Page 11 of Pregnant With Their Babes

“Oz?”

“CaptainOswaldvon König,” Dagr corrected, realizing he’d said too much. “His friends call him Oz.”

Llyr took a step closer. He regarded Dagr through too-long lashes. “And what do your friends callyou, Commander?”

“Dagr,” he whispered before his brain had time to tell him not to.

Llyr took another step, closing the gap between them. “It’s a pleasure to meet you… Dagr.”

Hearing his name slip past Llyr’s lips was like a blow to the chest. Dagr held the man’s intense, shifting gaze and was drawn into it.

An undertow.

He was dragged asunder within seconds. Standing there, he drowned in the blue of Llyr’s eyes, unable to catch his breath. Dagr took a step back, needing space.

Needing to breathe.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Oz pulling on his trousers. He caught Oz’s stare, needing that to anchor him. A lifeline. He grabbed hold and pulled himself out of the maelstrom of his own need.

“You need to put some clothing on,” Dagr spat to their guest. Clothes, yes. That would help. It would make it possible for him to think straight again.

Llyr cocked his head. “Why?”

“Because you must,” Oz answered, pulling a few items out of his chest. “I can’t have you running around my ship naked. Wear these.”

Llyr’s stare lingered over Oz a moment before drifting back to Dagr. That stare dipped and he looked down at Dagr’s body before he lifted it to them again. A smile played at his lips before Llyr lifted the lantern before him and sighed with delight. “Whatisthis?”

Llyr had changed the subject and refocused their attention elsewhere… apparently no longer interested in their nudity—or lack of it. As effectively as being plunged in ice-water, the moment was gone. Dagr hadbeggedfor it to stop. To be able to take a breath and think… yet he stood there mourning the loss of Llyr’s ardent devotion.

“The lantern?” Oz asked.

“Lantern…”Llyr parroted before he frowned. “What is it that lights it? A star? Can you catch them when they fall?”

Dagr’s frown grew deeper. The man’s peculiar questions were disquieting. “A star? Do you meanthe fire?”

“The fire,” Llyr whispered slowly before smiling as he watched the flickering flame. He swung the lantern dangerously, and Dagr took a step closer, worry filling him. The thing could easily erupt into flames if the man lacked caution. “The fire isbeautiful.”

Dagr rubbed two fingers together, the word reminding him of the sensation that had coursed through him at Llyr’s touch.Beautiful.He’d called Dagr’s skin beautiful. He cast a glance down at his light brown skin. No one had called it beautiful before. Normally, it was the bane of his existence. His father had supposedly loved his mother—an indigenous princess from a faraway land—but he’d never met either of them. They’d died on the voyage home when he’d been just a babe, leaving him to be raised by a strict set of grandparents who rigidly refused to accept him as a true member of the family.

Beautiful.The reverence that had been in Llyr’s voice rendered it hard to breathe. He gazed at his hand a moment longer before lifting his stare. A moment of veneration or the emotion it had triggered wasn’t enough to stop the screaming of his logical mind.

Dead but alive.

Out in the middle of the sea.

Swirling eyes.

Acts as if he’s never seen fire before.

“Whatareyou?” Dagr asked.

“A merman,” Llyr answered matter-of-factly.

A merman.

Dagr’s incredulous glare went to Oz’s for a moment before he aimed a raised brow to Llyr. “Whatdid you say?”

“A mer-man… I’m from the ocean.” Llyr coughed slightly, his throat clearly still bothering him—but not enough to stop staring at the lantern.

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