The Wicked Tower - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The protective spells were supposed to guard Brynhild’s sleep. A triangle of futhark runes were set into her headboard, taming all of the remaining magic of the world that would seek her out in her most vulnerable state. Nonetheless, the sorceress tossed and turned in her feather bed, muttering in her sleep. The cold, stone chamber was still and quiet despite the open windows.

In her dreams, a mighty giant thrust her left hand into a fire. The flames consumed her, but the heat concentrated on her small breasts and slim hips. A demon then burned her alive. With a start, Brynhild woke and sat up in bed. She clutched the blankets to her chest. Her chest … something was wrong. Slowly, she turned her bright, blue eyes down. Her bosom expanded out from her ribs in a way it never had before. A warmth beat a steady rhythm in her left palm as she slowly lowered the blankets. “What is this sorcery?” Her breasts now stood out proudly, with just a hint of obedience to gravity. Her white flesh was expansive, with protruding pink nipples jutting out.

Lowering the blankets further, she saw that her hips were now wide and round. Her jaw fell in horror. She held out her left hand and looked at the skin that had touched that dust. “You did this to me,” she said to the absent wind. “I spent centuries beguiling with my Northern looks, and you’ve turned me into a common breeding sow.” The thought disgusted her. She would have to conjure some old magic to bring herself back to the body she knew. But in the meantime … she couldn’t help … touching herself. The throbbing hand slid down between her legs and her cries filled the formerly peaceful room.

---

“I know you’ve done something.” Vel entered Brynhild’s chamber without knocking. “After I asked … I mean, commanded you to cease with your sorcery, you’ve turned me into a monster.” He addressed the room without discrimination, spotted her leaning over a table, and turned to face her. “And you’ve donned a traveling cloak. Meaning to depart? You’ve turned me against my sister and now you will run?”

“If I understand your meaning, we are both victims of the same plot.” She turned away from the book which she’d been fruitlessly searching, stood upright, and faced her duke.

“Speak plainly. What …?” But some of the bile left Vel when he saw the pain on her face.

“I wear this cloak not for travel, but for disguise.” Brynhild unclasped the cloak and let it fall. “Behold, I now have the body of a whore.” Her normal dress wouldn’t fit her now, so she wore an ill-fitting stola that would have been much too small for her even before the changes of the night before. She watched his eyes as they roved her body in confusion.

“You’re … much bigger … in certain places.” Vel tried with measured success to keep his cock still. The woman before him looked less like the severe sorceress he knew, and more like the goddess of fertility.

“Your Grace looks much the same as before. Why did you think I’d turned you into a monster?” In shame, she covered herself with the cloak again. Her left hand throbbed with more intensity at his proximity. “And is your sister well?”

“Yes … yes … my sister is well.” It had taken Vel two days to gather the courage to confront Brynhild. In that time, he and Naevia had avoided each other. An unprecedented parting for the two inseparable siblings. “I … my … I see you have your hands full.” He winced at the unintended double meaning. “My problem is nothing. I have to go.”

“Very well, Your Grace.” Brynhild watched him go. She didn’t even try to entice him to stay. Would she even know how to use her sow’s body? She turned back to the book. There must be something she could do. The wind, of course, would not answer her questions. It was probably off laughing at her plight.

---

“I must sail across the Inland Sea.” Cassia frowned at her children. Naevia and Vel sat on opposite sides of the council chamber. Obviously, Cassia noticed that they’d had some kind of falling out. Bantia sat between them with a look of shock on her face. Her daughters had just learned that their father was alive. “I will go to Kart Hadasht, find him, and bring Gallio home.”

“So, I am not the duke?” Vel’s whole body relaxed. His father would be home soon, and everything would return to normal.

“You must stay duke until your father returns.” Cassia thought things over. “This is a very unusual situation.”

“What did the letter say?” Bantia leaned forward across the circular table. “Exactly, I mean.”

