want to be a part of that world he didn’t know. “I understand.” Auden’s hand rested on Egeus’s shoulder. “I’ve been in your shoes. To think, if she hadn’t chosen her true love over me, you might not even have to get married.” “I’d still marry Herma. It wouldn’t matter if she were a servant’s daughter. I’d marry her anyway. I love her, Uncle.”

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“I know. And I hope she realizes how much you really do.” Auden gave a mental sigh. “I have to discuss some arrangements with your father. If you’ll excuse me?” “Of course.” Egeus unwound the pearls from his fingers, thinking what Herma would look like wearing them, and nothing else. Her pearlescent green scales would shimmer against the opaque white orbs. Easily, he could see himself sliding down her body, between her legs, and rubbing the tight beads along her slit. Behind his coyach shell, his cock hardened painfully. He set the pearls back on the shelf. Turning on his heel, he swam out of the room and down the hall. He had several things to discuss with the servants, the least of which was how to decorate the bridal chamber. Perhaps dwelling on the logistics of the wedding would cool his ardor enough so he wouldn’t embarrass himself before the ceremony. Three more days and then finally, Herma would be his.

***** The subtle pull of tides and currents kept Herma’s undersea world in constant motion. Sunlight filtered through the water, casting a turquoise hue over manicured beds of coral and sea grasses. She looked past the two mermen, leaders of hers and her husband-to-be’s clans, who officiated over the ceremony. Each wore a traditional loincloth of woven sea grasses around their waists and a coronet of shells and stones across their foreheads. Both men looked imposing with their long white hair and their light green scales. Long whiskers feathered around their lips and over their jaws, another sign of their age. They looked like staunch warriors from the tales she used to love as a child. Her father stood directly before her, a slight paunch in his stomach. Herma struggled to maintain her composure under his stern glare. Though the match with the Silverfin clan would be advantageous to them, he disliked her choice of mate. Standing next to him, the groom’s father looked no less dour. Both men presided from behind the carved rock altar as they broadcast their blessings and intent into the minds of

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those assembled. Behind them, a symphony of bubbles rose toward the surface and sparkled in the dappled sunlight. If it weren’t for the tension between the two clans, the marriage would have been a truly happy affair. As it was, each side stared at the other, wondering when the tenuous peace would break. She frowned, then quickly smoothed out her expression. She was a bride. Regardless of the feelings of those around her, she had to be happy. And she would be happy once she found out the truth. She closed her eyes against the flash of her aunt’s face that imprinted itself on her mind. A gentle, caring soul, her aunt had been the one to raise Herma. Her scales were golden green with age, her hair the same gossamer hue. She’d been nearly finless, just the faintest translucent membranes at ankles and wrists. Other members of the family called Herma’s aunt a throwback, but to Herma, she was a living embodiment of the surface and all the excitement it held. Her aunt had told stories of the past, legends and tales of the days when they interacted with the surface dwellers. A more peaceful time, one that captured Herma’s imagination. She shook her head, trying to keep her thoughts focused on her wedding. Herma’s sisters, all four of them, waited beside her, the shells across their flattened breasts and in their hair a darker shade of turquoise than her own. They stood ramrod straight, their faces showing no emotion. Of course they wouldn’t. Finally, she’d be another clan’s problem. Her relentless hunt to discover why and how her aunt disappeared blighted their clan, as far as her mother and her sisters were concerned. They wore their midthigh kelp skirts with pride, the revealing skirts a symbol of their marriages. Only single women wore the long skirts, and Herma’s own knee-length skirt symbolized the transition into her wedded state. Her carved shell breastplate covered her from neck to waist, the seven decorative knots in the back symbolizing the seven clans. The polished shell concealed her budding breasts. Not as large as she’d seen on the surface dwellers, but in the ocean the globes would interfere with swimming.

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Herma clutched her bouquet of sea grasses in her left hand, her right twined tightly with the merman beside her. Once she’d emerged to watch a wedding on a beach. The woman had worn a long, white dress. Bonfires illuminated the couple, and the ceremony to her looked very much like the joining ceremonies held by the clan. A part of her wanted to be on the beach, standing beneath a full moon with her lover. She’d even crept close enough to hear the words being said. The exchange sounded similar to her people’s joining ceremonies. Except, she didn’t love her husband. Egeus of the Silverfin clan, the man she should have loved, looked nearly ethereal beside her with his long, gossamer hair floating behind him and his gill slits waving. His rich green skin proclaimed him a male of prime breeding age. A perfect match for her, more so because his clan was the most important one. Egeus stood naked with only a large coyach shell covering his penis. “It is with great pleasure that I, Bordin of the Silverfin clan, grant my blessing to the joining of these two individuals. May their union bring both clans honor and fruitfulness and finally lay to rest the rift that has divided us.” Egeus’s father’s deep baritone filled her mind. “I, Ludres of the Shimmertail clan, grant my blessing to the joining of these two individuals. May their union bring both clans honor and fruitfulness and finally lay to rest the rift that has divided us.” Her father’s stern voice commanded her into the joining. She expected no less from him. He’d been ordering her all her life. Stay away from the surface. Don’t ask too many questions about your aunt. Behave as befits your station. She suspected he knew something and refused to tell her. Herma suppressed an involuntary sigh at the inherent command in her father’s words. Standing before them in her joining finery indicated she’d be willing to marry Egeus. Her father needn’t have spoken his words so harshly. Not that she minded the joining to Egeus. He was fair of face, with high, sharp cheekbones. Eyes as blue as their ocean home met her gaze. Unlike the surface dwellers he had no nose. His mouth formed a perfect circle. With his lips parted, she saw the flap just behind his teeth that kept water out, and the sight of it

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enchanted her with the need to learn how he’d taste. His gills flapped lazily. He wasn’t as nervous about the joining as she. In all the clans, she couldn’t have picked a more handsome mate, but she preferred to marry on better terms. Her aunt’s disappearance and the Silverfin clan’s part in it, if any, remained unsolved. She struggled to keep her thoughts shielded and her face pleasant as she turned to the merman who was now her joined partner. “If you will have me, I present myself to you, Egeus of the Silverfin clan, to be my partner, my guide, until we return to the great chasms of the deep.” Herma broadcast her mental voice, thankful it didn’t waver. In her peripheral vision she caught her mother’s sorrowful smile. She’d looked like that at all of her daughters’ joinings, though Herma had expected her to at least act as relieved as her father. “If you will have me, I present myself to you, Herma of the Shimmertail clan, to be my partner, my guide, until we return to the great chasms of the deep.” Egeus sounded proud, and just a little bit humbled, exactly the way she’d imagined her partner would sound on their joining day. Except in those dreams, she’d joined out of love, not because of some duty her father felt she owed. Herma struggled to embrace the joy of her joining day. Too many shadows of the past filled her mind. From the end of the line her eldest sister picked up the rope of kelp and together with Egeus’s oldest brother twined it around their hands. “Joined in body. Joined in spirit. Joined forever,” her eldest sister said, then on a private channel between the two of them, “I am so proud of you, Herma. Don’t let our clan down.” Herma’s smile faltered, but only a bit, and anyone looking might think it the jitters of a female on her joining day. But, when Egeus raised their joined hands, she let him, and when none objected, he brought them down and pulled her close. “Joined in body. Joined in Spirit. Joined forever,” Egeus echoed in her mind. She managed to send his words back, though her heart pounded in her chest. Her gills fluttered, and she clutched her bouquet so hard she feared the tender stems might break.

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“Sample what is yours and then retire to the joining chamber.” Her father’s voice echoed over the crowd and in her head. The joining chamber where she and Egeus would couple. She’d heard of such things, read about them on sacred tablets, but had never even been kissed as befit the dutiful daughter of a clan lord. Then again, this dutiful daughter of a clan lord spent most of her time near the surface or looking for her aunt. Suddenly, Egeus pressed his lips to hers. She sensed the restraint in the way he held his lips against hers with the barest hint of contact. Cool and gentle, his kiss hinted at more. He held their bound hands at their sides, his free hand cupping her upper arm. She swayed against him, more from nerves than desire, and their mouths fused together. The membrane protecting their mouths from the saltwater fell away, and his tongue emerged to stroke her lips. Shivers raced through her body. Behind her carved shell breastplate, her nipples hardened. She reached for him, curving her fingers around the hard muscle of his arm and leaning closer, so close she felt the large coyach shell he used to hide his penis, and the soft kelp leaf skirt she wore suddenly seemed like too much between them. Images filled her mind, of them naked, bodies twined together and writhing on the floor. Like stumbling across a whirlpool, the mental pictures swept her equilibrium away. She clung to Egeus, her body aching to experience the real thing. Her womb fluttered. Never before had such need clamored in her veins. Her fins fluttered, and her gills waved back and forth to pull oxygen into her body. Goddess of the deep, what had she gotten herself into? Whether he sent her the images or she conjured them, Herma didn’t know, because soon, far too soon, Egeus pulled away. “There will be time for that later, my joined.” The intimate touch of his words in her mind shocked her. She jerked away as if burned. His mental touch made her realize she’d conjured those heated images in their minds. She’d projected her wants, her desires to him as intimately as if they were already joined. What other unknown fantasies did she harbor?

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The amusement of those assembled washed over her, and twin spots of color rose on her cheeks. Let them laugh at her, an untried maiden thrust into a joining she didn’t want. They didn’t have to endure Egeus, didn’t have to endure the Silverfin clan, and cared less about what had happened to her aunt. With a soft nod, Egeus led her up the aisle between those assembled. Herma averted her eyes from her mother as she passed. Behind her followed her sisters and Egeus’s brothers, and lastly their fathers. As they reached a preappointed position, they lined up like an honor guard along the aisle to herd her toward the Silverfin home. Before she had a chance to think about bolting, Egeus led her into the elaborate structure that served as his family’s home. From this moment forward, she belonged to the Silverfin clan. Herma shuddered and hoped Egeus attributed it to nerves.

Egeus felt the ripple that went through Herma’s slim body. With her on his arm, allowing him to lead her deep into his family’s stronghold, he fought down the urge to broadcast his triumph to the gathered clans. For so long he’d lusted after her, and when he saw the images of the two of them naked and fucking in her mind, he believed Herma felt the same way. The sexual images she’d projected into his mind hardened his cock and whetted his appetite for more. He’d never imagined his joined mate to have such carnal appetites. She hid them well. The willowy female at his side tempted him like no other. Ten years ago he’d first seen her when he’d been sent as a fosterling to the Shimmertail clan. He was supposed to learn politics and law. Instead, he’d focused on a gangly-limbed, slim-hipped beauty, the clan lord’s youngest daughter. Egeus had been but a boy barely nine seasons old, and Herma became the older woman of his dreams. He’d followed her everywhere, listening with her to the stories told by her aunt. Then her aunt had disappeared and he watched Herma become withdrawn. Finally, she was his, a joined partner pledged to him in the hopes that the rift between their clans could be healed.

