Princess Master 3, page 24
I had to admit it was possible the rum had already started to affect me.
“Hi, hero,” Jessamine purred, and she pulled me in for a kiss on the mouth. When I felt her touch her tongue to my lips, I knew she wasn’t fucking around, so I kissed her back for a minute before she pulled away.
If the wavy-haired merman had been staring before, he was really gaping now.
“Excuse me, sir,” the young merman said to me, and he bowed before he started to back away. “I certainly didn’t mean anything…”
“These-these are princesses,” I told him as I tried not to slur my words. “And they’re my wives. So, you need to find someone… who’s not my wives. Oh, and the redhead mermaid is mine, too, so don’t even think about it.”
The young man nodded his head vigorously before he turned tail and swam away as fast as he could.
“Damn, Jessamine,” Cienna laughed once the staring merman was gone. “You aren’t fucking around tonight. And Joe, I don’t even know…”
“That’s exactly what I thought, Cienna!” I tried to take a swig of rum, but I realized my bottle was empty. “Jessamine isn’t fucking around! She just made out with me right in front of that other dude, and it was fucking awesome.”
“First of all,” Jessamine started, and she wobbled a little on her bare feet, “I ammm a princess, and I can do whatever I want. Second of all, Joe, you’re sexy, okayyy? And my husband. So, I-I will kiss you whenever I want to show people I am yours.”
“Okay!” I laughed. “I hear you loud and clear, hot stuff.”
“Now, who’s going to get me another bottle of wine?” my dark-haired wife asked, and her cheeks were adorably flushed with alcohol.
“Jessamine, I’m not sure you--”
“Silence!” Jessamine cut Cienna off, but her commanding tone was ruined as she tried to smother a fit of giggles. “Did I mention I am a princess? You… Cienna… fetch me some wine, peasant!”
“N-No w-way, J-J-Jessamine!” Cienna was dying of laughter and could barely get her words out as she wiped a tear from her cheek and cleared her throat. “Ahem… you need to ask Joe, because he’s the one who needs to bow down to both of us.”
“That’sss right, Joeee, bow down to us,” Jessamine slurred as she pointed a finger in my face. “Do it!”
“Fine, one more drink for everyone, but that’s it, and I’m not bowing down unless it’s to lick your pussy,” I laughed as I slapped both my human wives on the ass and dodged another sloppy kiss from the black-haired princess. “Whoa, there, I still need to go check on Ariana!”
“Oh, yeah, how’s she doing?” Cienna craned her neck to look for the red-haired mermaid, and I followed her gaze to where Ariana was still totally surrounded by merpeople.
I caught the redhead’s eye, and she raised her eyebrows and shot me a tight smile.
“Shit, I think she needs me,” I told Jessamine and Cienna. “I’m going to go grab the three of us a round of drinks, and then I’m going to go rescue our wife.”
With that, I walked over to the table, grabbed myself an ale and the two princesses more wine, and I came back over to hand them their drinks.
“Good luck, Joe,” Jessamine raised an unsteady arm in the water for a toast, and I clinked bottles with her. “Now go, find Ariana. Tell her I said hi.”
“O-kay…” I laughed. I’d never really met drunk Jessamine before, but I had to say I kind of liked her.
I walked over to where Ariana was holding court and slid an arm around my mermaid wife’s waist. She had an empty bottle of rum squeezed tightly in her hand, and she’d been cornered by a middle-aged couple with tight, pinched faces. Despite the fact that her chin was still held high, I knew she didn’t want to be there.
“Joe, please allow me to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Waters.” The redhead grabbed my hand and dug her nails in as she kept a smile on her face. “Mr. Waters, Mrs. Waters, this is my husband, Joe.”
“Pleased to meet you,” I said and nodded.
“Joe… a human, very interesting,” Mr. Waters said to me. He took a big swig from his bottle and wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand, and then he looked at my legs as if they were a curiosity. “Were you a prince up on land, or…?”