Cassia reached into the pocket of her stola and withdrew the papyrus scroll. She handed it to her daughter. Bantia unrolled it, eyed the locked door, and then read aloud to her family. “My dearest Cassia. I have been blown far afield. You may find me in Kart Hadasht if you look, but it is a dangerous voyage and I urge you to remain at home. I trust our lands are well looked after by Fortinbras. When it is safe, I will fly home to you. Until then, I remain your flame in the wind. With undying love, your husband, Gallio.” Tears fell down Bantia’s cheeks. When she looked up, she saw that her sister and mother were crying, too. But her brother was all smiles. “What are you grinning at, Vel?” She frowned at him.

“What are you crying at?” Vel couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. “Our father is alive and will soon be home.”

“I only gathered the first part from the letter.” Naevia didn’t look at her brother as she spoke. She still couldn’t believe she had handled him in that unspeakable way and the shame of it bore its way through her. “It sounds like he has no intention of coming home. Did he flee with a woman?”

“Naevia!” Cassia put a hand to her breast in shock. “How can you say such a thing? The bonds between your father and I were forged by the gods. They are unbreakable. He has had some misadventure, and I will go to him.”

“Did the letter not say that it would be a dangerous trip to Kart Hadasht?” Bantia looked back down at the fragile papyrus in her hand.

“Nonsense, it’s but three days sail.” Cassia shook her head.

“I don’t think that’s what the letter meant.” Naevia scowled and regarded her pale, freckled hands.

A knock sounded on the door. Bantia handed the letter back to her mother who tucked it back into her stola. Vel stood, unlocked the door, and regarded the seneschal. “Yes?”

“Forgive me, Your Grace.” The seneschal, Aulus, bowed his head. “But you have a visitor.”

“Who is it, Aulus?” Cassia wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Dellia Bellius,” Aulus said.

“Our cousin is here?” Vel looked around the table. Smiles sprouted in the room like conidia flowers after a rain. “We haven’t seen her in ages. Does she bring her whole family?”

“Just her.” Aulus looked around the room. “What would you have me do?”

“Make her comfortable. We’ll be there shortly.” Cassia stood. “We’ll discuss the other thing later,” she said to her children. But she realized she had said it to Aulus only, standing by himself. Vel, Naevia, and Bantia had already pushed past him and raced out the door.

---

“Ho, hey, it’s a crash of Tulliuses.” Dellia had not yet dismounted her horse when she spotted her family racing across the upper courtyard. Her lorica squamata moved like dragon scale and glinted gold in the sun as she kicked her leg and jumped from the steed. Dellia was tall for a woman of the Surround, but still much shorter than two of her cousins. She held her arms out and Naevia and Bantia embraced her.

“What a surprise.” Naevia squeezed her cousin’s metal scales. “Are you well?” She and Bantia let go and stepped back to look at her. She did indeed look well. Her olive skin glowed in the morning light, her dark hair tied back in braids, and her brown eyes glowed.

“Well, indeed.” Dellia’s smile was infectious. “What, no hug for your cousin? Now that you’re a big duke, you can’t be seen succumbing to frivolity?” She held her arms out to him.

Thinking of what he’d done to his sister, Vel hung back, but could think of no excuse. “It is very good to see you, Dellia.” He hugged her but made sure to keep from skin to skin contact. Since her head rested on his chest, that was done easily enough. “What brings you to our home?”

“Did your mother not tell you?” Dellia pushed Vel away roughly and punched him gently on his scrawny chest. “Your mother sent a pigeon to mine bearing excellent news. But she needed an opinion from one who knows the queens regent. And thus, my mother and father sent me with information. I am much more reliable than a pigeon, see. Much harder to intercept.” She patted the sword at her hip.

“And much prettier.” Naevia’s face brightened for the first time in days.