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But how could he heal the distance between them when he contributed to it every moment he didn’t tell her what he knew? His head spun as he led her down the halls to their joining chamber. His inability to share his knowledge made the relations between their clans worse. He feared the day she pressed him for the truth, because he knew when it came to Herma, he couldn’t lie. He stopped before the single entrance to their joining chamber. Two guards wearing sashes of their office stood on either side of the door. Egeus nodded to them. He flattened his palm across Herma’s lower back and led her through the doorway. It closed behind them, and then they were alone in the opulent chamber. A round manicured patch of sea grasses, the bed, dominated the room. Small fish swam in a contained crystal chamber, enough to curb their physical appetite once they sated their sexual one. Glowing rocks lit the room, and Egeus turned to his joined mate. His cock twitched at the thought. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to,” he projected into her mind. Reaching up, he cupped her cheek, brushing his thumb across her full lower lip. “But I very much want to kiss you again. Is that permissible?” Herma nodded. Leaning forward, he brushed his lips across hers. As he gently kissed her, she stiffened beneath his touch. Did she think him so distasteful, or was it simply the uncertainty of a maiden on her joining night? He didn’t know, but the last thing he wanted was to scare her, so he forced himself to go slow. The gossamer strands of her hair called to him. It swept against his face in a waterfall of silken caresses. He tangled his fingers in it, pulling her closer. Her tiny fingers curled against his chest, the first physical sign of need she’d shown since the ceremony. In his veins, his blood pounded. His cock unfurled from his body behind the now painfully tight shell. The breastplate she wore, a ceremonial garment that harkened back to an earlier era, kept her minimal curves from him. With his other hand he reached behind her and snapped the thin

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strap holding it around one slender shoulder. He could have reached around her and tried to unfasten the intricate knots, but his patience was already wearing thin.

Easy. He forced his blood to slow. Combing his fingers through her hair, he luxuriated in the fine strands swirling in the water around them. He fanned it out around her head, watching as it settled on her shoulders and against him. Easily, he imagined her hair like a halo surrounding them while they made love. She’d explore his body, dipping her perfect oval mouth over his cock, and her hair would curtain her from his view. His shaft jerked. “You have beautiful hair,” he said as he released the last strands to gently drift around her shoulders. At his words, Herma melted against him. Her submission taxed his control. She tempted him. A thought of them, his cock buried deep inside her filled his mind, and with a shock, he realized it came from her. “You want this?” he asked, needing that confirmation. “Yes. You make me feel things I’ve never felt before.” Her voice filled his mind, a breathy sigh that had him reaching between them to remove the breastplate. Herma reached behind her and unfastened the skirt, and it floated away from them. The carved breastplate fell to the rock floor of the chamber. Her hand curled around his hip, fingers pressing into his buttocks; then she divested him of his shell and his cock rose full and hard between them. Her curves deserved gentle tracing, yet his fingers tightened in her hair and their mouths fused together. Deeper, he needed to be inside her, possessing her pussy and mouth, until he made her come over and over again. With their lips pressed together, the membranes protecting the insides of their mouths rolled up and out of the way, he thrust his tongue into her warm depths. She tasted like sweet eidersha fruit plucked straight from the vine. Her taste swamped his senses, and then her tongue stroked his, and he was lost.

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He pushed her backward toward the bed, his need a heavy beat in his blood. She laid back, arms spread, and he looked down at her, his very own sea goddess like those of old. Instead of covering her, he closed his mouth, let the membrane fall back into place, and then dropped open-mouthed kisses along her collarbone. The small globes of her breasts called to him with their hard nipples. Wrapping his lips around one, he mouthed her and covered the other one with his hand. He palmed her breast, flicking the nipple between his fingers. Beneath him, Herma arched her back, her cries of pleasure echoing in his mind. Her legs parted and she rubbed her wet slit against him. Even with the water surrounding them he felt her slick juices. He rubbed his face against her collarbone, then lower, until he pulled the taut bud of her nipple into his mouth. He released her breasts in favor of a tastier target. He nibbled down across her stomach until he kissed her pussy. “Egeus!” Her mental cry filled his mind. He pressed his lips against her labia, then let the membrane roll up so he could extend his tongue to trace her wet slit. The nub of her clit drew him, and fueled by a need to taste her coming apart, he circled it with his tongue. He reached across her body and pinched her nipples. Ripples radiated through her body. This was the pleasure he wanted to give his joined mate on this night. Perhaps if he loved her hard enough, thoroughly enough, she could forget about the past and her desire for the surface, and stay here with him. Piercing her with his tongue, feeling her slick channel contract around it, he knew that once he had her, he could never let her go.

Herma grasped handfuls of the grasses growing on the bed in an attempt to stay anchored beneath Egeus’s sensual assault. Never in her dreams did she imagine her joining night to be like this. Pleasure radiated through her body. Her nipples, hard and aching,

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needed to be touched, and his hands were there, plucking, caressing, making her lift her breasts into his ministrations. Goddess of the deep oceans, his mouth drew mental mews of pleasure from her, made her think things dark and wicked. She wished Egeus might have been less fair of face, less talented. That way she could erect a wall around her heart. His tongue thrust into her, the pleasure so intense it bowed her back. Her channel contracted around it, tight waves starting low in her belly. With a wordless mental cry she thrashed with the pleasure exploding through her. Spots swirled behind her head, as if she’d dived into the deepest canyon and then shot straight to the surface, breaking water to bask in the glow of her world’s twin suns. She floated back to herself, aware Egeus crawled over her body. His cock throbbed against her thigh. She reached for him, willing to give anything to feel his length buried deep inside her. How had she fallen so far, not wanting to have anything to do with the Silverfin clan and now needing to feel one filling her? She reached for him, sliding her fingers over his glimmering scales, and then he was there, over her, his broad chest shielding her so when she looked up all she saw was him. His body trembled with the effort it took to stay still, yet he paused to inquire. “Are you ready?” “Yes,” she answered. “Yes.” He thrust into her, a single stroke that had him buried inside her. Beneath him, Herma arched up, wanting him deeper. Wrapping her arms around his back, she dug her heels into his buttocks, and squeezed with her inner muscles. Slowly, so slowly as if to be torture, Egeus pulled out. He hovered but a moment with his cock barely inside her channel before thrusting forward again. Herma rode the waves of pleasure coursing through her body. She never knew, never imagined two creatures coming together could create such sensations. Her wordless cries of

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pleasure echoed in his mind, and in her own she heard Egeus’s moans and growls of desire. Harder. Their bodies slapped together, the spongy bed swaying with their every movement. Faster. A frantic need drove her. Where she ended and he began, she didn’t know, for her world had narrowed down to the thrust of his cock inside her and the way his chest felt brushing against her breasts. Egeus leaned down. He captured her lips with his, delving into her mouth for a mind-numbing kiss. Close, so close. Herma felt each flutter of her pussy around his shaft as she strove for release. The base of her spine tingled. Her nipples throbbed where they brushed against Egeus’s chest. She wanted more -- no, needed more -- then he changed angles and hit a sweet spot high and deep inside of her. Herma clung to him as her world shattered apart. Spots swam before her vision and a heavy blackness threatened to overtake her. Above her, Egeus stiffened. He thrust once more, his cock plunging deep, and then warm jets of his seed bathed her insides. His triumphant shout filled her mind. Herma welcomed his weight, received it as the bed softened for them, and when he rolled to one side, she went with him, not wanting to lose their connection. For long moments, neither said anything. Gills worked to bring oxygen into starved bodies and her mind swam in a pleasant haze. At last, his cock softened, slipped from her, and retracted back into his body. She lay there, pleasantly sore from their exertions. He leaned up on his elbow and reached across to caress her cheeks. “You’ve made my joining and joining night most memorable. Let’s sleep, and we will wake together as joined mates.” His pride filled her mind. Herma nodded and sent her assent, though she wondered exactly what it would mean. Egeus curved his arms around her, pulling her close to his body.

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Herma snuggled with him, for she knew that was expected, and felt him drop off to sleep. She lay there trying hard not to think about all the things that had happened. First her joining, then sex with Egeus. Both had differed from her expectations, the first not being horrible to endure, the second not being awkward and disgusting at all. She longed to have sex with Egeus again. If she woke him with a caress along his sternum, perhaps a stroke or two near the slit where his penis resided, she had no doubts she could fuck him again. Except she was here to find out the truth. Slowly she eased from beneath the heavy weight of Egeus’s arm and stood. She circled the room, noting the still softly glowing gems along the wall, the stark, yet opulent furnishings. Their large bed dominated the room. A slender stone column supported a sealed crystal bowl full of small, golden fish for a snack should they get hungry. There were no shelves, no tables, nothing for relaxation. This room had been designed specifically for one purpose -- sex. Herma wrapped her arms around herself before pulling on her wedding finery. She found no other clothing in the room. She cracked open the door. Contrary to custom, no guards stood outside. They’d been there earlier. But perhaps they’d sensed the activities on the other side of the door and left. Neither she nor Egeus had been mentally discreet. Whatever reason for the guards’ departure, she gave a mental note of thanks as she slipped outside. Staying in the room with Egeus made her claustrophobic. The walls closed in, reminding her she had to be in the room for twenty-four hours with him. Probably to make sure she was good and gravid. Blowing a stream of bubbles to show her annoyance, she worked to calm her thoughts. The door to their chamber was located at the end of a long hall. Stone, hewn smooth by magic, cast a pale pink glow around the ceiling. She ran her fingers over the fossils and shells in the stone, the show of wealth far more than her family’s simple clan home. Herma moved as silently as she could. She shielded her thoughts, not wanting anyone to know she’d left the joining chamber. It was taboo, a blight on her joining if anyone found out. With the marriage designed to foster peace, her doing anything to blacken the Silverfin name could be seen as an act of aggression.

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The need for knowledge propelled Herma forward. At the end of the corridor, she turned right. She wandered through the halls looking for something, or someone, to tell her what might have happened to her aunt -- any signs that the Silverfin clan were involved or any signs that they weren’t. Right now she simply wanted to know. Herma shook her head. No. The Silverfins had done it. Undoubtedly, Egeus being sent to foster with her clan that same summer had something to do with it. She regretted leaving Egeus sleeping in the joining chamber. Should her absence be discovered, it’d reflect poorly on him. She doubted he knew anything about what had happened. Even if he did know, he probably couldn’t tell her. She ducked into an alcove to avoid passing servants. When it was clear, she emerged again only to have an old gentleman step out of another alcove and wrap his hand around her arm. “You’re supposed to be sleeping in the joining chamber, or did my nephew not wear you out?” His bold mental words shocked her, and before she could protest he turned her around and started marching her back to the room. “I shall have to let him know he’s let a great prize slip away.” Although warm chuckles accompanied the statement, Herma’s stomach clenched. She’d been caught sneaking around the castle by a member of the Silverfin family. “I, uh, was trying to find something to eat,” she said. “I can return to the chamber myself. You don’t need to escort me.” She feared repercussions should her misadventure become known. “Please don’t blame Egeus. It’s not his fault.” “And why would it be his fault?” Warmth and humor danced in the elder Silverfin’s eyes. “I see you’re everything your aunt said you’d be.” Herma gave a mental gasp of shock. This man had known her aunt. She hadn’t expected to receive such a lucky break so soon in her search. “Who are you? How do you know her? Do you know what happened to her?” The questions tumbled from her before she could stop them.