“Yeah, something like that.” I smirked, but then I squeezed Ariana a little tighter and raised an eyebrow at him. This prick didn’t seem worth my time of day, but I definitely wanted to rescue my wife. “Ariana, the other princesses and I want to talk to you. Would you mind coming with me for a minute?”
“Other… princesses? Do you mean--”
I grabbed Ariana’s hand and pulled her away as the merman was still talking, but I felt confident in the fact I’d left someone’s mouth hanging open for the second time tonight.
“Joe’s actually the hero of legend…” Ariana called back over her shoulder as we headed away from the obnoxious couple.
“You didn’t have to say that,” I told her as I poked her in the side and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I think that guy got the picture. Mr. Waters… they’re merpeople, and their name is Waters? How stupid is that?”
“I know!” Ariana started to laugh, and her cheeks flushed pink. “This could actually be a good party if it weren’t for all these… assholes!”
“Your Highness, I’m shocked you just said that,” I snorted, and it seemed like Jessamine and Cienna weren’t my only drunk wives. “Hey, when can we get out of here?”
“Wheneverrrr we want,” Ariana purred, but then she looked up at me with wide aqua eyes. “No, actually, I really need to talk to Jeffrey. He’s the one person I need to connect with tonight. Will you help me, Joe?”
“Of course,” I told the mermaid, and I looked around the room to try to catch a glimpse of the mayor. I finally saw him surrounded by a small group of people in the corner of the room, and then I led Ariana in his direction. “Coming through, it’s the princess, coming through.”
“Hi, Jeffrey,” the redhead said as she swam up and put a hand on his shoulder.
The people he was talking to immediately began to clap and cheer for her again, and Ariana smiled and waved away their applause.
“Thank you so much,” the mermaid said. “Now, Jeffrey, I was hoping I might be able to speak with you for a moment. Everyone, do you mind if I pull him away?”
“No, of course not, Your Highness,” a tall mermaid mumbled.
“Thank you again,” Ariana said, and she walked toward a space near the big table that was clear of other merpeople.
Jeffrey clapped me on the shoulder as we followed the red-haired princess, and I smiled at the merman.
“So, your son really knows how to throw a great party,” I told the mayor, and I gestured around at everyone talking and laughing.
“Yes, he does know how to entertain, but we haven’t had a reason to celebrate for a long time,” Jeffrey explained. “We’ve had tough times around here, for reasons I’m sure I don’t need to explain. I know I’ve already thanked you, but I’ll thank you a million times again for bringing my family and the other townspeople back.”
“It was our pleasure,” I responded with a nod. “We’d do anything to help the merpeople in our kingdom.”
When we reached the empty spot, the mermaid began to speak again.
“Jeffrey, I have some things I might need a little help with tomorrow. Joe, what do I need help with again?”
“Well, there’s the chariot issue, and we don’t have a map anymore, so we don’t know where we’re going…” I trailed off as I tried to think of any other problems we were currently experiencing.
“Right.” Ariana nodded her head. “Our chariot disappeared while we were rescuing your townspeople, and our map was in it. We’re trying to find Eu--I mean, the sea witch--”
“Oh, just say her name,” Jeffrey laughed. “Eudora, there, I said it. My family’s back with me now, and I have no worries tonight. Your Highness, if we meet tomorrow, I can help you with all your problems. Just knock on my door if I’m not already up and about, and I can assist you with mapping out your route and so on.”
“Thank you, Jeffrey, you’ve been sooo kind.” Ariana started to lurch forward a little, and I grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled her back to an upright position. “I’ll see you tomorrow…”
The mermaid trailed off as I pulled her back toward Cienna and Jessamine, who were dancing in the corner to a song that apparently only the two of them could hear.
“Okay, wives.” I couldn’t help but laugh at them. I was glad at least the two humans were having fun, but it was definitely time to get them all back to our room. “Follow me, we’re leaving.”
“Shouldn’t I make a speech or something?” Ariana wondered, and she held a finger in the air. “Here, listen to this: townspeople of the sea, I am your princess, and I’m… married to more beautiful people than you could ever dream of!”