“Thank you, cousin.” Dellia turned and regarded Naevia’s flowing copper hair. “Though not as pretty as you, I’d say. Not by a long shot.” She gave Naevia a friendly shove with her hip. “Now then, get me inside and let’s get this message out of me.” She had always been the oldest of the cousins, now at twenty-seven years, and was used to ordering them around. This was a hard habit to break, even if one of them was now the Duke of Ostia Novus.

---

“My father, or I should say, Lord Bellius, has his contacts in the royal palace.” Dellia looked about the round room. She was not familiar with this council chamber, but she supposed it was meant to be out of a mold. A room made to indicate a kindred power shared with Accipiter Cubitum Palace. Although, since there was no longer a council at the palace, did they still have need of such a chamber? Dellia supposed the queens might use the room for storage now. She rolled her shoulders, enjoying the pregnant pause as everyone waited for her words. It felt quite good to remove her chest band and armor. She often cursed the heavy, cumbersome breasts she’d inherited from her mother. This was one such moment. “Lord Bellius can confirm that Uncle Gallio, or … um … the duke …” She glanced at her cousin, Vel. “… or former duke, Gallio Tullius, is wanted by the Vulpes.”

Cassia’s face blanched at this. The room erupted in overlapping questions.

“Why?”

“How have we not heard of this?”

“Is he in trouble?”

“If it’s the Vulpes, are we all in danger?”

Cassia held her hand up for calm, but her arm trembled. The people around the table quieted. “Please, tell us all that Lord Bellius knows.”

After a while, Dellia finished her story. “That is why you cannot go to him, Cassia. While they suspect you, they believe Vel is loyal to the crown.”

“You say crown, but I feel like the monarchy is actually more carefully described as crowns,” Naevia said. “They could simply remove regent from their titles and all would be the same.”

“Don’t be a fool. Do you want to get us all killed?” Bantia looked at her sister with wide eyes.

“Yes, even in a room secure as this, we should not say such things.” Dellia nodded, her face somber.

Vel stared down at the table, rubbing his fingers against the inlay. This was his chance to remove himself from the mess he’d created with Naevia. Maybe with some time away, things would return to normal on his return. Especially if he brought his father home. “I’ll go and get father.”

“If father could return to us, he would have.” Bantia frowned. “You cannot go and get him. Did you not hear that the secret police are looking for him?”

“Well, then, I’ll go and find him and seek his council. We need to talk to him. Our cousin is right. Pigeons can be intercepted, men not so easily.”

“I’m not so sure. They may not suspect you, Vel, but a sudden trip across the Inland Sea might fetch their eye.” Dellia watched Vel closely. There was something different about him. Something had changed beyond what she’d expect by just the passage of time and title.

“No. We have to go to him. We have to.” Cassia put her hand on her son’s hand, but then quickly withdrew it. Her nerves were surely frayed, because when she touched him, she had felt an odd heat. “Vel will go, but he cannot go alone.” She bit her lip and thought. “I’ll need Bantia here to plan for her wedding. So Naevia, you must travel with your brother to Kart Hadasht.”

Naevia and Vel both protested this immediately, but Cassia held up her hand again. “Please, Your Grace, I cannot force you to do a thing, but as your mother I need you to bring someone who can watch your back. If the Vulpes are truly into this, we don’t know who we can trust. And Naevia’s bow may come in handy.” She looked beseechingly into his eyes. It was not a secret among the family that despite Vel’s height, he was the weakest Tullius at his martial learning. Naevia had taken well to archery.  

“Very well.” Vel looked down at his hands again.

Naevia said nothing.

“I would like to also volunteer myself for this voyage.” Dellia sat very straight in her chair. “You can, of course, depend on cousin Naevia and her bow, but my sword might also be trusted in a tight situation.”

“Vel?” Cassia resisted the impulse to place her hand on her son’s hand again.

“Yes.” Vel nodded. This was going to be a web of pitfalls. He hoped it was a large enough boat that he might avoid both women.

“Perhaps also your sorceress would make a useful travel companion. That is, if she has any tricks left,” Dellia said.