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“It appears I do need to escort you back to the joining chamber. You’re more adventurous than you should be, young Shimmertail.” His mental voice grew closed, distant. “Wait!” Herma dug in her heels. “I don’t want to go back. I want to talk to you.” The man’s fingers dug into her arm. “No. It’s your joining night. You need to go back and I shall accompany you, so you don’t get into any more trouble. As to who I am, let’s just say I helped your father orchestrate the joining.” Somehow she knew this man had known her aunt and wouldn’t be answering her questions. She whirled to face him. She’d make him answer. She had longed for information ever since she’d been a child. Flattening her palms on his chest, she dared him not to reply. “Where is she? What have you done with her? I won’t go back to the joining chamber until you answer my questions.” “She is safe, and she is happy. That is all you need to know. That is all that is safe for you to know. Ahh, here we are.” He stopped in front of the door to the joining chamber. “Now, shall I knock, or do you just want to go inside?” “Safe? What do you mean safe?” Sorrow welled inside her. “Please, sir. Who are you? How do you know this information?” “I’m sure you’ll find out the answers to those questions soon enough. Now, do you want me to knock, or shall you just open the door?”

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Chapter Two

Herma stood next to the stranger. His refusal to answer her questions angered her. She feared even if she slipped unnoticed back to the joining chamber, an occurrence which seemed less and less likely the longer she stood out here, that he still might report her wanderings. “I’ll go inside. Thank you.” She kept her mental voice soft, not wanting to broadcast it into the room beyond and to her joined mate, who most likely still slept in postcoital slumber. She curled her fingers around the doorknob. The door opened, nearly pulling her off her feet. Egeus stood there, blinking sleepily and staring at her and the old man. “Uncle?” he asked. “What are you doing out here with Herma?” Egeus’s uncle stared at her with a knowing gaze. Herma stared back. This man was his uncle? She’d hoped in the back of her mind that she’d discovered a guard or a servant, but to be caught by a member of the Silverfin clan… Herma lifted her chin. She would not be cowed by him. Even as his close scrutiny filled her with shame. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep, and I…” her mental words trailed off. She couldn’t say she looked for food, not when a tank of fish remained in the chambers. Her need to discover the

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truth seemed wrong, somehow. And she knew if she asked Egeus he would show her every inch of his palatial home. Scurrying inside, she caressed Egeus’s spine with her fingers as she stopped beside him. He looked at her, brows furrowed. “If you don’t need anything more, Uncle, thank you for helping my joined find her way back home.” His words gave away little of his emotions. Herma stood there next to him. She hoped her eyes and subservient body language told Egeus’s uncle how much she appreciated his silence. He glanced at her for a long moment before turning and walking away. Herma stared at his retreating back, certain she’d get the answers out of him before long. Obviously that man knew what happened. The question was whether he would tell her anything. Egeus closed the door behind him before turning to face her. “You left me so quickly? Did I not please you?” He gestured to the plush platform covered with soft grasses where they’d sealed their vows. “You can have it all to yourself if you wish. I’ll find somewhere else to sleep for the night if you find me that repulsive.” “No!” Herma snagged his wrist and tugged him toward the bed. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m sorry.” She closed her eyes for a moment, stilling her churning thoughts. She longed to explain her concerns about the past to Egeus. After all, he was a Silverfin and she’d been given to him to heal the rift. Perhaps he might have some information, though she suspected he didn’t. Still, bringing their clans’ differences into the joining room meant she only perpetuated the hurt between the two clans. Curving her hand against his cheek she remembered the touch of his lips, his fingers caressing every inch of her body. Silverfin in name, Egeus bore no responsibility for her aunt’s disappearance. The last time she’d seen him he’d been a young boy. Whatever had happened that summer, Egeus had no part in it. She shouldn’t penalize him.

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Herma tangled her fingers with his and led him to the bed. She sat down and Egeus followed suit. He glanced down at their fingers, then up at her. “You must understand something,” she said, preparing to lay her heart bare. She never wanted to cause the pain she’d seen in his eyes ever again. “I am the youngest daughter. I dreamed of love, of a joining I chose. You are a handsome young man and a skilled lover. It would have been nice to have gotten to know you before our joining, instead of being told I was sent here to heal the schism between our clans. Do you understand? It wasn’t you I was fleeing, but me, the responsibilities and the burdens placed upon me. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Leaning forward, Herma brushed her lips over his. At her touch, Egeus stiffened, and for a moment she knew the pain of rejection. She’d left the joining chamber -- not totally forbidden, but definitely a breach of etiquette. Egeus believed she didn’t want him. After his touch, his sexual delights, how could she not want him? Her lips moved over his, teasing, tasting, gentle brushes she hoped would telegraph her apology far better than her words. Egeus cupped her cheek. He brushed his thumb across it, tangling his fingers in her hair, and pulled her closer. With their lips fused together, his tongue curled forward, brushing hers. Her nipples hardened against his chest. Her pussy throbbed. She skimmed her fingers down his body, feeling the planes of his abdomen and the slit where his cock unfurled. She wrapped her fingers around his length and stroked. Egeus pulled back. “You are undoubtedly sore. Let us lie together and simply enjoy the pleasure of each other’s company.” He stretched out on the bed, his turgid cock belying his gentle words. Herma stared at him for a moment, and then settled beside him. She curled her body against his, his erection a throbbing rod against her back. Wiggling against it, she cradled her hands beneath her cheek and sighed. Egeus wasn’t mad at her for leaving. And perhaps she’d unwittingly discovered someone who could tell her more information. She thought of the surface, of watching the twin suns sparkle against the ocean’s face, and then felt Egeus’s warmth behind her and settled into a soft sleep.

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***** Egeus watched his joined mate sleep. She hadn’t mentioned her aunt. He’d seen the questions in his uncle’s eyes and suspected she might have asked more questions than either the old man or he were willing to answer. Reaching for her, he grasped a strand of hair between his fingers. He fondled it, watching the fluttering of her gills as she breathed. She lay in repose, her eyelids closed over her eyes like shuttered windows, keeping her thoughts, her gaze from him while she slept. What dreams roamed through her mind, what fears, what nightmares, he didn’t know. He wanted to be a part of her world, wanted to be a part of it so badly he’d agreed to this joining knowing she might never love him as much as he loved her. He’d shackled himself to a weaker clan in the name of love. He suppressed his mental bark of laughter. She claimed she wanted a love like the kind spoken about in old legends. Well, it lay right here on the bed next to her, and yet, she’d left. Because of her aunt. Herma could deny it all she wanted, but it was the truth. She’d left the joining chamber hoping to find information. His uncle had kept his thoughts shuttered while they’d stood in the doorway. What would happen when Herma found out the truth? He dropped her hair and watched it fall to the bed. Auden’s mind touched Egeus’s. “Meet me in my study,” his uncle ordered. Egeus jerked. Beneath him, the grasses swayed on the bed. Small currents eddied around him. He stiffened, not wanting to wake Herma. “I’ll be there in a moment,” he replied. “Now. It’s important,” Auden demanded. Egeus wasn’t looking forward to the conversation with his uncle. His stomach dropped thinking about Herma uncovering his clan’s secrets. That they’d given her aunt the life she’d

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wanted probably meant little to Herma. They’d taken her aunt away from the clan, away from their ocean home. Leaving Herma sleeping in their joining chambers was the hardest thing he’d done in a while. Yet, he knew he had to go. He stood, watching Herma sleep as he donned a short wrap around his waist. That she’d left their joining chamber still hurt him, though he knew what she’d gone through. She liked him, seemed pleasant enough, and her body’s responses were real, but he knew now she longed for the kind of forever love sung about in ballads. No matter how he tried, so long as their family’s difficulties hung between them, he could never give her what her heart desired. He needed to keep his own emotions bottled up tight. He couldn’t even tell her he knew about her aunt. What a tangled mess their joining had become. He stepped into the corridor, noticing that the guards were absent from his door. When his uncle had brought Herma back, he’d thought their absence had been a momentary thing, but the guards were most definitely gone. He wondered if it was because they thought they were no longer needed now that the room was occupied. Herma hadn’t encountered any problems leaving. He turned down the hall, following the twists and bends until he reached his uncle’s study. He made a quick mental query, and upon receiving a mental greeting, he entered. Egeus strode to the chair next to a low couch made from a sunken relic. Both items sat in front of floor-to-ceiling shelves full of artifacts and baubles, many from the surface above. Herma would love to see these, he thought, catching sight of glass bottles and glittering jewelry. Like her aunt, she loved the surface and the strange people who resided there. Egeus bowed his head in deference to his uncle’s age and position as his father’s most trusted advisor and then sat in the chair. “You wished to speak with me?”

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“The Shimmertail girl is like her aunt. She hungers for things from the world above. She will find out what happened, and then what will you do? How will you hold your alliance together?” In his customary fashion, his uncle got directly to the point. “Perhaps these questions should have been asked before the joining, Uncle?” Egeus refused to hide the sarcastic tone of his voice. “I care for her. I hope in time she will care for me. I cannot and will not ask her to give up the quest to find out what happened to her aunt. She will find out. I only hope she cares for me enough not to shatter both our clans.” He stretched out his legs, thinking of Herma back in bed. He should be curled around her. He should be buried balls-deep inside her. Behind the wrap, his cock stirred, and only his strength of will kept it from emerging. “I told your father it was foolish of them to join the two of you without the truth being known.” “If you tell her, then she’ll know what you can do, what you can offer,” Egeus countered. He closed his eyes, not yet ready to face that Herma might wish for a life without him, away from the ocean. “And you fear her leaving.” Egeus nodded. “How can I not? After all, if I didn’t desire Herma, she wouldn’t be my joined mate. When my father put forth his plan, I requested her. I pulled her into our clan, our lives, even though we were told what she thought of us.” He shook his head. “Yet were she to take the freedom you offer her, the very same freedom you gave her aunt, I would grieve. So tell me, Uncle, what should I do? Try to keep quiet about it, try to get her so fixated on me that she forgets her aunt? Or tell her the truth? Which would you do?” Egeus knew his uncle had no answers. If he’d given them, then Egeus would be back with Herma instead of here in the den. For a moment he thought about returning to her, nearly rose to his feet so great was his desire to do so, but then his uncle started talking. Egeus listened. Perhaps in the listening, he’d find the answers he sought.

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***** Herma’s eyelids fluttered open and her gaze focused on the clear crystal enclosure full of bright orange and gold fish. The soft bed beneath her, so much larger than her own, reminded her she wasn’t in her family’s clan home. Rolling over, she reached for Egeus, only to find him gone. She bolted upright. The tiny fins at her wrists and ankles fluttered in the slight current permeating the room, her hair floating out in all directions. Egeus. He was gone. She scanned the empty room, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and leaving her soft haven. She strode to the closed door and opened it, peering down the empty hall. He’d left her. Loss, sharp and new, filled her chest. Hurt by her disappearance, he’d simply left. She shook her head, not ready to believe she’d been abandoned the day after her joining. Perhaps he left for some reason or maybe to check in with his family. After all, she didn’t own him, didn’t control what he did every waking moment. She saw only her kelp skirt and breastplate, and she quickly put them on, tying the strap on the plate the best she could. As soon as she found Egeus she’d ask about suitable clothing. She’d go search for him. As his newly joined mate it was her duty to see to his pleasure, and surely no one could fault her for trying to find him. Besides, it would give her a way to explore her new home and perhaps find out more about her aunt. Grinning, feeling surer of herself now that she had a plan, she emerged into the hallway. Unlike last night, she took her time, noticing the brilliant coral and shell work on the walls. Glowing crystals illuminated the top of the walls, casting shadows against the ceiling. She followed them, noticing their changing colors as she halted at a junction in the hallway. The way she’d explored before called to her, and she turned. Although her father ruled her clan, his home wasn’t as opulent as the Silverfin home. The rank and stature of her new clan wasn’t lost on her.

