Page 13 of Fae Tithe

The Merman arched his tail and thrusted deep, over and over. Helena’s climax fed his. He came hard, stars in his vision, as he spilt himself inside of her. She gasped, collapsing onto his chest. Together they panted and heaved in union, sweat peppering their bodies as they took their time to recover.

Lance brushed the hair from Helena’s freckled forehead. He bent his knees and his soaked cock slipped out of her.

He had finally completed his transformation. He looked almost indistinguishable from a human, except for his solid black eyes and fangs – though now reduced to smaller, pointed teeth. Those features always remained.

The Merman scooped his woman into his arms and cradled her in his lap. Lance’s hard thighs pressed into her ass as he placed a kiss on the top of her deep brown hair. He felt Helena’s fingertips circle the scar on his belly, as wide as his fist. It was the wound that had brought them together.

Lance could remember little more than flashes of the first week or so after he first washed up on this very shore. He knew he had been speared by a harpoon from a Fae whaling ship, one he had destroyed for slaughtering Seafolk. The lance must have been magically enhanced. The weapon had caused a grievous wound that he was unable to heal with his powers. Losing blood and consciousness, Lance had washed up on Helena’s beach.

“Tides-damn… what a welcome.” He chuckled, his laugh musical. “I missed you too, Len.” Lance twirled the end of her long hair with his fingers, the tips bleached by the salt of the sea.

Helena looked up through her lashes at him and smiled. The grin was so wide that the finest lines appeared at the edges of her eyes and crinkled upwards. She nuzzled into his neck, breathing softly there. “Fuck, Lance…” She swallowed. “I thought… I don’t even know… that you left me, or that something awful had happened to you.”

He chuckled at her somewhat morbid nickname for him. I get stuck with a lance, so she calls me Lance.

He knew that Helena couldn’t speak Mer. He did not know any Landfolk that could. Learning to pronounce his real name would be quite difficult, and he preferred Lance any way, loving the way she rolled the name on her tongue. The Merman cupped Helena’s freckled chin. His eyes felt prickly but, as usual, no tears fell.

He tilted her head up so their eyes met. “Never. I am not going anywhere,” he promised. “You are stuck with me, Len. But my work with the court has been… demanding. There was the census, making sure all the Seafolk were accounted for. Then the storms meant that some of the Seafolk clans had to shift early from the capital, sending us further away to complete the count.” He ran his calloused thumb over her sandy, bronzed cheek. “I am so sorry for making you worry.”

“Faedammit, Lance! I know you have your work, I know, I just…”

“It’s alright,” he reassured. “I will always come back to you. Always.” He pressed his forehead to her temple and breathed in her scent of rosemary and salt, leaving a delicious taste on his tongue.

Helena beamed his favourite eye-crinkling smile back at him. “I know you will.”

Relief flooded Lance. He had been nervous about returning after a long absence, thinking perhaps Helena would have moved on, or would turn him away. I’m a tide-damn idiot. How could I have doubted her? He let out a long sigh of relief. This is all I want after all: her, the family, this life, and a pup together one day. I just wish we could be together all the time.

“A Sel for your thoughts?” Helena asked, resting her temple on his shoulder.

Lance blinked, confused for a moment. He was sure he had heard that saying before. Seafolk, however, did not have formal currency like the Landfolk in Seelieland. Instead, they depending on bartering and trading amongst the different groups. The colloquialism did not make sense to his ears.

“You’ll have to help me out here, Len. What do you mean?” he asked with a tilt of his head.

She giggled. “I was asking what you were thinking.”

“Oh!” The Merman flushed, a little embarrassed that he could not remember. “Well, about you, of course. How this…” He squeezed her in his arms, making her chuckle again. “…was all I ever wanted, and how I wish it could be like this all the time. That despite coming from different places and having our own roles and responsibilities, we get to have these moments together. I treasure them more than anything.”

“I feel the same,” she sighed. Helena pressed a soft kiss to the spot where his neck met his shoulder, sending a ripple of pleasure through him. “Lance?” She gestured her head to the stairs carved into the cliff side. “Shall we go home?”

Lance touched the raised, puckered scar on his belly. His injury had been healed by Helena with nothing but common sense, time, and good wound care six years ago. She had saved Lance, and he had adored her since the moment he first laid eyes on her. The Merman had known the instant that their eyes met that she would be his and he would be hers.

“A little while longer. Just us, like this.” He closed his eyes and slowly exhaled. “Then, after that, I would love nothing more.”

Eleanor worried her bottom lip with her teeth. I know I have always wanted to travel, but this is not what I had in mind.

The teenage girl had been stuffed into the back of a gilt carriage and sat on a red plush seat. Eleanor had so far spent her first morning of travel studying the fleeting landscape as it rushed past the small window.

How are we moving so fast? Bun and Ash definitely don’t move like this. She felt a jolt of loss in her chest for the two fat ponies. What if I don’t see them again? What if I don’t see my family again? What if… She blinked back her stinging tears and took a deep breath. No, that won’t happen. Look for a way out.

The huge, black horses that pulled her prison were faster than any she had seen before. Eleanor had only managed a quick glance at the hulking animals before being packed into the compartment, but she had a feeling that they would look drastically different from her ponies as well. The captain was constantly in her company inside the carriage. She quickly realised that he was her jailer. He sat opposite her, elbow propped on the windowsill and chin in his palm, gaze trained on the window.

“What kind of horses are they?” Eleanor asked.

His eyes turned to her face. “Seelie Stallions,” the Fae captain replied, “especially bred for the King and the Fae Lords of the Seelie Court. They have been loaned to the provinces during the Tithe.”

Seelie Stallions are especially bred for the Seelie Court. Eleanor continued to press, needing to know more. “Only stallions? So only the boys pull the carriages?”

He chuckled, a velvet sound in his throat. “You’re lucky I’m bored and find these questions a welcome distraction. Only the stallions pull the carriages because only the stallions are fast.”