“No, family only,” Cassia said quickly. She then paused to think things through. “We’ll give the Port Syndicate the fifth pier as they requested. In return, I’ll ask them to drum up a reason for a duke to cross the Inland Sea. Perhaps the syndicate needs an impartial trade negotiation on the edge of the Torched Lands. Yes?”

Everyone at the table nodded and rose. It was a somber procession out of the room. So unlike their excitement from just a short time before.

---

For millennia, ships had been built and bound by magic. This allowed for massive vessels and shipbuilders to focus their knowledge on how best to harness the winds, or turn on a coin. But over the past century that magic waned, the boats shrunk, and tended to take on water. Vel stood on the deck, watching a storm overtake them, wishing magic hadn’t been leaking out of the world. The boat was just big enough for his own cabin, but not big enough that he didn’t have to share it with his sister and cousin. As such, he had spent much of the first twenty-four hours above deck.

“Time to head below, Your Grace.” The captain approached the tall duke with appropriate reverence. “Things are about to get a mite choppy.”

“May I stay and watch your crew work?” Vel turned to him and saw the fear in his eyes. He guessed the man wouldn’t want to be responsible for the death of his duke.

“Of course, you may. But for your own safety, and that of my crew …” The captain shrugged.

“I would be in the way. I understand.” Vel slumped his shoulders, turned, and took a step. He stopped when he saw his cousin checking the tackle. He turned back to the captain. “Is she to remain above deck?”

“She knows her way around a ship. We can use all able-bodied hands with that coming.” The captain pointed to the billowing black clouds that closed in on them. “No offense, Your Grace.”

“None taken.” Vel headed below. He wouldn’t want to be responsible for hurting any of the crew. He would face his sister in their cabin. It had to happen sooner or later.

---

“So, you and the sorceress have been cursed?” Naevia clutched to her cot as the room heaved around her. She stared at her brother across the small cabin as he clutched to his undersized cot. He looked like he was enjoying this even less than she was. That was something, at least.

“Yes.” Vel’s stomach lurched with the room as the ship took another wave. “I didn’t know my touch would make us … you know. Can we forget about it?”

“I know what your stuff smells like. I know what it tastes like.” Naevia crinkled her nose, but it was not actually as unpleasant a memory as she let on. She looked about the room as a book slid across the floor to Vel’s cot. She watched him reach over with his foot and step on it to stop it from sliding back across the room. She was glad for his robes to keep her eyes from trying to search out the lump under his tunic. The ship jerked and a great thump reverberated through the hull. Water dripped steadily through the outer wall of their cabin. “But since we may be about to die. I’ll forget it. Is it safe to touch you now?” The boat shuddered again. All anger left her. She wanted nothing more than to curl in Vel’s gentle arms and hold his hand as they’d always done.

“I’m sorry, Naevia. I don’t think so. I thought this trip would give me some time alone to figure this out. I didn’t intend for you to come.” His face went paler than usual as he watched the increasing trickle of water into their cabin. Small puddles pooled on the floor.

A more powerful jolt ran through the boat. With a scream, Naevia was tossed across the floor. Her cot, now loose from the wall, followed her as the tilt of the room sent her toward the wall several feet from Vel.

“Hang on.” Vel stretched himself out, reached out his hand, and grabbed her by the collar of her stola. He pulled his sister to the safety of his cot just as her cot slammed into the wall where she would have been. The broken cot then slid back toward the other side of the cabin and with the force of the storm, wedged its metal frame into the corner of the wall.

“Thank you.” Naevia found herself in her brother’s arms after all. Even as the storm continued to rage, it seemed the room had settled itself. A quiet fell over her. Warmth spread from the back of her neck where Vel still held her collar and his knuckles pressed into her spine. “I thought I was along on this voyage to watch your back. But you’ve got mine, it seems.”