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She saw no one in the halls. No servants scurried about as they would in her home. No guards walked the floors. What kind of clan lord was Egeus’s father if he did not have hordes of people to control? The rumors of his power contrasted with the emptiness of his halls. She passed the small alcove from where Egeus’s uncle had emerged. She ducked into it, thinking there might be a secret door since he’d appeared out of nowhere. She saw nothing but solid, stone wall. She smoothed her hands over the walls, feeling the ridges where stone met and shells decorated, but she found no hidden recesses or doors. Frowning, she studied it even more intently. Surely he couldn’t have materialized out of nothing. Rumors of Silverfin power abounded, but Herma always thought they meant political power. Wealth, money, things her family had but not in as much abundance as the Silverfins. Arcane power was a thing of legends, stories told at bedtime to unruly princesses who should have been asleep long before. A shiver darted down her spine. She hurried back to the open hallway. Away from the mysterious alcove she held more control. She laughed at her foolish thoughts. It was ridiculous to believe Egeus’s uncle might be some kind of magician. A door opened to her right, startling her. Herma stopped, watching as Egeus emerged. He turned and saw her. Eyes going wide, he gestured to someone in the room, and then hurried toward her. “Herma! What are you doing here?” Did he sound reproachful? She tried to decipher his mental voice. He sounded almost worried, and for a moment she wondered what he might be doing in the room. To whom did he speak and what about? “I woke and you weren’t there. I wanted to see you. I was worried.” She said what she hoped were the right things.

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Egeus smiled. He halted before her. Reaching up, he cupped her cheek, his palm and fingers warm against her face. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.” Leaning forward, he brushed his lips across hers. Herma melted against him. Relief weakened her knees. She wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him close. “Oh, Egeus,” she said, his words touching a place deep inside her. When he held her like this, his lips pressing against hers, fusing their mouths so their tongues could join, she believed him incapable of doing anything to harm her.

Egeus allowed Herma to pull him against her body. With the breastplate between them once again, he missed her subtle curves pressed against the planes of his chest. He slid one of his thighs between her legs, delighted when she rubbed against it. Slick wetness that had nothing to do with the ocean surrounding them coated his thigh. He trailed one hand over her back and found the repaired strap with his fingers. He pulled it between his fingers, but did not dare break it. Once they were back in the joining chamber and she had suitable garments, then he’d ensure she didn’t wear the breastplate again. Nothing should keep her breasts from him. She distracted him. His uncle’s last words, a warning about letting Herma get too close lest she find out the truth, echoed in his mind. He pulled away slowly and willed his cock to remain curled inside his body. Egeus sought the closest servant with his mind. Quickly, he requested clothing for his mate. “Let’s go back to the joining chamber. A servant will bring some clothes.” “Thank you,” she replied, her mental voice soft. He wondered if wearing the bridal outfit bothered her. As a joined mate, she transitioned from the long skirts and breast wraps of a maiden to the far more revealing chains of shells and baubles of a married woman. He battled his arousal just thinking about

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Herma in the clothes that pronounced her his mate. She belonged to him, and soon, every member of his clan would see the proof. In an effort to cool his heated thoughts, he moved down the hall. Herma followed, her hand on his elbow. “I’m sorry if I upset you,” she said once they rounded the corner away from his uncle’s study. “When I woke alone…” Her timid demeanor contrasted sharply with the Herma he knew. Suppressing a frown, he hurried her into the joining chamber. Later, once she was dressed, he’d show her one of his favorite places outside the clan home. Then, he’d take her to his suite of rooms, where he hoped she’d be happy. Opening the door, he led her through. She looked afraid, her gaze darting to him then away, like a fish flitting among the coral. Just inside the door, Egeus turned to her. He directed her toward the bed. He sat and patted the grasses beside him. “Are you afraid of me?” he asked, not liking the way she refused to look in his eyes. For a moment, he wondered what his uncle had told her when she’d been caught wandering the halls. “Should I be?” she asked with a small shake of her head. “Twice now I’ve left the joining chamber. I entered into the marriage of my own free will, but I wonder if I’ll be a prisoner in my new clan home?” “No!” Egeus replied. The burst of emotion propelled him to his feet. Whirling he knelt before her and cupped her hands. He pulled them to his chest. “Never.” A discreet knock announced the arrival of the servants. “So you’re not mad I left the joining chamber?” “The first time, yes, it hurt. I thought you didn’t want me. But this time when you came to look for me, how could I be mad at that?” He brought her hands to his lips and brushed kisses across the backs. Lightly he mouthed the fins at her wrists, and watched as a

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shiver darted down her spine. His cock twitched, demanding to be free. “The servants are here,” he said, releasing her hands. “Enter!” he ordered. The door opened admitting two servants. They carried a carved shell platter between them heaped with a dazzling array of jewels and shells. Unlike the higher ranking clan members, the servants’ scales shimmered with a slate gray color like rocks. They were both female, wearing short skirts of kelp leaves and twisted wraps across their breasts. Their uniform features made it difficult to tell them apart, and Egeus thought these two might have been members of the group of servants brought in specifically for his mate. Herma looked from the servants to the tray of shells they held. Without looking to him, she rose to her feet and hurried over to the servants. They set the tray down and displayed the chains of shells, semiprecious stones, and coral bits for his mate’s perusal. Though she said nothing, light shone in her eyes. She fingered a length of chain bound with gold coins from the surface, and nodded. He watched as the women removed her breastplate. Just the sight of the long line of her back tapering to a narrow waist had him fighting off the urge to remove his coyach shell and couple with her right there. The servants’ fingers skimmed her figure as they wrapped the chain several times around her waist. A flick of a servant’s wrist removed the short skirt. Egeus’s gills fluttered. He sank to the bed. After their joining ceremony he only thought about burying his cock inside her and filling her with his seed. Now, watching the servants dress her had to be the most erotic thing Egeus had ever seen. The waist chain had two loops that fastened just beneath her muscled buttocks. Their fingers moved between her legs. Egeus imagined following that path, flicking his fingers across her slit, feeling her cream on his fingers. The two servants straightened. Herma pointed to a matching chain on the tray.

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With a nod, the servants arranged it around Herma’s breasts. He saw only the thin chain with small snail shells around her back. “Ooh!” Herma’s mental exclamation made his dick throb. Whirling she faced him. “What do you think?” Surprise rendered him speechless. He’d seen the waist chain with the loops around her legs. In the back, the baubles framed her ass, leaving her completely bare. In the front, they framed her pussy. His mouth watered with the memory of her salty-sweet taste, of feeling her muscled thighs on either side of his face while his tongue plunged in and out of her willing channel. His coyach shell rose from his body. Reluctantly, he dragged his gaze to the chain. Large coins concealed her nipples, a fine chain of filigreed silver and shells wrapping around her torso. The coins moved in the current, baring tantalizing glimpses of hard nipples. Goddess of the deep, what kind of siren had he married? “Beautiful,” his mental voice rasped. With a nod, the servants left. Herma remained standing in place. Egeus bolted to his feet. He rushed to her, resting his hands on her slim waist just above the chain. “So damn beautiful,” he whispered. He skimmed his hands across her ribs, the caress just light enough to send shivers down her spine. Flicking his thumbs beneath the coins, he rubbed her nipples into tight peaks. He reached down and removed his uncomfortable shell, his penis unfurling between them. With measured steps, he backed her against the door. Herma gave a startled gasp. Her hands rested on his shoulders, fingers curling into his muscles. Rocking her hips, she drew one lean thigh alongside his. The motion trapped his cock between them, her gentle motions pressing it into her soft belly.

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Egeus palmed her breast. Goddess of the deep, she made him so hot, so hungry, that he couldn’t get enough of her. Lowering his mouth to her, he wrapped his lips around her nipple. As soon as he made the seal with his mouth, he lowered the membrane and tongued her. Her mental cry shattered his control. Sliding his hands down to her ass, he lifted her against him, the rattle of her waist and leg chains against his skin an erotic enticement. He slid his cock along her slit, feeling her moisture coat it. One pump of his hips and he sheathed himself inside her. Herma’s fingers tightened on him. Her sheath rippled, sending wave after wave of pleasure crashing through his veins. She held him so hot, so tight and deep inside her that he knew not where he ended and she began. Scraping his teeth against her nipple, he felt the contractions of her channel, the gyrations of her hips that told him how close she was to orgasm. He palmed her buttocks. Pulling his lips from her nipple, he let the membrane roll back into place before trailing kisses over her collarbone and up the sloping column of her neck. He found her mouth, his lips moving over hers with a demanding touch. Fusing their mouths together, he drank from her. Membranes rolled back so he could plunge his tongue into her mouth as the thrusts of his hips plunged his cock into her body. Her heels dug into his buttocks, widening her thighs to bring him even deeper inside her. A wave of possessiveness so strong it nearly buckled his knees rolled through him. She was his. His! Pressing her against the wall, he pounded into her willing body. Her mental cries of pleasure enhanced his own. Suddenly, she screamed, a wordless sound of pure release. Her body convulsed, fingers digging into his scales. For a moment he thought she broke through scales to the skin beneath. Salt water stung against the tiny scrapes. Then, he didn’t care, for her tight cunt milked him so hard he felt the pull all the way to the top of his head. The need to brand her as his, mark her with his bites of possession, fill her with his seed and make her gravid, had

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him thrusting into her. His cock twitched, the narrow pouch with his sacs drawing tight against his body. “Mine!” he mentally roared as he came. The base of his spine tingled. He thrust, one more long, sure slide into her body. With a twitch, his seed rushed through his body, pumping deep inside her. He held her pinned to the wall with his body weight, his cock still hard inside her. Resting his forehead against hers, his gills flapped in an effort to pull more air into his body. Never before had he needed someone so much so fast. Releasing his fingers, he held her wrapped around him. He moved backward, his fins flapping in the water as he took her to the bed. When the edge bumped into the backs of his knees, he tumbled them down onto the soft grasses. Herma lay sprawled on top of him, his cock still buried inside her. She wriggled, drawing a mental groan from him, and then pressed her cheek against his chest. Egeus savored the moment. Lightly, he rubbed her back. He followed her spine with long sweeping caresses that had her relaxing even more against him. Her slight weight held him pinned to the bed. Inside her, his cock stirred once more, and he tried to ignore the insistent demand. She was his joined mate, and it was expected he’d get her gravid before the moon turned full once more. They hadn’t talked about heirs. In the clan homes, most children were raised by servants until they were sufficiently old enough to learn how to rule. Although as the youngest son married to the youngest daughter, their children undoubtedly wouldn’t be expected to take over the Silverfin clan. Secretly, he was relieved, wanting for his children the same freedoms he enjoyed now. One of which was the freedom to go outside the clan home without seeking approval from his father. Knowing her love of exploration, Egeus wanted to share one of his favorite places with her. “Come. There’s a place I want to show you.” In his mind’s eye, he held the image of the sparkling underwater cave. Stalactites and stalagmites in every color of the rainbow filled it, creating hollows and alcoves where lovers might linger. He sent more

