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Calain couldn’t understand why Zelda was so angry about the mermaid’s proposition, but if she was honest with herself, it pleased her greatly to see Zelda, red-faced and furious, attempting to punch someone in her defense! Before that moment, it hadn’t occurred to her how possessive Zelda was of her, a fact which she enjoyed immensely. But because Zelda seemed truly upset with how things were going – and because most of it was Calain’s own fault – Calain tried to conceal how pleased she was as they walked along the beach together against the gentle wind.
It was a fine day. The sun was bright, the sky was blue, and the sea was calm. In the distance, they could see ships streaming across the still water in the direction of Eldaris. That none of the ships had consented to carry them still infuriated Zelda, who was watching their sails angrily, her blue eyes narrowed. Calain wasn’t bothered, though. She hadn’t expected the elves to help them and thought they had every right to be suspicious of two humans who had mysteriously appeared on an elven island where they were specifically not allowed to linger.
“How did we come to be here anyway?” Calain asked. Between all the arguing, kissing, and random sex, it had only just occurred to her to ask. They stood side by side on the yellow sand as the brown horse, Lucky, lingered idly behind them, his mane and tail streaming in the wind.
Zelda explained about her journey to Alleren to free Calain and the queen’s task that she should venture into Eido Loth to find Lythara, who had in turn banished them here under the suspicion that Zelda was working for Hidden Dragon.
“Me, a spy for the elven resistance!” Zelda cried and shook her head. “The utter absurdity!”
But Calain was smiling. “You did all of that for me?” she asked in soft amazement.
Zelda stammered and blushed a little, not meeting Calain’s gaze. “Well, I thought you were in danger,” she said, looking off at the sea, the wind dragging her golden hair in streams across her eyes. She was embarrassed!
Calain grasped Zelda’s shoulders and gently turned the sorceress to face her. “Why dost thou try so hard to conceal thy heart’s yearnings?” she asked. “If only you were more open, I would know that you cared.”
Zelda looked up at Calain in disbelief. “I tell you all the time that I love you! I cannot control that you do not believe it!”
Calain shook her head. “Words are worth the wind,” she said. “Who knows that better than I, a knight who turned her back on her vows?” she added guiltily. “But knowing thy did go through so much trouble to save me . . . I don’t know what to think. I only know it makes me love thee all the more . . . Would that I could rip thy gown to shreds to show thee how much, but my lady would never forgive me.”
Zelda laughed. “That’s right, I would not!” she cried, clutching indignantly at the front of her gown.
“But I would love to see thee lying naked on the sand,” Calain whispered.
Calain closed her arms around Zelda, hooked them under Zelda’s backside, and lifted Zelda off her feet, leaning back to gaze up at her. Zelda’s cheeks flushed pink from the sudden lifting, and she fumbled quickly to brace her small hands on Calain’s strong shoulders as she gazed down at her. Her blue eyes were soft with affection as golden licks of hair streamed across them in the wind.
“You are so beautiful, Zelda,” said Calain, gazing up at Zelda absently. “I suppose it isn’t surprising that so many women have tried to lay claim to you. I shall have my hands full the rest of my life, trying to beat them away with my blade.”
Zelda laughed, her golden brows pinching in a frown. “And I don’t have competition? That infernal mermaid wants you, not I! And you want her!”
“I do n-not!” Calain said at once and hated the stammer in her voice that betrayed her.
Zelda lifted a skeptical brow.
Calain set Zelda on her feet again. “What if I lay with the mermaid—” (Zelda scowled) “—just the once! And then she will aid us, and we can return to Wolf Fortress! Your daughter is waiting for us, Zelda!”
“Our daughter,” Zelda corrected, “for you shall aid me in raising her. And what if the mermaid doth try to steal thee? There are so many stories of them dragging people beneath the sea . . .” She looked up at Calain anxiously.
“You shall stay near and watch,” said Calain, so that Zelda colored up.
“I shall not!” Zelda said hotly at once but bit her lip, and Calain knew she was thinking of all the times she had had sex with Selene in front of Calain, forcing Calain to watch. Now she was refusing to be subjected to the same – even if it meant finding their way home—and the unfairness of it had just occurred to her. She cast her eyes down.
It was then that Calain noticed the jewel around Zelda’s throat. It was blue and matched her eyes almost perfectly. She pinched it in her thumb and index finger to examine it and saw Zelda’s cheeks flame a little.
“One of your lovers did give this to you,” Calain guessed and sounded a little suspicious, if not downright angry. She scowled. “Please tell me you weren’t foolish enough to take anything Melvalda offered! What if she cursed it? Or used it to bind you together?”
