Page 54 of Pregnant With Their Babes

“I’ve never heard of it before. Is it like your whiskey?” Llyr winced.

“Still not recovered from your first taste of hard spirits, hmm?” Oz shook his head. “No… coffee is quite the opposite of whiskey. Here, have a taste.”

He lifted the cup to Llyr’s lips. Llyr looked up from the rim, a seductive air in his eyes. How their merman thought he was a failure at seduction was beyond Oz. Llyr took a small sip before frowning and pulling away.

“Bitter.” He smacked his lips together. “Yet not wholly distasteful.”

Oz grinned. “Perhaps you might be a tea person.”

“What’s that?”

Oz grinned, excitement filling him. There was something so rousing at the thought of sharing an entire world with Llyr. He’d be able to see things for the first time through the merman’s eyes. Watching as he tried new experiences… tasting the world… one delicious bite at a time.

Then that excitement faded. Oz wouldn’t have the honor of sharing anything with Llyr. Not once their journey was over.

He gazed at Llyr—who still stared out over the water.

“I’ve got someone on lookout for the Draugar. There’s no need to search.”

Llyr spun to face him. “It’s not that.”

“What is it then?”

“I miss the water. I’m so close… yet… so far away.”

“I’m sorry,” Oz said, hating the longing he witnessed in Llyr’s eyes. “I can’t begin to imagine how it feels.”

Llyr gave him a wan smile. “No reason for you to be sorry. I did what I felt I needed to.”

Oz hated seeing the sadness on Llyr’s face. He’d do anything to help it fade. After a glance around him, he strolled over to the ship’s wheel and urged Llyr closer. “Would you like to steer the boat?”

“Oh? Is that what this thing is? I’ve often wondered.”

“You’ve seen one before?”

“On shipwrecks,” Llyr replied.

“Ah, of course,” Oz said, pinning Llyr between him and the wheel. “When you spin the wheel, it moves the propeller under the ship.”

“The thing that goes back and forth like the tail of a fish?”

“Aye that,” Oz said. “To the right is the starboard side. The left is port. We need to turn toward port and move in a little closer to the shoreline.”

Llyr pulled on the wheel too much, and Oz had to correct him a bit. “Not too hard. Small increments is usually all we need—unless I say ‘hard to starboard’ or ‘hard to port.’ Got it?”

“Aye, Captain,” Llyr murmured.

Oz helped lead Llyr where they needed to be before locking the wheel in place. “I might not understand how you feel being out of the water but I can relate to the need to run away from a marriage you wish to refuse. If only I could do the same.”

“You’re being forced to marry, too?”

Oz nodded.

“And it can’t be Dagr, I assume?”

Oz shook his head. “My duty is to provide heirs to pass down the family name. Dagr is incapable of giving me heirs. I’d marry him if he could.”

Llyr sighed. “Both our worlds sound terrible.”

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