“I love you, Naevia. I would never let anything happen to you.” Lying on his back on the cot, he looked down at his sister perched on his chest. He held the cot and braced his leg against the far wall, hoping the restraints on his side of the cabin would hold better than hers. “I’m sorry for all the strangeness. We’ll find a way to lift the curse.”

“Curses.” Naevia giggled. “As if such things still existed.”

“You’ve seen what Brynhild could do.” Vel shifted his weight to stay steady as the room moved about him.

“I’ve seen her quiet a horse. Nothing more.”

“You’ve seen my … you know.” Vel willed his hand to move away from the back of her neck, but found he couldn’t release her stola. 

“Yes, I have seen it. It really was beautiful, Vel. So much more …” Naevia tensed as another shudder rumbled through the ship. She gripped his bony shoulders tight. “Do you think Dellia is okay up above?”

“She can fight. She can sail. She could challenge the gods to a pissing contest and win. I’m quite sure.” Vel tried desperately to calm his cock, but the churning room moved his sister just enough so that he could feel pressure from her various curves. “She’ll be fine.”

“She’ll be fine.” Naevia nodded and bit her lip. Her body relaxed some. The heat now radiated into the core of her, bringing her closer to her brother. “Can I confess something?”

“Yes,” Vel squeaked. Her face rose just above his. He felt her legs tighten around his sides as she straddled him. Were her hips rocking, or was that just the room? As he hardened, he wondered if he would poke at her. Her hips were centered right over his naval.

“Part of why I’ve been so distant, was that it was so … um … wonderful with you in the library. All my tussles with boys have been awkward. Those men were either needy, or somewhat bellicose.” She felt him finally release her collar and an emptiness filled her. But joy surged when he brushed her cheek lightly with his fingertips and the warmth again returned with his touch. She leaned her head closer to his. “You are not like those other men, Vel. Your penis is a thing of beastly beauty. Forged right out of my dreams. Built for a singular, furrowing purpose.” She whispered these last words in his ear.

“It’s going to happen again.” Vel couldn’t help himself. He braced harder against the heaving room, lifted her stola, and held her bare hips just above her linen underwear.

“I can’t seem to care that it does. Kiss me, Vel.” She planted her lips on his. She could feel his abdomen tense under her thighs as he strove to keep them on his cot. Her hips moved back and forth ever so slightly. Between her legs, she felt nearly as wet as their cabin. She felt him tentatively push back with his lips, and then her tongue was in his mouth. She didn’t know if she felt closer like this, or when she had accepted his spray in the library. Her whole body thrummed like a taut bowstring. They kissed as would newlywed lovebirds despite the ship going to hell around them.

After a while, Naevia became aware that something poked at her backside over and over. Her eyes opened and she broke their kiss. “Are you really hard enough to push at my ass like that?” She smiled at him.

“I can’t help it.” Vel knew his own smile must look nearly idiotic. “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, Naevia.”

“Well, in that case. I suppose you can just take what you want, Your Grace.” Her freckled cheeks dimpled as she laughed and looked down at him with adoration. “Do you want me to help you again?”

“I do. But only if you promise not to get mad at me afterwards. It’s been constant torment these past days with the way you’ve looked at me.”

“Oh, my poor little sparrow.” She kissed his cheek and slowly turned around on his chest, careful to hold on tight to his robes lest she go sliding across the cabin again. “I promise I won’t be mad. I was a fool to try and deny us this. We can make it work.” She finished her maneuvers so that her ankles were on either side of his ears, and her face hovered above his tent. She parted his robes and lifted his tunic. “My, my, my. It’s more beautiful than I remembered.” She took a firm grip of the shaft with both hands, confident that Vel would not let her go as she felt his hands return to her hips and slide over to her butt. When his fingers pressed into her flesh, she could feel how much he truly wanted her. Her heart melted at that, and without thinking she lowered her mouth to the crimson head and licked away the salty fluid that dribbled out. Soon, her head bobbed. He really was unlike anyone else she’d been with, or even seen. Try as she might, she couldn’t get much more than the head into her mouth.

