Page 2 of Traveling with Gentlemen
"Ooo, is your former paramour here?" I teased.
Ezra's eyebrows bounced, "No, and you ought to be glad of it, puisin. But just in case she's spread word about me, I'll hang back while someone else solicits them for the doctor's help."
Jonathon winced and pressed trembling hands to the arm of his chair, but Amon waved at him in dismissal. "Allow me, Jonathon. Rest."
"Wait!" I jumped up from my chair as Amon did, his eyebrows rising in question. "We're alone now? No more humans?"
"Just you," Amon answered, lips twitching.
I blushed at the reminder. It was easy to forget sometimes that I came from a different world. I belonged in this one, with my gentlemen. I stepped forward and threw my arms around Amon's shoulders, beaming up at him and rising to my toes. He met me halfway, and his lips tasted like the dark wine he'd chosen for us at dinner, and a lick of salt. Amon purred as we kissed, hands bracing my back and drawing me forward, fingers digging into me.
I nibbled on his mouth like it was dessert, nuzzled against him, and pulled away to find his eyes bright and shoulders straight. "Thank you, my king," I murmured, just for him.
Amon's smile softened. He'd been patient in our travels, and I knew it wasn't in his nature to stand in the shadows. But he'd been kind at every moment, even when I was sure he burned with jealousy while watching me stand at Auguste's side.
"Always, my star," Amon answered, resting his forehead briefly against mine.
I settled back at the table just as Ezra appeared, briefly visible, handing Jonathon a collection of paper-wrapped candies. "They're ginger. Nicked 'em from one of the staff at dinner. Should help until the witches can brew you something better."
"Using your specialty for good at last," Auguste teased Ezra as Jonathon eagerly unwrapped one of the candies.
"S'pose I better earn my keep with you lot," Ezra said, grinning.
* * *
I giggled,spun in invisible arms across the yacht deck as a pair of imps tried to out-fiddle one another above the balcony. The full moon was high and every so often its light would strike Ezra, creating a hazy vision of him in front of me, the rest of the monsters and their merriment visible through him. I dug my fingers into his shoulder and laughed against him as he turned us, almost crashing into a young troll couple in their dancing.
"Be careful!" I cried out to Ezra, adding a quick "Sorry!" to the couple.
"Sea legs don't seem to extend to dancing," Ezra said.
I snorted, but I couldn't fight my smile as he tugged me closer, our bodies flushed.
"I'm getting better at holding my focus and staying visible, but it's nice to not spend the whole evening concentrating for once," Ezra said, slowing our steps with the music of the imps, a sweet waltz now floating over our heads.
"It's good for all of us to take a night off," I said, glancing over to the railing at the prow of the boat, where the rest of my gentlemen were huddled together, Mr. Tanner having taken over for Jonathon and standing huge and steady at the very tip of the boat.
Auguste turned to us at that moment, eyes bright in the brilliant light of the moon, and waved. "Esther, come see!"
Ezra gave me a final turn, my dress spinning around my ankles, and then together we crossed the polished deck to the prow.
Booker and Amon stepped aside and Mr. Tanner turned, eyes glancing warily over my head at the rest of the passengers, before tugging me in front of him. His body framed mine, thick arms and broad shoulders nearly blocking out the rest of my men.
"Look. Just there, little one, on the rocks," Mr. Tanner said, his voice low and quiet and gritty.
I narrowed my eyes and peered into the dark, to the left of the boat, but all I saw was a broad horizon of water surrounding us. "I'm not sure my vision is up to the challenge," I admitted.
"Of course, we should've considered," Auguste said.
"Here, use these," Amon said, passing me a pair of small golden binoculars.
I raised them to my eyes and searched the water. Now everything was a jumble of waves, and it took me a long stretch of silence before I finally found anything of note. Just a lump of black interruption at first, and then—
"Oh!" I gasped as I made out the first rock, and the figure seated on top of it. Even with the binoculars, they were blurry and small. "Is that a…" It looked like a woman! A woman at the edge of the Mediterranean, seated atop a small outcropping of rock, a wet dress glittering and clinging to her legs.
"Mermaids," Amon said.
I pulled the binoculars away from my eyes in my surprise, and then huffed when it took me just as long as before to locate the rocks again. There was a horizon of land behind them, and they were spread out in the water, but on each high tower of wet, black stone sat at least one mermaid. Those weren't dresses at all that they were wearing – they werefins!
