Page 81 of The Demons in the Deep: Extended Edition
“Lovers,” Rake said, with such a light in his eyes that Mai did not protest the word.
“You can tell them we’re lovers.” Her cheeks heated.
Rake grinned and pulled her in for a kiss. “I’ll tell them once we’ve set sail.”
And he did, a day and a half later, at the very moment theWind’s Favorhad cleared the bay and reached the open sea.
Kestra and Flay already knew, of course. And though Baz and Corklan looked a little downcast, they cheered along with Jazadri and the rest of the crew, while the cook wiped his eyes and went below to fetch bottles of the best wine for a toast.
TheWind’s Favorsailed for days, guided by Rake’s memories, combined with maps, star charts, and landmarks. Mai felt as if she was living in a strange state of continual boredom with moments of fierce excitement, in which she thought she couldn’t stand waiting a second longer.
But she always managed to find a little more patience somehow.
She played games on deck with Baz and Corklan, both of whom had accepted Rake’s place in her affection without withdrawing their friendship.
She tinkered with parts in the kitchen, under the fond but exasperated gaze of the cook.
She stalked the deck, breathing in sea air, while Rake swam alongside the ship in mermaid form.
When he was aboard, they talked about things—about Jewel, about his life before. He recited long passages of mermaid lore to her, in the hopes that they would find bits of useful information about his people’s historical relationship to humans, before the Great Upheaval. And sometimes, while she sketched or scribbled, Rake simply stared at her until she snarled at him to go away.
They did not share a bunk—Rake preferred the sway of a hammock, and Mai did not. She didn’t want the sailors gossiping about her intimacy with Rake the way they talked about Flay and Kestra. She loved her monster, but her body was not insatiable like her cousin’s. Sometimes it was quiet for days, especially when she was caught up in her work. But sometimes, around Rake, need flared up so strongly and suddenly she could hardly bear it—and usually that happened at the worst times, when there was no chance of them being alone together.
One night, when she could not sleep and she felt as if she might crawl out of her skin, she crept into the sailors’ sleeping area and woke Rake quietly. She led him to the empty galley, pulled down his pants, and pushed his hardening length inside her, under her nightdress. She rode him for a minute before he flipped her onto her back and pumped hard between her legs until they came together. And then he pushed her thighs wider, crawled between them, and let his long tongue slither out, along her folds. He made her come twice more, until she was shaking, sated, and sleepy.
On they sailed, until Jazadri and Flay grew solemn and watchful, because they had never entered this part of the sea.
“There’s nothing here,” Flay said. “No inhabited islands. I’ve never heard of any of my father’s ships going this way. We’ll have to turn back soon, or I’ll be late on my route again. And I won’t be forgiven a second time.”
Finally they approached their destination, and the boy in the crow’s nest called out “Land ho!”
But the land they saw through the spyglass appeared to be a series of bald stone hills, smooth and treeless, with a scattering of forest around them. No city ruins in sight.
“It has to be here.” The bluish shadows along the edges of Rake’s face seemed to deepen with his anxiety, and Mai slipped her arms around him. He startled a little at the contact, then relaxed into it, pulling her against him, raking his claws gently through her hair.
A great shelf of dark cloud had slid partway across the sky, breathing its stormy threat as a wild wind bellied the sails, striving to push theWind’s Favoroff course. Beyond that thick mass of cloud, the sky was still a clear, pale yellow near the horizon.
“The sun is setting, and the light will be gone soon. And us so close to an unfamiliar shore,” Flay muttered. “I don’t like it, Blossom. There could be anything underneath us. Reefs, ruins, monsters…”
As he spoke, a yellow beam of the sinking sun lanced from a crack in the clouds and shot straight down to the water, gleaming on something white.
“There!” Mai shouted, and she snatched the spyglass from Flay’s hand.
Peering through it, she could see what the white thing was—the tip of a tower, like a shining fist extended above the waves.
“There, too!” called Rake, and she swerved the spyglass to where he pointed. Another broken chunk of a tower, a building, or a temple—she wasn’t sure, but she shouted again and bounced on her feet.
“We found it! We found it!”
“Wait, Goldfish,” Flay called, and Mai jerked the spyglass away from her face just in time to see Rake stripping naked, unlatching his belt. His tail reformed, and he launched himself over the side, narrowly missing the spikes protruding from the hull of the ship.
“Sucking whelks,” Mai swore, and she rushed into Flay’s cabin and shuffled through the trunk where he kept some of the mermaid technology. She selected a belt and a breathing device, snagged an extra pair of goggles, and raced back on deck.
Mai still had not told Kestra and Flay about her own transformation at the lagoon. So when she began stripping off her clothes on deck, she enjoyed the looks of utter consternation on the faces of her cousin and the Captain.
“Sparrow,” said Flay, averting his eyes. “What in the Mother Ocean are you doing? Turn your backs, boys, that’s an order!”
Mai was down to her chemise and panties. The crew, who had been watching with startled, greedy fascination, turned around just as she shucked off the panties and clapped the belt around her waist. She adjusted the dial and felt the pinch in her spine.