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images to her, of dark fish darting among the colorful pillars and the great majestic rays floating between them, and he felt her excitement grow. “You know of such a place?” “Yes. You’d like to see it?” Sharing one of his favorite places with her seemed intimate, far too intimate for their current level of familiarity. They were joined mates, true, yet he realized he knew so very little about Herma and he wanted to know more. She rolled from him and he lamented the loss of contact. His cock, still hard, slid from her. It pointed toward the ceiling. Herma leaned forward. She skimmed her fingers over his stomach, down toward his aching shaft. With a gentle touch she stroked him from base to tip and down again, curling her fingers around his balls. Pressing her lips to the end of his shaft, she released her membrane and flicked her tongue against the tip. Egeus released a groan of need. Goddess of the deep, would he ever get enough of his joined mate? “Egeus!” His father’s summons rattled through Egeus’s mind. Herma stiffened, her membrane falling back into place as she stared at him. “Yes, Father?” Egeus struggled to keep his mental voice light, not wanting his father to know the summons interrupted what could have been a pleasurable moment. “You and your bride are to attend me now.” With a mental slam the head of the Silverfin clan ended the connection. Herma scurried from the bed. Her clothing, such as it was, required no adjustment, though he sensed her hesitation about meeting his father dressed like a joined mate. Too late to soothe her worries, he rose from the bed and reached for his small loincloth. “We must go,” Egeus said. “I’m sorry. Other things will have to wait.” He painfully adjusted his coyach shell and offered his arm to his mate. “It’ll be all right. You’ll see.” He projected reassurance, though he feared what his father would say about his mate. An

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impulsive match, one meant to join the clans, his father hadn’t been happy with the decision. Only his wish to indulge his youngest son and the Shimmertails’ desire to soothe the rift between the clans made the marriage possible. Herma nodded. “If you say so.” She looked at him with boundless hope in her gaze. Damn, when she looked at him like that, he felt as if he could touch the sky. He wanted to give her anything, including the life on the surface she desired. The force of his desire to see her happy shook him. And as he led her to his father’s chamber, he feared that in giving Herma what she wanted he’d break his heart.

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Chapter Three

First the meeting with Egeus’s father, then the tour of the suite of rooms that would belong to them. Herma’s mind spun. She’d known she’d married into one of the most powerful clans. Seeing it firsthand, shook her. It made her search for justice seem futile. She’d gone to sleep in his large bed, realizing she’d be there for the rest of her life. A wave of homesickness had washed over her, and then, Egeus had pulled her into his arms. She’d woken snuggled against him. Slipping out of bed, she put on comfortable wraps and simply wanted to think. She found a low coral bench in the sitting room. Nestling herself onto it, she let her thoughts wander. “Here you are.” Egeus stepped into the room, his arms full of clothing on a mat of woven grasses. More gifts? Herma stared at the offerings in wonder. She’d been pampered, taken by servants to a heated chamber where they massaged her muscles. Staring at the clothing, she saw little, except for the traditional clothing of a chain with small shells and a short skirt of matching shells covered with delicate scrollwork. Nothing used or repaired for her, not for the joined mate of the Clan Lord’s son. Back home she’d worn her sisters’ hand-me-downs.

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Suddenly, she realized she’d never wear secondhand things again. She really had come further than she’d ever dreamed. She removed the comfortable wraps she’d put on this morning, noticing the way his gaze lingered on her bared breasts. She took the thin chain of small shells and draped it over her nipples and around her back. Slim straps held it around her neck, and Egeus fastened the two on her back. Around her breasts, up over her neck, and crossing over her back, the delicate shell and gossamer filament harness barely covered her. More shells, this time in chains as a skirt, wrapped around her waist and hung in front and back, leaving her legs free. While she dressed, she noticed Egeus had put his shell on again, covering the slit concealing his cock, and when he turned to look at her, heat flared in his gaze. His attention swept over her body, as hot and hard as a caress. She looked at him and held out her hand. It didn’t shake, though inside she trembled, and waited for Egeus to show her the cavern. Herma feared Egeus’s gentle attentions held the power to sway her from the task at hand. “There’s somewhere I want to show you. I meant to take you yesterday, but with the audience with my father and getting settled into my rooms…” Egeus’s voice faded away. “Would you want to go?” Would she? Herma struggled to contain her anticipation. Getting out of the clan home sounded lovely. “Yes, thank you.” “Good.” Egeus offered his hand. Herma twined her fingers with his, letting him pull her down the hall and out into the gardens. She followed him, trying to see everything as she passed. She was determined to come back later and explore the palace grounds. This would be her home now. She needed to learn every inch of it. Egeus led her past a low fence built from bleached coral into the wilds beyond the clan home. It looked much like the same rugged land, strewn with rocks and kelp forests, that

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surrounded her own clan home. Around one large craggy pile of rocks, he stopped before the opening to a cave. “Here it is,” Egeus announced, ducking inside. The dazzling array of colors captivated Herma’s attention. The rocks, stratified into every color of the rainbow filled the cave with a luminous light. Tiny black fish darted through the water. Crabs and starfish crept over the walls. Rays, their low, flat bodies floating above the ground, soared through the water, darting in and out of hidey holes only they could see. She thought she’d explored a large portion of the oceanic world in which she dwelled, but looking at the cave, Herma realized there were wonders yet to be seen. Egeus hovered behind her, his hands on her shoulders. Occasionally his leg would brush against hers as he kept himself stationary in the water. One hand slid down her arm, then up again. She shivered against him, and wiggled against the nudge of his cock against her buttocks. “It’s beautiful.” She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled, noting that he’d removed his shell. Egeus leaned forward. He brushed his lips across hers, his fingers caressing her spine as he tangled his fingers into her hair. His groan of pleasure echoed in her mind. She turned and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her legs following to twine around his waist. From groin to shoulder, she touched him. The thick ridge of his cock pressed against her labia, and one of his hands cupped her buttocks, holding her still. She played with his hair, running her fingers through it and toying with the strands. Lips fused, his tongue slid along hers, stroking, caressing, until he propelled them back toward the cave wall. Rocks formed a bench that could have been built for them. Slowly, Egeus lowered himself onto it, and she straddled his hips. She rocked against him, the delicious friction of his cock against her slick labia making her cunt drip with wetness and clench with need. His hand palmed her breast, rotating against the nipple. Herma arched her back.

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“Yes,” she whispered into his mind. “Yes.” Her channel contracted with the desire to feel his thick rod filling her. When he touched her like this, tormented her body, she didn’t think of him as a Silverfin. No, he was merely the man who set her blood afire. He stroked her stomach with the back of his knuckles. Beneath his touch her muscles fluttered. Close, so close to her aching clit, and then he slid his fingers past her slick labia and stroked the rising bud. Pleasure speared through her body. She clamped against his hips with her thighs, her tongue frantically stroking along his. Plunge and retreat, plunge and retreat, matching the rhythm her hips set and her desire to be fucked. “Please,” she begged. He slid two fingers inside her tight channel. Egeus rotated his thumb against her clit. “Like that?” “Oh yeah, just like that.” She bucked her hips, the delicious friction of his thumb pressing against her clit sending her higher and higher. Just a touch, a lick, and he had her spiraling toward release. He pulled his lips from hers, and then bent his head to her breast. Pushing aside the strand of shells he drew her tight nipple into his mouth. The pull at her breast combined with the fingers in her channel nearly made her come. She gripped his shoulder, the ridge of his cock rubbing against her labia, his fingers, all of it nearly too much to handle. And then her body exploded. Her channel rippled around his fingers as she came. Her wordless cry echoed in his mind, her juices soaking his fingers. He released her nipple with a pop and his digits slid from her pussy. She whimpered with loss, and then he wrapped his hands around her waist, his fingertips nearly touching. He held her poised over his cock. Gripping his shoulders, Herma lowered herself inch by inch, impaling herself on the thick length of his shaft. Finally, bodies flush together, she sat on him, his cock buried deep inside her.

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She moved slowly, savoring the feel of his thick shaft. Egeus sat still, letting her set the pace. She rocked back and forth, arching her back and offering him her breasts. He bent his head and wrapped his lips around one of her nipples. She speared her fingers through his hair and held him to her breast. Here time and space held no meaning, just the two of them locked in an erotic embrace. Her soft thrusts grew faster, harder, as the pleasure coiled low in her belly. His teeth grazed her shoulder. She clenched her fingers on his shoulders and fucked him. Colors swirled around them, generated by the rocks. “Please. Please.” Her mental mantra must have spilled into his mind for she heard his answering, “Oh yeah” as her channel clenched around him. Egeus slid his fingers between their bodies, down to her labia, slick with her juices. He stroked her clit, once, twice. Her head fell back as pleasure erupted from her center. It poured over and through her like a riptide pulling her under and rolling her until she knew nothing but the fierce pleasure of her orgasm thundering through her body. Her pussy milked him, and he smashed his thumb against her clit, making her body spasm once more. Still, Egeus didn’t slow. His teeth rasped against her nipple, the pleasure-pain of it so soon after her orgasm nearly too much to bear. Strumming her clit, stroking where their bodies joined, knowing he touched himself as much as he touched her forced her pleasure to build once more. This was the way she imagined it, all consuming, a passion beyond time and space to become something other. Herma pressed her lips to his neck, his shoulders. She sucked on him, leaving tiny red marks. Her marks. She’d proclaimed to everyone that Egeus belonged to her and the thought of her public display only made her take him deeper into her body. “Oh, Goddess, Herma.” Egeus’s breathy cry filled her mind as much as his cock filled her body. She rode him, their movements creating eddies around them that sent fish scurrying for hidey holes amongst the rocks. She wanted to be the one to make him come,

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wanted to feel his hot seed splashing her insides. His big hand curled around her breast, plucked at her nipple and then with a wordless mental cry she came again. Egeus’s pumping grew more frantic. He propelled them off the bench, laid her down on the soft, sandy floor of the ocean. His body covered hers, and she saw only him. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she pressed her heels into his buttocks, opening wide to his invasion. He stroked anew, a twist of his hips that had the head of his cock touching deep, intimate, sensitive places inside her. She exploded, coming apart at the seams. Thrashing beneath him she let the waves of her orgasm pound through her. Another thrust, two, and then Egeus stiffened above her. Pure triumph filled his mental voice as his cock pumped hot seed inside her. Joining, the combining of two souls in the purest way possible. Herma couldn’t look away from the man above her. He lowered himself to her, and she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his chest. His fingers stroked her hair, his softening cock still inside her body. “That was…” Her words drifted off as she searched for the right ones. “Amazing,” she said at last. Egeus rolled to the side, taking her with him. Fitted into the shape of his body, she slung a leg over his thighs and never wanted to let go. “Yeah. It was.” A smile covered his lips. “I never imagined, never hoped, but you’re everything I’ve always thought and then some. If I had one wish it’d be --” He stopped, and Herma sensed he feared saying more. “What is it?” she asked, unable to keep from asking. She feared she didn’t want to know the answer.