Zelda colored up angrily and snatched the jewel from Calain.
“Or was it Yrsa?” said Calain darkly. “Did you flee back to your ‘bear queen’ in my absence?” She glanced down at Zelda’s stomach. “Did you make another child?”
Zelda’s breasts heaved. “It was a gift from Selene!” she said loudly. “She gave me it to me, and I charmed it to protect me from Bane Stones!”
Calain didn’t know why, but she was amused by that. Selene was very obviously trying to woo Zelda, to make Zelda love her more. By giving Zelda an ornament to wear, she had ensured that Zelda would think of her from time to time. She had purchased space in Zelda’s mind.
Calain knew she would have to give Zelda something now. Even though she knew Selene could never take her place in Zelda’s heart – for Calain was the one who had touched Zelda first, who had given Zelda her first passion—she could feel the competition closing in. It thrilled her a little, as the prospect of besting Selene always thrilled her.
“What . . . are you smiling for?” asked Zelda in amazement. She sounded both confused and amused.
Calain looked up and realized she had gone off into a reverie, that she was smiling to herself. “Nothing,” she said at once. “But I do believe I should lay with the mermaid.”
Zelda’s face darkened. “Because you want to or to leave this place?”
“To leave this place!” Calain insisted, though she knew she was lying. The mermaid’s breasts were fantastic, and Calain had wanted to grope them the moment she had seen them, something she suspected the mermaid very well knew.
Zelda seemed to know it, too. She was glaring steadily at Calain, and Calain had never seen her so frustrated: Zelda wanted to leave the island, but she did not want to share Calain with the mermaid.
“It will be over quickly,” Calain assured her. “Do you not wish to leave this place? The elves are likely to slay us in our sleep if we stay.”
Zelda heaved a shuddering breath. “Fine,” she said through her teeth. “But if she tries to take you, I shall slay her, and we shall find another way off the island.”
“As my lady commands,” answered Calain, who found Zelda’s shuddering fury both amusing and arousing. She had to keep resisting the urge to kiss Zelda, for Zelda seemed likely to shove her off in that moment.
They heard sloshing in the shallows and looked up to see the mermaid rising slowly from the water. Seawater cascaded her over body, dragging down her long red hair, dripping off her pointed ears and her sharp nipples, and dragging down the red pubic hair that cloaked her sex. She was shaped like Zelda, which meant she was shaped just the way Calain liked: hourglass curves, with round hips and large breasts, her waist tiny, her smooth belly flat. Curiously enough, she had no belly button and there were little fins on her ankles.
Calain tried not to gaze upon the mermaid with lust, for Zelda caught her eye and glared hard at her. Calain still couldn‘t quite believe the rage and possessiveness Zelda was displaying and didn’t know what to think. All she knew was, she wanted to make love to Zelda, fiercely and roughly, every time her angry blue eyes turned upon the mermaid. Zelda was like a dragon guarding her hoard the way she stared down the mermaid, and Calain was that precious hoard. It thrilled her.
“Do not worry, fair Zelda,” Calain said quietly. “I belong to thee.”
Zelda smiled.
As they watched, the mermaid waded serenely toward them, hips swaying, as the sea lapped at her dainty ankles. She came to a stop some ten feet away, calmly observing them. Her smirking cat-eyes went from Zelda’s angry face to Calain, who was trying very hard not to look too pleased about the situation.
“So,” said the mermaid, “have you decided?” She looked between them again.
“And you swear you shall tell us where the ship is?” pressed Calain.
The mermaid’s eyes laughed. “Words are worth the wind, fair knight. Is that not what you have whispered to your lover?”
Zelda heaved an angry breath. “If you go back on your word, you will be the wind,” she warned darkly.
The mermaid lifted her red brows. “Ooo! I like her!” she said to Calain.
So do I, thought Calain, who was looking at Zelda’s flushed face and heaving breasts with quiet arousal. But she turned her eyes with difficulty back to the mermaid and said, “I shall lay with thee, and thou shall tell us where the ship lies.”
“Agreed,” said the mermaid, slowly smiling as she gazed with longing up at Calain.
Calain turned without a word to Zelda and yanked her laces free.
Zelda gasped as her gown, then her slip, then her panties tumbled around her ankles from the quick snatch of Calain’s rough hands. She covered her heavy breasts in shock, which the mermaid was eying. “Calain, what —?!” was all Zelda managed before Calain had leaned forward and casually flipped both Zelda and mermaid over her shoulders and stomped off with them.