“Yeah, that’s really good!” Jessamine encouraged the mermaid, and I grabbed both of their hands to speed up our exit.
“Honey--Honey, like I said, you’re the princess, and you do whatever the hell you want,” Cienna told Ariana, and she waved a finger in the redhead’s face. Then she began to stage-whisper. “Anyway, we have to go back and break Jeffrey’s bed…”
“Alright, that’s it, we’re out of here.” I felt a hot rush run up my body at what seemed like the hundredth mention of Jeffrey’s bed, but I was pretty sure my wives were too drunk for me to get any action tonight. I managed to push open the door to the house with my wives trailing behind, and, before I knew it, we were finally outside again. Then I pulled the door shut behind us before I collapsed onto Cienna’s shoulder with laughter. “You princesses were fucking hysterical tonight. The dancing, Ariana’s speech idea, I just can’t…”
“Oh, I think you can, Joe,” Jessamine purred into my ear and bit my earlobe. “These lanterns are so romantic, don’t you think? We’ll be back in our room in a couple minutes, and then--”
“Whatcha talking about?” Ariana asked loudly from behind us.
“Oh, just fucking our husband.” Jessamine waved a hand in an exaggerated casual motion, and I started cracking up again.
“You mean, breaking Jeffrey’s bed,” Cienna loudly whispered a second time, and I had to wipe tears of laughter from my cheeks.
“Alright, you all need to control yourselves,” I snickered. “I need to get us to our room, so just hold onto your panties for a minute.”
“Panties?” Ariana asked with an adorably confused pout.
“It’s an expression,” I said with a grin. “Don’t even worry about it.”
My wives started babbling to one another about what seemed like even more nonsense as we made our way to the inn, through the foyer, and into our room, and as usual, it was totally dim in there except for the greenish lantern light.
“So, should we dry it out?” Ariana asked. “Jessamine can make the bed a little bigger again, and, then, you know…”
“Well, we definitely need to dry out the room” I said as I removed Genie’s Wrath and placed it on the table. “But you ladies might just need to go to bed. I’m even a little tired myself.”
“Go to bed?” Jessamine pouted. “But Joeee…”
“We can always break the bed tomorrow,” I reassured my dark-haired wife, and I grabbed her around the shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.
“Fineee,” Jessamine whimpered, but she was easily distracted. “Cienna, Joe said tomorrow. Do you want to dance again?”
“Of course!” the blonde said as she whirled across the room. “Joe, what’s your prob--”
“O-kayyy!” Ariana announced. “Everyone, come hold hands with me so it can be dry in here. I’m stillll going to get Joe to do it with me, I don’t care what he says.”
“Alright,” I replied with a smirk. Even if it wasn’t going to go anywhere, I never minded beautiful women begging me for my body. “Let’s get you to bed, and then we’ll see what happens.”
Jessamine and Cienna managed to make it over to us, and we all stood in a circle and held hands. After a moment, I felt faint sparks, but nothing happened other than that.
“Hmm,” Cienna said as she broke from my grasp and tapped a finger on her forehead. “Do you… do you think it’s because we were drinking?”
“I don’t know,” Ariana answered her with huge eyes. “I have no idea what’s--”
“Wait a second, what’s that?” Jessamine pointed to my pocket, which had started to glow.
I reached in and pulled the rock out, and I was shocked it was pulsating with energy. It seemed our connection to the necklace had grown stronger, even though it had been transformed into the simple stone.
“I wonder--” Ariana began, but then she hissed, reached up, and grabbed her head. “I think… I think I’m having a vision of Eudora again. This one’s a little clearer… it looks like she’s in some kind of tunnel, and she’s throwing rocks that are bigger than her body around. Wait, she’s saying something… She just said, ‘That whore of a mermaid will never be able to reach me now.’ Whore of a mermaid… do you think that hag is talking about me?”
I didn’t want to get my drunk wife all riled up, but I knew the answer had to be yes.
And I’d never been readier to fight in my life.
