S. Welles - To Ocean's End

“How do I get her to lift my curse?”

“I don’t know. Like I said, I’m not the one who cursed you. All I can tell from the curse’s mark that, despite how she goes about showing it sometimes, she truly loves you.”

“Yeah, because I’m just some mortal toy she gets endless pleasure torturing.”

The stormy glare returned. “You cross a line,” he said in a dangerously low voice.

I lowered my eyes and bit back a reflexive apology. I doubted he cared about hearing one. He’d just take it as an escape route from punishment.

“You will not belittle my wife in front of me. Ever. Again. Gods and humans are very much alike in countless regards, but there are many things about gods that would take a hundred lifetimes for you to fully understand.”

“Then why is she pining after me if she’s married to you?”

I was expecting him to stomp on me after a bold question like that, but instead he seemed caught off guard by it. Recovering his intimidating composure, he considered me like I was some ant he was trying to decide whether to bother squishing or not, then closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. He backed towards his throne and vanished before he finished taking a step. A shadow passed over the chamber in the direction it’d come in.

I stared at the empty throne while I absorbed my disappointment, then heaved my own sigh. I couldn’t see how she didn’t hate me. She was still pissed off about me sleeping with her daughter. Of course she hated me.

I diagonally walked across the chamber, heading towards the hall with the exit pool. I wasn’t going to try to leave again; just stay near it and hope the sight brought comfort, instead of despair. And since I had all the time in the world—literally—I paused at one pictogram-covered pillar after another, taking in beginnings of the stories they told. Lots of them were love stories, a few with explicit content. The rest were recollections of ancient history. Nothing remotely contemporary. I pulled up at the beginning of the hall and plopped down, discarding my coat by my side and reclining against the cool stone. I glanced in the pool’s direction and my heart sank. It was just a tease, no longer my ticket out.

Sit here and think, huh? About what?

“Dyne,” a woman whispered.

Not sure if I’d imagined it or not, I ignored the voice.

“Dyne.”

I looked up. Okay, I wasn’t imagining it. The voice sounded like Amphitrite’s but not exactly. Maybe because I couldn’t recall her whispering to me before. She wasn’t one for subtle. Had decades passed already and my first round of punishment was about to begin? It was possible.

“Sweet Dyne.”

It couldn’t be! I surged to my feet and spun around. I backed up when I noticed the most beautiful pair of eyes watching me from the vein of water in the wall. “Rhode,” I breathed. My heart started racing.

Rhode smiled her sweet smile. She was so beautiful. Her mother was too, but Amphitrite was the type of gorgeous any guy took one look at and wanted to bang. Rhode possessed a beauty and sweetness that triggered a man’s instinct to hold and protect a girl. I think I would’ve enjoyed my curse if Rhode had been the one to bestow it on me.

“You are in quite the predicament, sweet Dyne.”

That was quite the understatement. “Can you help me?”

“Only indirectly, like before.”

“Can you get me out of here?” God, I wanted to run my hands through her hair, just a bit before finding a way out of the palace.

“No,” she said with a shake of her pretty head. Her flowing curls splayed around her curvaceous body floating among the glowing fish.

I tried to break into an angry rant but she held up a finger and shushed me.

“Transform back into your demon form.”

I flinched. “Why?”

“Trust me.” She vanished.

Jessie and crew had made a quick stop in Wellington, New Zealand, throwing the lines soon after Sauna netted a shipment to South America’s east coast. The crew more or less behaved as normal. It was like a lockdown period, only with Dyne not in the container and everyone worrying now and then. Rammus kept the morale up and everyone focused on their jobs. Jessie continued to train and with crew and cook with Mido. She tried to go on as normal but Mido’s ribs and Dyne’s violent parting distracted her from simply accepting the current situation.

The night they left New Zealand, Jessie decided she’d waited long enough to try an idea. It’d been obvious from the day they’d left Australia, but she didn’t want to test it until things calmed down and Mido healed up a little. He was still in constant pain but he was pulling the macho man card and pretending all was well, except when they hugged and cuddled. He was still bruised and tender.

This was one way to keep them chaste between ports…

Right now, most of the crew was in the galley, playing poker and having a few drinks. Rammus was up in the wheelhouse. O’Toole was watching the boys play, and Jessie sat next to Mido on the fold up chairs, him participating in the card game and her watching in silence. She wasn’t interested in playing; just staying near her cherished cook while thinking things out.

Mido tapped her with his elbow while Ed, Ted, Scully, and Sam exchanged smack talk and bets. Mido gave Jessie a questioning look, bringing her back to her surroundings, and to the conclusion that he’d noticed something atypical about her silence. She shook her head and gestured to the poker game with her chin. He gave her a skeptical look, then shrugged and went back to his abysmal hand.

“I fold,” he said with a frown. He collapsed his hand and slapped them facedown on the table, then got up and left the galley.

No clue where he was headed, Jessie got up as well.

“And where you two headed off to all by yourselves?” Ed said with a knowing smile.

Jessie gave the techie a hard look. “I actually don’t know why he left.”

“Lemme peek at his cards.” Ed, who’d folded already, brought his face close to the table, lifted a corner of the card pile and fanned through Mido’s hand. He made a face. “Good lord. It’s bad.”

“How bad?” Ted said.

“Can’t tell you yet.”

Sam said, “You look like you’ve got something on your mind, Jessie. What’s eatin’ you?”

“Just worried about Dyne,” she admitted.

Jacobi’s eyes hardened and his jaw muscles flexed with a bit back comment. He’d been on perfectly good behavior since Darwin. Just scowled and glared at her when he couldn’t avoid her company, which wasn’t often enough for Jessie to snap at him to cut it out.

“Don’t worry too much,” Sam said, “or you’re gonna get as wrinkly as me in a hurry.”

“I’ll try.” She followed Mido, who wordlessly led her to the sleeping cabins. He stopped in the doorway to their bunks and turned around. She stopped in the middle of the hall.

“So what’s up?”

“What do you mean?” She folded her arms.

He folded his own arms and fixed her with his “don’t argue” look.

“Am I really that transparent?” she said unhappily.

“Yep.”

She let out a frustrated sigh.

“C’mere.” Mido held out his strong arms.

Jessie pretended to consider them a moment. Then, her own arms still folded, she stepped into his embrace. He pulled her into a firm hug and held her in his blue-eyed gaze that drew her to him every time. It was like his soul was looking into hers and he was trying to become closer to her with just his gaze. She resisted the urge to kiss him as she interlaced her fingers behind his neck, the resistance part out of Dyne’s plight, and part out of not wanting to get caught. All anyone had to do was look down the hall. Mido grabbed her glutes and began kneading them as he pulled her body to his. It felt good but she didn’t feel like being put in the mood for pleasures of the flesh. “Not right now, Mido. I’m in a serious mood.”