Egeus stiffened. He sensed Herma wanted to know the truth, knew she deserved to know it even. But did he really want to be the one to tell her? After all, she’d been joined to

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him to heal the feud between their clans. Even before his uncle’s involvement with Herma’s aunt, the two clans had warred. Too long ago now for them to know the exact causes, something about forbidden love and territory squabbles had started it. Now, he thought the arguments were silly. They had happened so long ago none of the original parties were alive. Why couldn’t they just let the past be the past? He knew his people wouldn’t do that. If he told her what he knew, and it only increased her anger, what irreparable harm would he cause to both the Shimmertail and Silverfin clans? He didn’t want to be the one to ruin everything their families tried to build. Yet, he didn’t want to be the one to withhold information, either. He forced himself to relax. Next to him, Herma slid from his arms. She sat up, legs crossed, arms over her breasts. “You wish what, Egeus? We’re joined now. You can tell me anything.” He’d hurt her. Damn. He cursed his blundering for even starting to reveal his clan’s secret. Too late now. For as long as he and Herma were joined mates, the past would come between them. Though his father, and his uncle warned him against spilling the secret, he couldn’t refuse his bride the very thing she needed to know. Reaching across the space separating them, he brushed the backs of his knuckles across her cheek. “I could never do anything to hurt you. Never.” He closed his eyes, not wanting to lose his nerve. “If I had one wish, Herma, it would be that you know that the Silverfin clan isn’t solely to blame for your aunt’s disappearance.” “You know what happened?” She wrapped her fingers around his wrist, pulling his hand to her chest and covering it with her own. Nestled there, in the valley between her breasts, her frantic heartbeat thudded against his fingertips. “I know,” he confirmed. He hadn’t planned on their discussion getting so far, but his heart spoke before his head could intervene. “I do not know the whole truth, for I was a

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young boy at the time. My uncle knows, and if you ask, he is a man of honor, and I know he will tell you.” “Really?” Herma released his hand and bolted to her feet. “He’ll tell me? He knows?” In her eyes he saw the hope and fear of what the revelation of such truth would bring. He rose to his feet and reached out to her. “Herma, you might not want to know. I know you loved your aunt. I saw you with her, remember? Sometimes things are best left alone.” The truth, he feared, would crush her. “And if you saw me with her, then you know what this means to me. If the Silverfin clan is not responsible, as you say they aren’t, then you wouldn’t mind my knowing the truth.” She stepped toward the entrance of the cave. “If you care for me as my joined mate, you would tell me the truth. But since you will not, I will seek it myself.” With a kick of her legs, she propelled herself out of the cave. Egeus watched her go and knew he’d just damned them all, for once Herma learned the truth she’d be lost to him forever.

Egeus’s betrayal stabbed through her. He knew what had happened. Deep in her bones she’d sensed he hid the truth from her. Now that he had her as a joined mate, it didn’t matter in his eyes. The Silverfin clan had captured yet another Shimmertail. And the Silverfin clan always got what it wanted. Anger thrummed in her veins. She swam furiously back to the castle, churning the water into frothy waves around her. Small fish darted out of her way. She closed the walls of her mind tight against any intrusion. How dare Egeus do this to her? How dare he take her to the cave, make love to her so beautifully, make her fall in love with him, and then turn on her! Fall in love… Herma’s strokes slowed as her thoughts registered. Oh damn it all to the depths of a great ocean chasm. She loved Egeus. Damn, it hurt. His touch burned in her

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mind, the way his lips fastened on hers, the way he suckled her nipples, drank from her cunt. She loved a Silverfin. How could she do it? How could she fall in love with the enemy? Behind her, she sensed Egeus’s approach. She glanced behind her shoulder and saw him closing the distance between them. Kicking her legs, she headed back to the Silverfin home. His uncle held the truth. He’d been the one to bring her back to the joining chamber, and she figured Egeus had been in closed conferences with him. As an elder member of the Silverfin clan he had to know the truth. And as Egeus’s joined mate, and now a Silverfin, he had to reveal the truth. She hoped. Right now her mind whirled with speculation and accusations. Truth be told, no one owed her anything. Except she’d been brought into this clan to heal the rift between the Silverfins and the Shimmertails, and telling her would go a long way toward healing that distance. Even if the truth wasn’t something she wanted to hear. Herma closed her eyes and struggled to gain control of her thoughts. She slowed as she neared the castle, slipping into a side entrance. As before, the hallway stood empty, not bustling with the servants and guards one would expect for a fancy clan holding. She’d never been here before, though she thought she knew how to return to the joining chamber. Stone and shell designs on the wall helped guide her back to the room where she and Egeus first made love. For a moment she thought about stepping inside, closing the door, and forgetting about all that had happened. Would it be so bad not to worry about the past and just enjoy Egeus’s pleasure? Swallowing hard she faced the fact that she couldn’t. Until the matter of her aunt’s disappearance was settled, neither she nor Egeus could find happiness in their joining. He’d always be hiding things from her, and she would always be searching for the answers. Using the joining room as a guide, she retraced her steps back to his uncle’s room. A couple of young women, not servants from the braid of shells around their waist and the inked design of a fluked fin in front of a moon on their lower backs, scurried down the hall. Neither spoke. If they thought it odd to find her out wandering the halls without Egeus, they

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said nothing. Standing there, one hand reaching toward the doorknob, the wall around her mind cloaking her in silence, she turned and glanced down the hall. Their rooms called to her. Egeus called out for her. She suspected he’d followed her. A presence, a premonition told her he had, but he waited for her. Her stomach clenched and for one horrid moment, she feared her resolve had fled. The decision was in her hands -- to find out about her aunt or not. If she turned away from this door, Herma knew she could never forgive herself or Egeus. Steeling herself for what she might find on the other side, she opened the door. And stepped into an empty room. Heavy furniture pronounced the room a study, as did the walls lined with things belonging to the surface dwellers. She hovered in the water, only the tiny movements of her fins at wrists and ankles keeping her in place. Glass bottles, dinnerware, and coins from the world above filled the shelves. The couch sitting in one corner beside a table, which could only be a ship’s wheel fastened onto some sort of metal covered with barnacles and corals, looked as if it had come from one of the sunken vessels she sometimes found. She moved to the shelves, entranced by the beauty. She picked up one glass bottle, noticing a rolled piece of parchment inside and a cork in the lid. Someone on the surface had written this. Her people couldn’t use something as flimsy as paper in the water. Egeus’s uncle’s room held a veritable treasure trove. Gingerly, she set the bottle back, and then reached for a string of pearl pink baubles. As she held it up all her longing for the surface and her aunt came rushing back. She started to slip the necklace over her head, and then stopped. These treasures didn’t belong to her. She returned it to the shelf. “All these treasures came from the land. My aunt longed for this world, more so than I. She desired to be there, to experience life as a human.” Reaching up, she fingered the beads. “Indeed, she did desire the surface. Do you want to know the truth, Herma? I fear we’ve kept it from you for far too long.”

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She whirled at the sound of the deep voice belonging to Egeus’s uncle. He stood there, Egeus at his side, in the open doorway to the room. Egeus stared at her. “Tell me, Herma, do you want to know the truth?” In her joined mate’s eyes, she saw fear and resignation. “Yes,” she replied without hesitation. “Tell me what happened.”

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Chapter Four

“Why don’t you sit down?” Egeus’s uncle’s mental voice was solemn, like a storyteller preparing for a special occasion. He took a seat on the couch, motioned for her to take the chair opposite him. Herma seated herself, closing her hands around the arms of the chair. Egeus sat beside his uncle, and right now, the desire to curl into his solid strength and protection rolled through her. Instead, she tightened her fingers around the chair, resisted the urge to tuck her legs beneath her, and faced Egeus and his uncle. “I’m ready.” She wasn’t, not really. But saying the words to him made them seem more real, as if she weren’t about to hear the most startling news of her life. Finally, after all this time she’d learn what happened to her aunt. She kept her gaze focused on Egeus and wished she could smooth the lines of worry from around his eyes. He stared at her. Drank her up with his eyes, as if this might be the last time he saw her. Did he fear she’d flee once she heard his uncle’s words? And if she learned the Silverfin clan had somehow played a role, how could she not leave this place? She waited. “I knew your aunt when we were children,” he started. “My name is Auden, and I loved your aunt from the first day we met. My parents dismissed it as a childhood crush,

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didn’t care really when they prepared my brother to take over the clan. But she grew, as did I, and when we were both old enough we pledged to be joined.” Herma listened intently. She never knew this information. Her aunt never spoke about her childhood or her past. In fact, Herma remembered a distinct lack of any mention of anything having to do with the Silverfin clan when it came to her aunt. “We weren’t joined as you well know,” he said, continuing his story. “Because once your grandfather found out what I was, he forbade it. Your aunt, being ever the dutiful daughter, went along with his ruling and we parted. It wasn’t until Egeus came to the Shimmertail clan, a fostering intended to help heal the breach between our houses, that I saw her again.” “But what are you? Why didn’t my aunt join with you?” The questions burst forth, unstoppable by the force of her curiosity. “I am a mage.” Auden held out his hand, palm facing the ocean’s surface, and in it a blue sphere of light started to glow. “Power is mine to call, and your grandfather wanted none of my blood mingling with his family.” A mage. She’d heard stories, tales, but never seen one in person. Here in this sealed room, she believed it. “We do not talk about it outside of the family, or even this room. I work my craft in quiet.” “So what does this have to do with her disappearance? If she ran off to be with you then wouldn’t you be together?” “I had something to offer your aunt far greater than joining with me. From the look in your eyes when you saw my treasures, I believe I should offer it to you as well. Your aunt longed for the surface, for the people, creatures and the lives they lived. She dreamed of it. When I discovered a spell that could send her there I had no choice --” His words broke as sorrow kept long hidden pushed forth.

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Herma reached across the space separating them and closed her hand over his. “You sent my aunt to the surface.” She sent the words carefully, trying to absorb his meaning. “She wanted to go, and you helped her to live on the surface?” She glanced around the room behind her at the bottles and baubles. “Where they make these things and walk on land and don’t worry about the ocean, except as something to visit and in which to play? She doesn’t live down here anymore?” Awareness brought hope dawning like the sun rising over the horizon. If he did it to her aunt, he could send her to the surface, and if he sent her to the surface, then she’d see her aunt again. They wouldn’t be apart. Except she’d never see Egeus, or Auden, or her family ever again. She looked at her joined mate. Egeus stood a distance away from her and Auden, his gaze darting between them to the treasures behind them. He kept his mind shuttered from hers and she sensed nothing but a cool resolve. She knew, if she asked to go to the surface, he’d let her go. That, more so than his clan’s part in her aunt’s disappearance, cut her like a knife. He’d lied to her. Maybe not outright, but he’d withheld information. If he’d told her about this as soon as they were joined, then what? Would she have come down here and demanded that Auden send her to the surface? Would she have demanded that he make her a surface dweller and send her to live among those creatures she’d always loved and admired? And if he did, would she go? Goddess of the deep, she didn’t know the answers and feared learning them. “You’d let me go to the surface.” “If that’s your wish,” Egeus replied. He sounded so cold, so unemotional Herma couldn’t believe she looked at the same man she’d joined with just a couple of days ago. “Without a fight?” she asked, needing to hear him say that he’d let her go follow her aunt.