Chapter 14
We’d all been freaked out after Ariana’s vision the night before, but the princesses had eventually managed to dry out the room, and after we’d checked the protective spells on the necklace several times, we’d gotten at least a little sleep. The vision of Eudora just fueled my internal fire to fight her as soon as possible, and I was ready to meet with the mayor and get on our way.
As we waited in the inn’s hallway the next morning for Jeffrey to open his door, I observed all three of my wives were glowing despite their hangovers. Our spectacular morning quickie had left them all with rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes, and I’d come to the conclusion we should fuck for extra strength every day we had an upcoming battle. And since it seemed like we had a fight every day, daily morning sex seemed like the only logical decision.
It was like my wives had been extra-horny this morning after having to go right to bed the night before, and I’d enjoyed teasing them by letting them beg for it a little more. I made up for it by getting them all off multiple times, so I thought they’d probably managed to forgive me.
“Good morning, Your Highnesses!” Jeffrey said as he pulled open the door to his room. It was larger than the one we’d been staying in, and a twin-sized mattress left enough space for a large table and enough chairs for us all to sit in, plus a small kitchen leading off the back. “Come in, come in!”
“Thank you for agreeing to spend a little time with us this morning, Jeffrey,” Ariana replied as we followed him into the chamber. “Any help you could provide us on our mission to defeat Eudora would be greatly appreciated.”
“Of course,” the merman said and nodded. “The sooner that witch is destroyed, the better it will be for all of us. And by the way, thank you for joining us at the celebration last night. The townspeople are more than grateful to you for freeing them from the sea hag’s clutches, and they really enjoyed meeting all of you at the party.”
I thought back to my wives’ drunken antics, and I snickered to myself. I was just glad we hadn’t managed to embarrass ourselves, though I supposed the commoners were impressed enough by our royal presence and heroic deeds that it didn’t really matter.
Jeffrey pulled out chairs for the three women, and he gestured for me to sit at the head of the table. Then the mayor went into the kitchen and came back with a tray containing platters of fish and fruit, a stack of plates and utensils, and several bottles of drinks. He placed the tray in the middle of the table and began to dish out food.
I would have preferred a big, greasy breakfast to soak up the remainder of the rum in my system, but pretty much anything looked good to me right then.
“Oh, this looks delicious!” Cienna beamed, and I wondered if the blonde was just being polite or if she’d actually gotten used to raw fish. “Thank you so much, Jeffrey.”
“You’re welcome,” the white-haired merman replied, and he put down a plate in front of each of us along with one of the blue glass bottles.
“If you don’t mind my asking, what are we drinking this morning?” Jessamine asked, and I noticed she looked a little green.
“This is a morning drink we brew here locally,” Jeffrey informed us, and then he winked. “It can give you a little extra energy, especially if you’ve had a long night.”
“Perfect,” I laughed, and I took a long drink from my bottle. It was thick and syrupy, but it tasted almost like Dr. Pepper minus the bubbles. “This is great, thank you!”
We sat around and made small talk about our travels for several minutes as we ate, and then the mayor cleared the table for us and brought us each another bottle of the undersea energy drink.
“So, you’re looking for Eudora’s lair…” the merman said as he swam in place next to the table. “Let me grab some parchment and a pen, and I’ll map it out for you.”
Jeffrey swam over to a small desk in the corner of the room, and he returned with a piece of blank parchment and a pen similar to the one Marinus had used to draw on the map back at the palace. Then he spread the parchment out on the table and sat down again next to me.
“So, where are we going?” I asked, and my wives and I all leaned forward to see better. “And how hard is it going to be to swim there?”
“This represents our current location,” the mayor said as he drew a star on the parchment. Then he drew a face with snakes for hair on the other side, and I appreciated his attention to detail. “And this, of course, represents Eudora. Can you tell me a little more about the place where you rescued our citizens? That might help me orient you a little better.”
“Well, we’d traveled in the direction that leads away from the palace,” Ariana explained as she traced a line with her finger across the map. “Unfortunately, once we rescued your citizens and fought the monsters, the location itself was fairly nondescript.”
