Adeline thought she could never return to the ocean again. When she was sold to the palace, she thought it would be the place where she remained for the rest of her life. Part of her had despaired then. Although Adeline had wanted to leave the ocean, even to the point where she exchanged her tail to a pair of legs, the ocean was something she was familiar with. It was where she was born and lived for most of her life. Even though she was always bullied by the other merpeople, the sea was in her blood.
As she drew in a deep breath, the tension flowed out of her. The sun shone down brightly and the breeze carried the familiar scent of salt. She could almost feel the water on her skin.
"Come on." A large hand nudged her forward.
Adeline almost tripped over her feet and fell face-first on the ground. She had been absorbed by the sight of the ocean that she had stopped walking.
The man behind her caught a fistful of her cloak and tugged her back.
"Good heavens, did we fuck you so much it made your knees weak?" the man said, leering at her.
He wrapped an arm around Adeline and hauled her against his body.
"That's enough, Alfred."
Alfred heard the order from his captain and let go of Adeline unwillingly.
"Wait till you're on board the ship," Alfred told her. The intense desire in his eyes made Adeline shiver.
Gerald walked up to Adeline's side. He made sure that the cloak covered Adeline more securely. When Alfred tugged on her just now, it had parted and revealed her bare body beneath. It had drawn a curious look or two from the people at the docks. The last thing Gerald wanted was for Adeline to draw attention here.
Adeline held her clock tightly together. She remembered that it belonged to Niri. Niri would never get her cloak back now.
The walk from the tavern to the docks wasn't as far as she had thought. She had already been exhausted from all the fucking from the men in the tavern. They had fucked her all night, one after another, taking turns resting in between. She couldn't remember all of it, for she had fallen asleep in between the bouts of sex. Royce had left somewhere in the night and wasn't seen again. He had indeed left her to the crewmates.
Her stomach sloshed as she walked. The men had filled her up with semen. There were so much inside her that some of the semen simply dribbled out when she stood. The barkeep had used a cork from a bottle to plug her up so she would not make a mess on the tavern floor. It had kept the rest of the semen within her. Adeline wished she could take it out so she could expel the men's seed. At the same time, walking with a stomach full of semen and a cork within her was arousing to her. All the sexual training she had received from the different men had taught her to take pleasure in this.
They walked down the long pier where their ship was tied up. The crewmates surrounded Adeline, taking care to ensure her presence wasn't noticed by anyone. It was a common thing for a crew to have a whore or two on a ship, but not one who was as pretty as Adeline. She would most definitely draw the jealousy from other crews.
Gerald knew where Adeline was from and knew where she had gone. He didn't know how she had left the palace but from the vagueness of the other man, Royce, Gerald could deduce Adeline was probably sneaked out.
While Gerald enjoyed fucking Adeline, he did not want to lose his head over it.
However, as they walked down the pier, another captain shouted at him.
"Hey, Gerald! Fine morning to set out, isn't it? Good breeze for the sails."
Taylor was an older weathered captain who had spent most of his life on ships. Gerald had worked under him before he saved up enough money to buy his own ship and hire a crew. Gerald respected the older captain. There was no way he could ignore a greeting from the other man.
"Morning, cap'n," Gerald said. He had never stopped addressing Taylor as captain even though he was no longer part of Taylor's crew. Gerald stopped to speak to Taylor while his crew, and Adeline, continued heading to his ship.
Taylor was sharp-eyed enough to catch a glimpse of a cloaked figure amongst the men.
"You hired a whore this time?" Taylor asked.
"Yeah. Cost me a penny from the bawdyhouse."
Taylor eyed Gerald for a long time, making Gerald feel like a scrawny boy of fourteen all over again. Taylor ran a tight ship. He was the one who had taught Gerald, and one of Taylor's rules was no women on the ship. It would lead to arguments and fights. It distracted the men from their jobs. The ocean was a feisty one, and an ununited crew could easily lead to their deaths.
Gerald shuffled his feet. He mustered a smile and muttered, "Gotta go, cap'n."
To Gerald's surprise, Taylor said nothing about Adeline's presence. Instead, he commented, "Have you heard about the escaped slave from the palace?"
Gerald shook his head. "Not at all. What about it?"
"Heard that the slave was responsible for killing the king. The prince had sent out people to find her."
This was the first Gerald had heard this news. His crew had come to port last night and stopped by the tavern. Although he had seen the soldiers roaming the streets, he did not know that they were searching for someone. No wonder everyone was so skittish lately.
"You might want to set out when the weather is clear." Taylor pat Gerald on the shoulder. Gerald got the sense that Taylor knew everything.
"We will."
"May the tides of fortune be with you." Taylor said.