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Egeus rushed forward. “No! I won’t stand in the way of your happiness, but I’m going to do everything that I can to keep you here with me.” He grabbed her hand and pressed it against his chest. “I care for you, Herma. I don’t want you to go to the surface.” She took a moment to absorb his words. She glanced at Auden, still not believing he truly had the power to send anyone there. “I have to think about this,” she said at last, not quite meeting Egeus’s gaze. He’d done so much for her, shown her so much; the thought of leaving him left an ache in her heart. Following her dream and her aunt might provide the answers she sought. Away from Egeus and the ocean. “I’m sorry,” she told her joined mate. Egeus nodded. Auden remained silent. Wrapping her arms around herself, Herma turned. She left the room, needing solitude. On her way from the clan home, she saw no one. Though the gardens called to her with their lush landscape, they were too tame, too controlled, exactly as she feared she’d be. The wilds beyond the clan home drew her with their stark beauty. Finding a pile of rocks, she sat, burying her face in her hands. Egeus’s clan had sent her aunt to the surface. Her mind struggled to grasp the concept. Her aunt loved everything about the surface and those who lived on land. A thorough search of the clans had turned up no clues as to her aunt’s disappearance. She’d had no leads until now, only the knowledge that her aunt spent most of her time with the Silverfins. And Auden offered her the chance to follow her aunt to the surface. Looking up through the sun-dappled waters toward the surface, she tried to imagine herself living on land. The scales and fins would have to go. She’d end up with alabaster skin like those who lived on land. No more gills, she’d draw air in through her mouth. Or maybe she’d even grow a nose. Shuddering, Herma hugged herself.

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If she went up there, she’d leave Egeus behind down here. But why stay? If Auden could send Herma to the surface, then surely he could send his nephew as well. Rising to her feet, she kicked her legs, heading toward the sun. Long strokes brought her to the surface, and she broke through, tilting her head to the sun. She blinked her eyes. What would it be like to live under the sun all the time? A second head broke the surface beside her. Turning, Herma stared at her joined mate. Egeus looked from her to the distant shoreline, then back again. He treaded water beside her, his hand reaching under the surface for hers. Twining their fingers, he squeezed her hand. “Would you leave me for that?” Egeus nodded toward a distant motorboat churning the surface of the ocean. The buzzing filled the air, a thrumming vibration against their tympanic membranes, different from the subtle sounds of the ocean. Herma stared at the boat. At this distance she discerned figures standing on the deck. Bright spots of color covered their chests and hips. They looked happy. But life on land, like life in the ocean, wasn’t one big party. She couldn’t ask Egeus to leave his family. Though she wondered if his ties to his parents and siblings were closer than her own, she knew she couldn’t ask him to turn his back on the clans as she was prepared to do. “Would you go with me?” she asked. Egeus stiffened beside her. “To the surface.” She nodded, knowing in her heart what the answer would be. “Yes, to the surface.” Egeus’s glance down into the ocean told Herma everything she needed to know. “I see.” She released his hand. “Herma, damn it.” Egeus grabbed her shoulders. He hauled her against him, pulling them down to the ocean’s depths. Pressing his mouth to hers, he kissed her, his lips creating a seal that allowed the membrane to roll out of the way so he could plunge his tongue into her mouth. He tasted her, drank from her, his hands splayed on her back and buttocks. A slight bump announced their return to the ocean floor.

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Herma’s hands fell limp to her sides. She struggled to fight the passion flaring in her veins. Her pussy throbbed, her nipples hard and tight. She wanted -- no she needed -- Egeus, and she didn’t want to. Goddess of the deep, why him? Why now? With a frustrated mental cry she pounded her fists on his chest. Egeus held her, letting her vent her frustration against him. Still, he traced her teeth with his tongue, the kiss continuing. He inserted one hard thigh between hers, rubbing it against her weeping slit. “You can’t leave me. You can’t leave this,” Egeus said, sliding his fingers along the valley between her cheeks. “I need you too much.” His words broke a dam inside her. Shuddering, she undulated against him. “Egeus. Oh, Egeus.” She mentally chanted his name like a mantra. In all the clans, he was the only person to see her for who she was: Herma Shimmertail. He didn’t see her clan, a political union, anything except her. She knew she’d have a hard time finding that on the surface, and she knew she wouldn’t find it among the clans. He loved her enough to let her go. He hadn’t spoken of love, and yet, she knew he loved her. Just as she loved him. She couldn’t go to the surface and leave Egeus behind, and she refused to ask him to leave his family. When at last he pulled back, Herma looked into his face. She searched for any emotion, and like most members of her species, he gave none away. Her fist flattened on his chest, fingers uncurling to trace the edge of his pectorals. “Egeus?” she asked, not quite believing he was still here beside her. Any other male clan member probably would have ordered her back to the clan home and to lose her foolish notions of going to the surface. Instead, Egeus looked at her a bit expectantly. “I’m here,” he replied. “I know,” she whispered in his mind. Her hand trailed from his chest, and with a kick of her feet, she propelled herself back to the clan home. She knew what she had to do.

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***** “I can’t believe you can send me to the surface. It’s an amazing feat,” Herma said as she once again entered Auden’s workroom. Auden looked up from the table where he methodically worked to remove corrosion from a pile of gold and copper coins. The one he held fell to the table with a soft plop. “So you want to go to the surface?” He looked over her shoulder at Egeus following her. Herma didn’t answer. Instead, she went to the shelves full of artifacts from the surface. She couldn’t believe her aunt, the very woman who shared her love of all things above with her, now lived among the surface dwellers. Now, she had the chance to see her again. Slowly, she turned to face Auden. “Do you know where she is? Does she live near the great ocean?” “I don’t know.” Auden hung his head. “I’ve been a coward. I tried to look for her, and the few times I went, I didn’t see her. It’s too dangerous for us where the land meets the water. Too many people above would see us, and it’s far from our lands. I don’t know where, or even if, she still lives.” “Why haven’t you just gone to the surface and searched?” If Auden loved her aunt as he said, then he should have gone to her, tried to find her. “Because I couldn’t leave my home, my family. And she asked me to look after you and to help arrange this marriage. Now that you’re here with Egeus, my work is done. I might have a chance at finding her, though I wouldn’t know where to begin looking.” She couldn’t imagine living among the clans knowing the person she loved lived on the surface. Just thinking about what Auden might have endured made her feel sorry for him. She couldn’t remain mad at him for not telling her what had happened to her aunt. He was right. Word of his arcane powers couldn’t get out beyond what they already were. The clans were superstitious enough as it was. And, he had stayed to watch over her and see her married to Egeus. For that, she could forgive him. She stepped away from the shelves and

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dropped to her knees before Auden, taking his hands in hers. “You must go. You must find her.” He cupped her cheek. “What if it’s too late? What if she doesn’t love me the way I love her?” “You’ll never know,” Herma replied. She turned to look at Egeus and saw the questions in his eyes. “You’ll never know what you have until you find it.”

Until he heard those words, Egeus feared the worst. Listening to his uncle Auden explain what had happened to Herma’s aunt, he struggled not to give in to the worry creeping through his stomach and up his spine. Herma loved the surface. She’d loved the surface before she’d even met him, and he knew such love went far deeper than her love for him. When she’d left his uncle’s workroom, he had to follow her. Finding her bobbing on the top of the ocean, her face tilted toward the sun, panic seized him. For a moment, he feared she’d give in to the lure of the land, and even now, after hearing her say those words, he still expected to lose the mate he loved. So there, on the surface of the ocean, he’d done the only thing he could. He’d hung onto her with everything he had. Spinning her around, wrapping her in his arms, and then kissing her as if their very lives depended on merging their hearts, their souls. He’d brought her back down into their watery realm hoping to keep her there with him. Auden looked to him, though he made no movement, no sounds, nothing to indicate he contemplated Herma’s words. If he had to choose between his uncle and his joined mate, he didn’t know which one he’d choose. But with her words, he allowed himself to hope. Egeus rose from the couch and hurried over to kneel beside her. Cupping her hand, he pressed it against his chest. Beneath her fingers his heart pounded a staccato rhythm, his gills fluttering on either side of his neck. “You mean it?” He hadn’t meant to think the words

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aloud, but seeing her there looking up at him, the love shining from her eyes, he needed to express his question. “I do,” she thought back at him, her words a strange echo of the joining ceremonies the land-dwellers held. “I love the surface. I won’t give it up, but I see from the treasures in this room, from listening to Auden speak that I won’t have to give it up. I still don’t know where my aunt is, not exactly. But I have a feeling if she’s to be found, your uncle will find her.” Leaning forward she brushed her lips across his. A gentle touch of promise that had his heart soaring and his cock hardening. “I was given into this alliance to heal the breach between our families. That healing has to start right here. With us.” “I agree.” Auden stood and turned toward the door. “I think I will leave you two alone and give word to the servants that this wing shouldn’t be disturbed for a while.” “Thank you.” Egeus looked up at his uncle, seeing a resilience he hadn’t seen before. “You won’t leave without saying good-bye, will you?” Somehow, deep inside, he sensed Auden would go after Herma’s aunt. “Don’t worry. I won’t leave without telling you good-bye.” Though his words were sad, his eyes sparkled with a new light. Egeus turned his attention back to his joined mate. He pulled her to her feet and fitted Herma against his body. Her curves pressed against his slim, hard build as if she were made for him. Slowly, he palmed her back, sliding his fingers down to the curve of her buttocks. “You know I’ve always loved you.” Now seemed to be the time for revelations. “I know.” Her soft words, the admittance of what he held so deep and true to his own heart made him want to weep with joy. “Even though I hated the Silverfin clan for my aunt’s disappearance, I could never include you with them. I never believed you responsible. Maybe I’ve always loved you, too.”

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“Do you mean it?” By the gods, he’d hoped, prayed even that she’d feel the same way as he did, but he never expected her to say it, especially after hearing his clan indeed did have a hand in taking her aunt away. “Yeah, I do.” She pressed her lips to his in a joyful, possessive kiss. Her hands wound around his neck, fingers twining into his hair as she pressed him even closer. “I want to make love to you, here, in this room, surrounded by these artifacts.” He propelled them to the couch where he lay down, pulling her on top of him, making sure she could see the shelves full of objects thrown down from the world above. With her draped across his body, her breasts pressed against his chest, and his cock throbbing against her stomach, he kissed her. Long, leisurely kisses that had his tongue sliding into her mouth, stroking, drawing her down, closer, until she shifted and his cock rested against her labia. She rocked against him, lips never leaving his, hard nipples drawing a trail of need across his chest. His Herma, his Shimmertail mate. She loved him, and right now he wanted nothing more than to join with her and show her exactly what that meant.