Other than the constant strain to keep them from being thrown about the cabin, Vel was smitten by the moment. His beautiful sister, who had always shared his heart, was giving him the gift of flesh to go with her soul. He could smell the salty water as it seeped through the ship’s outer plating. But also, he could smell something earthy, pungent, and compelling. He had never before smelled its like. “How are you … so good at this?”

Naevia popped him out of her mouth and stroked the fat thing with her hands. Without a grip on the cot, she relied on Vel to keep her in place. “I’ve done this before … but not with anything like yours, Vel. You’re such a gentle brother, but this thing looks almost angry. Just the sight of it quells my insides.” She tried to look for his face over her shoulder, but he was hidden by the curve of her butt and her bunched underwear. “If you like it so much, return the favor.” The boat gave a great shudder again, but she paid it no mind.

“You want me to …?” Vel wondered at that thought. Did men really put their mouths down there? Without thinking he pulled at her underwear and she lifted a leg to help him get them off. He could now see the bottom of her pussy lips, glistening and open like a flower. A compelling, bright pink invited him from inside. He felt he’d been summoned to a magnificent secret garden. And he never wanted to leave.

“Yes, I want you to. We’ve always done everything together. We should do this together. Mmmmpppphhhh.” She lowered her mouth back onto him. She didn’t bother with further argument because she knew he’d have the courage to taste her.

“Like this?” Vel lifted his head a little and pressed his fingers harder into the flesh of her ass. He licked. It tasted tangy and wonderful. A flavor not unlike the coveted fruits that sometimes arrived over the Roads of Trade. He licked again and soon he was lapping away at her like an eager puppy. Her moans around his cock gave him all the more incentive. “You taste … of ambrosia … Naevia.” She pressed her pussy down onto his face in response. He could feel her thighs tremble.

Naevia spit out the cock and rested her chin at its base. The thing rose up next to her, longer than her head. She let go of the shaft and gripped his hips. “Oh, gods. No one … ooooohhhhhhh … has ever done … that to meeeeeeeeee.” She screamed out the best climax of her eighteen years. Lost in a haze, her mind didn’t register the thin bulwark of the boat. It didn’t matter, the storm drowned out her cries of pleasure. When she’d returned to herself, her pussy still spasming, she went right back to work on her big brother. Pumping him and sucking him as best she could. She let his moans guide her work. She quickly learned to use less teeth, more tongue, and a solid squeeze with her hands.

Nearly delirious, Vel ceased his efforts on the vagina before him and leaned his head back on the cot. She was a master and he was her canvas. The ship had quieted some, but continued to heave. Vel released his grip. The siblings fell off the cot and into the water, now a couple inches deep, on the floor. With Vel on his back and Naevia working furiously on his midsection, they slid across the room. The room moved not quite as violently as before, so, they merely splashed up against the wall, and then slid back. They were both oblivious to their travels.

“Mmmppppphhhhh.” Naevia wanted nothing more than to cause his release. She was even ready to drink the life that would come out of him. Something she’d never done for any man before. The sea might be intent on drowning her that day. But she would rather drown on his seed. Her mind was now singularly focused on it.

As they slid back and forth, Vel felt his balls churn. “Careful … ugh … Naevia. Careful … it’s close.” He remembered how she had tried to avoid his cum the last time and wanted to give her the opportunity again. But truth be told, he hoped she would continue. He had drunk from her as he’d tasted her juices. He wanted to complete the circle and have her drink him. She was right, they had always done everything together. Why not this? “It’s … ah … happening.” He pressed his fingers tighter into her flesh. Water splashed all around him as they slid. He unloaded down her throat. “Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.” He could hear her gulping, and then gagging, and then his brain could process no more. Ecstasy enveloped him.     