She’d done it -- chosen Egeus over a life on land. Looking at him, watching him watch her, the decision hadn’t been easy, yet in a strange way it hadn’t been difficult, either. Her aunt lived above ground. Herma had no doubt Auden would go after her, and she wished them both the very best. Her destiny lay here, beneath the ocean’s depths. Her channel ached with the need to be filled by Egeus’s cock. It throbbed against her slick labia, and if she rocked just right it rubbed against her clit. She sucked on his tongue, imagining it to be his cock, and drew it deep into her mouth. In her mind, she heard Egeus’s husky sigh of pleasure. He lifted his hips, impatient to be inside her, yet he let her dictate the pace. Removing a hand from his hair, she reached between their bodies. The slightest flick of her finger against her clit had her jerking in

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pleasure. Then she circled him with her hand. Hot and hard against her lower stomach, her fingers barely touched around the width of his cock. She stroked softly at first, then harder as he lifted his hips beneath her. “Yes, Herma, yes,” Egeus chanted in her mind. She pulled her lips from his, sliding down over his body. The need to taste him, to feel his penis pressing against the back of her throat as she sucked him deep, had her kissing a trail over his stomach and down to his cock. There, she wrapped her lips around the head of his shaft and with the membrane rolled out of the way, took him into her throat. Her pussy clenched at his rod filling her mouth. She tongued him, playing with the slit, tasting the pearly drops of his precum. She worked his length, basking in the pleasure radiating from him. Though no words filled his mind, she sensed his rising orgasm in the pace of his thrusts against her mouth. Come for me. She reached around for his buttocks, sliding her finger along the crease. Come for me, my love. His fingers tightened on the back of her head. So close, she knew he was so close to release, her own body tightened with his. She ground her hips against the couch, wanting the feel of anything between her thighs, and then warm spurts of seed filled her mouth. She drank him down, swallowing the last drop, and then licking him clean with her tongue. Then, and only then, did she pull back, close her lips, and crawl over him. “My turn,” she said in his mind, her self-satisfied smile evident in her mental words. Reaching between their bodies, she stroked his half-hard cock to full mast once more, then rubbed the head against her slick labia. “You’re going to make me come.” He groaned in her mind, a wordless plea for joining. Slowly, oh so slowly, she lowered herself onto his stiff rod. “Yeah, just like that.” Egeus grabbed her waist and thrust his hips. Leaning forward, Herma brushed her breasts against his chest and let her joined mate roll them to the floor and take her.

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She never ceased to amaze him, and he doubted she ever would. He lowered them to the floor, a bit harder than he intended, though their fins helped to break the fall, and the impact only drove him deeper inside her. Beneath him, Herma bowed, her wordless cries of pleasure filling his mind. Just the two of them, locked together, and he intended to spend the rest of their lives exactly like this. He thrust slowly, wanting the pleasure to build. She’d taken him hard and fast with her mouth, her talented tongue making him peak swiftly. To think, she loved him. He wanted to swim the perimeter of his clan’s home and broadcast his joy to anyone who would hear. After all these years of waiting, of longing, Herma belonged to him. He planned to cherish every moment with her. A twist of her hips brought his thoughts back to the exquisite pleasure of being buried in her hot, tight sheath. Egeus braced his weight on his hands. Long strokes brought him tight against the opening to her womb. Mine. Mine. He mentally chanted with each thrust, and he swore he heard her echo his sentiments. He lowered his head to the crook between her neck and shoulder, savoring their full body contact. Against his chest, her nipples rubbed tiny points of fire through his body. His blood churned. Higher and higher, so close he felt the precursor to his orgasm at the base of his spine. He’d take her with him, send her over first, and follow in explosive bliss. Arching his back, he kissed her shoulder, her chest, until he toyed with her nipple. His lips closed around it, pressing gently, then rubbing back and forth. “Yes!” Her cry burst into his mind, her fingers spearing through his hair. “Egeus, yes!” Her pussy contracted around him, the ripples nearly bringing him to his release. He held back, shortened his strokes, wanting to watch as she came apart beneath him. He released her nipple and reached between their bodies to stroke her clit with his fingers. Again her pussy clenched around him, and he groaned.

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Her mental cries faded into whimpers, and then he drove into her hard and fast until she bucked beneath him. With her channel milking him, the fierce joy in their joining pouring through his thoughts, his mind, his very soul, he knew he couldn’t last long. And then her fingers clenched on his back and ass as she came. The explosive force of her climax triggered his own, and he shot wave after wave of his semen inside her. His woman. His seed. Together, he hoped they’d create life. He stared down at her, hardly daring to believe what had just happened. Herma loved him, had chosen to stay in the ocean with him. The loss of his uncle to the surface was understandable, though saddening. But he knew he’d have Herma, their clans would be united, and most of all, she didn’t hate him or his family for the loss of her aunt. Rolling to the side, he cradled her in his arms. “Mmmm,” she murmured sleepily as she snuggled against his chest. “I hope your uncle doesn’t return soon. I don’t think I can move for a while.” Curled up against him, she grinned. Her gills quivered, the tiny fins at ankles and wrists fluttering in the slight current. “I don’t think he will.” With his mind, he searched out Auden and found him well away, as were all the servants. “No, I don’t think he’ll be back for a while.” “Is it all right?” Herma rose onto an elbow. She stroked his cheek and caressed his lip with her thumb. “I came here furious that your clan had taken my aunt from me, and now a search for her will take your uncle from you.” She shook her head. Egeus cupped her cheek. He pulled her close to him and brushed his lips across hers. “I will miss him, just as you miss your aunt, but they’ll be happy together.” “As happy as we’re going to be.” Herma smiled. “Maybe my dreams weren’t so foolish after all.” “Oh?” He knew to what she alluded, but the possessive part of him wanted to hear her say it.

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“Yeah. I may have had an arranged marriage, but I’ve found love after all.” Herma snuggled against him once more, her fingers tracing lazy patterns across his chest. “It’s kind of like a dream come true.” He looked down at his joined mate and grinned. “Yeah, it is.” And then he pressed his lips to hers and sent a mental note to tell his uncle to dally a bit longer. He had an alliance to seal…with a kiss.

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Epilogue

The rest of the Silverfin clan knew Auden left on a pilgrimage. Whether he’d return or not, they didn’t know, and as someone outside the line of succession to the clan’s leadership, he could remain gone for as long as he wished. Herma stood next to Egeus at the base of a sheer cliff. It rose toward the surface, flattening out a few feet under the ocean to create a shelf that led to the beach. As soon as he was within reach of the shelf, Auden would perform his magic and begin his search for her aunt. “Thank you for everything. I hope you find her,” Herma said. She squeezed her mate’s fingers. In the few short weeks since her declaration of love, she and Egeus had grown closer. She wasn’t gravid yet, though Herma knew it would only be a matter of time. She and her mate had spent their days in the cavern and exploring places in the wilds beyond the clan home, making love at every opportunity. Egeus returned her gentle squeeze. “You’ll let us know if you find her?” he asked. Auden nodded. “I will.” Unspoken, Herma knew he’d also find a way to let them know if he decided to stay on the surface. “You’ll take good care of each other, all right? Don’t let what you have slip away. I was a fool once. I won’t be again.” Egeus clapped Auden on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. We won’t. Good hunting.”

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“Good hunting,” Herma echoed, hoping that Auden would kick toward the surface and begin his journey. She hated good-byes. Seeing Auden standing there, knowing that like her aunt, he’d soon be gone out of her life forever, she couldn’t stop the well of sorrow building inside her. He’d be happy, as would her aunt, reunited with the man she loved. Just as she was united with her joined mate. A muscle twitched in her lower back. Herma’s gills stilled. Could it be? Another muscle twitched, a strong cramp racing through her. She stiffened, trying to keep her discomfort from Egeus. He looked at her, releasing her fingers long enough to step forward and give his uncle a huge hug. Auden clapped Egeus on the back, then stepped forward to her. He wrapped her in his arms, giving her a long embrace. “Thank you for this chance to follow my heart. I couldn’t have done it without you,” he said on a mental channel meant for her alone. “You’re welcome,” Herma replied. “You will give my nephew many strong sons, starting with the two you carry.” With a mental grin, he released her. Herma stared at him. Twins? It was nearly unheard of for their species to give birth to more than a single offspring at a time. Her hand fell to her stomach in a protective touch. Before she could reply, Auden kicked his heels and zoomed toward the surface. Egeus reached for her hand. “Did my uncle tell you something?” His gaze fell to her stomach. “Is there something I ought to know?” Herma shook her head. She relished the time when she’d tell her joined mate that she was gravid with twin sons, but for now, she wanted to simply enjoy the moment. Just thinking about two children with their father’s good looks and her sense of adventure had

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her savoring the quiet moments they’d spend together during the four months of her gestation. She suspected that once the boys arrived they’d have no time for themselves. “Just saying thank you,” she replied, watching the trail of bubbles that indicated Auden’s passage. He disappeared near the top of the cliff, and Herma stood there for a moment longer. Finally, Egeus turned away. “Do you think we’ll see him again?” her mate asked. Herma knew exactly how he felt. Though at least he knew what happened to his uncle, and if they never did see Auden again, they had hopes he would find her aunt and be happy. Until she’d agreed to this alliance she’d never known what had happened to her aunt. Now, she knew. And just like her, Egeus had closure on his uncle’s leaving. Herma had no doubt that Auden would succeed in his mission, and there, beneath the sun, they’d find happiness together. Just as she and Egeus had found it under the sea. A gentle tug of her hand pulled her mate to her. They twined, arms and legs, bodies wrapped around one another there at the base of the cliff. Herma kissed him, pouring all her love for Egeus and her happiness at being joined to him into the movement of lips against lips. His hand cupped her hips, pulling her against him. The coyach shell hiding his cock slipped away, and his organ unfurled. Herma had reached between them, releasing the shell. She dropped it to the sand beneath their feet, then curled her fingers around his shaft. Stroking it from base to tip, she rubbed her palm over the head. The husky sounds of pleasure Egeus made in her mind sent cream to her pussy. Her nipples rubbed against his chest, hard and tight against his shimmering scales. She wanted him -- right here, right now. Egeus lowered her to the sand. He poised over her, his hips between her thighs, his weight braced on his elbows. Reaching out, he smoothed a strand of hair from her face. “Do you think my uncle will be all right? Do you think he’ll find your aunt?” he asked.

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“I think he’ll be just fine,” Herma replied. “After all, we formed this alliance. I found out the truth about my aunt, and I sent your uncle to find his love. Just wait and see.” Cupping his cheek, she drew his face to hers. She kissed him long and hard, and as his cock slid into her waiting channel, she knew she believed in happy endings. After all, she’d found her own.

Mary Winter Mary commutes between her dream home near the Mark Twain national forest in Missouri, and her current residence in Iowa. She lives with a menagerie of animals including an opinionated horse and a cat who was a dog in past life. When not writing spicy tales of erotic romance, she enjoys writing science fiction and fantasy, spending time with her horse, and enjoying the outdoors. Lucky for her, her partner (hero) shares these same passions, and usually both of them can be found in their respective dens writing.