“Gggghhhh … ggggghhhhh …” Naevia tried her best to drink his stuff. But there was too much and it came out of him too forcefully. She swallowed a little and then was forced to spit him out. She leaned back and watched him spurt into the air, his cum falling down into the water as they slid back toward his cot. He was so potent. All the other men she’d been with had been kindling and he was a roaring fire. “My sweet Vel. Let it out. Yeesssssssss.” She licked her lips. His saltiness combined with the sea on her tongue. She reached out and grabbed his cot when they bumped into it and held them there so they slid no more. When he finished groaning and spraying, she leaned forward and licked the crimson head clean. She then turned herself around to face him. Her hair hung wet and limp around her face, and his hair nearly covered his. “I am not enamored of this look.” A small crooked smile tugged at her pink lips. Still holding the cot with one hand, she pushed his blond hair out of his face with the other. She was greeted by Vel’s biggest, and stupidest smile. Her own grin turned from a torch to a bonfire. “You’re smiling like an idiot, Vel.” She kissed his cheek.

“How can I help it?” Vel looked up into her deep green eyes, and studied her freckled face. She had water and cum all over her. “What a vision you are.”

“Yes, I’m sure I’ve never looked better.” But her smile persisted. “We should clean ourselves before cousin Dellia returns from her above deck duties. We wouldn’t want to give her a heart attack.” She reached next to them and splashed her hand in the water. “It seems I won’t have to run to the bath this time.” She laughed hard at the sheer joy and absurdity of what they’d done.

“Yes, the storm has lessened.” Vel felt the pull of each wave as the cabin rocked, but it was just a shadow of what it had been just a little while before. He reached into the water, scooped a handful, and splashed it on her face.

“Hey, watch it, big guy.” Naevia laughed harder, scooped some water herself, and splashed Vel in the face. Both, cackling like idiots, now splashed each other and pushed and shoved. A water war like they’d had often enough in the gardens back home. But this time, it ended with Naevia’s mouth distorted around his bloated cockhead again.

While Vel sat on the cot, Naevia brought him to another climax, her knees under water on the floor. She did no better drinking him than she’d done before. But it was easy enough to clean up afterward.

---

Dellia opened the door and stumbled into her cabin. Her feet splashed through several inches of water and kicked a bit of floating debris. “I am … beyond exhausted.” She looked over to Naevia’s cot, crumpled and jammed in a corner, and then back to Vel’s cot where her cousins lay curled together. Their clothes were soaked through and they lay spooned, with Vel’s arm around his sister. “You two look more haggard than I feel. What happened here?” Dellia waved an arm at the crumpled cot and splashed her way to her own hammock in the far corner.

“We rode out the storm.” Naevia opened her eyes and looked up at Dellia. The woman looked like she’d just spent a day wresting lions. “Things were turbulent down here.” Naevia giggled. And then Vel stifled a laugh behind her.

“I am so happy you two find amusement out of almost joining Neptune at his palace.” Dellia wanted to grumble, but she smiled despite herself. “We’ve been blown off course.” She stretched out her body in the hammock and rested her head on a rolled tunic. “Add at least another day to our journey.” She yawned.

Vel squeezed his sister at this. Was it a blessing or curse to be trapped at sea together for more time? “Is everyone okay on deck? Did we lose anyone?”

But Dellia only snored in response.

“Vel, don’t,” Naevia scolded. She moved his hands from where they crept above her stola toward her breasts. “We’ll get caught.”

“I almost don’t care.” Vel sighed. He pushed his hardness into her backside and felt her wiggle back at him.

“I care. The gods would sever our limbs and feed us bit by bit to the gulls if they knew.” She squeezed his hand, holding it firmly above her stomach. The warmth spread through her. “And people of the Surround would be even less kind. Ostia Novus would be in need of another duke. Let’s focus on finding Father, and we can play when we return home. Would another trip to the library suit you?”

“Yes, Naevia. Your counsel is wise. As always, I’m glad to have you by my side.” Vel squeezed her and vowed never to let go. The ship gently rocked, and the drenched siblings drifted off to sleep.

Continued in Chapter 4

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