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  Pregnant With Their Babes

  Mermen of Aegeaus, 1

  Kelex

  When it becomes apparent that Prince Llyr of Aegeaus cannot stop the political wedding between himself and a tyrant-to-be, he races for the one place he thinks his father won’t easily find him—the surface. After ingesting a spell to give him human legs for seven days, he quickly has to figure out a way to make those seven transform into an eternity.

  After nearly drowning, he’s saved by a handsome captain and the darkly dangerous commander of a passing ship. The two close friends have sailed the high seas for over twenty years and had many adventures together. The escapade they enjoy most is sharing a third in their bed.

  Unable to deny his curiosity—Llyr has to find out how it feels to have sex without a tail—he sets off to seduce the gorgeous pair. But when it becomes apparent his mere presence pushes the lovers apart, he can’t risk destroying the love they have for one another just to appease his own needs.

  Yet he can’t walk away from the men he’s mystically drawn to, either.

  Once his father finally discovers his whereabouts and exposes the deadly consequences of his dalliances—will he choose to face the danger or run back home under the sea?

  A TWISTED E-PUBLISHING BOOK

  Pregnant With Their Babes

  Mermen of Aegeaus, 1

  Copyright © 2019 by Kelex

  Edited by Marie Medina

  First E-book Publication: December 2019

  Cover design by Cover by K Designs

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2019, Twisted E-Publishing, LLC.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  All characters depicted in sexual acts in this work of fiction are 18 years of age or older.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  Newsletter Sign-Up

  Also by Kelex

  About the Author

  Publisher Info

  Prologue

  Nearly two decades ago…

  “The King Consort’s body is being prepared. Shall I open the Grand Hall and allow our citizens in for the viewing or would you prefer something more private, Your Majesty?”

  King Augustine III lifted his stare to his steward, his head still in a fog. Grief had him in a grip, but if he was honest with himself, he wasn’t as devastated as he should be. His boys would grow up without a papa… as if he had time to govern the whole realm and take over child rearing alone. “The realm loved Xavier. Allow for a public viewing.”

  “Very good, sir,” Prawnsby said before swimming closer. “I’ve been told… that you haven’t seen the new babe?”

  The reason my husband is dead? “No. I don’t believe I can bear it. Not yet.” He would see the child eventually. Once he’d gotten over the shock of his loss.

  “Sire… I think we must discuss something.”

  The king sighed. “Can I not have time to grieve?”

  The seahorse was silent a moment, eyeing him closely. His beady little eyes saw too much. “It’s as she predicted.” Prawnsby paused, wringing his hands in the way that never ceased irritating Aegeaustine. “The red hair. The swirling eyes. The shell-shaped birthmark… it’s all there, just as the enchantress said.”

  The king growled under his breath and turned his back to Prawnsby. “Then it has begun.”

  “Perhaps she’s right about the prophecy, too. That it’s not as foreboding as you think.”

  King Aegeaustine spun to face his steward. “Are you mad? I will not trust the word of that witch! She has no proof. This scroll simply disappeared? I think not.”

  “What reason would she have to lie? She would lose just as much as we if she’s wrong.”

  “That creature thrives on chaos. Always has, always will.” The king stroked his beard. “We cannot let the child fulfill this destiny of his. I will not be the king to usher in the end of our existence.”

  “Or maybe… just maybe… it would be a new beginning, as she said. Change doesn’t always signal destruction.”

  The king narrowed his eyes on the seahorse. “Humans are violent. Destructive. Allowing them into our world will be the death of us. Look what they’ve already taken from m—” He hissed in anger. “They will not destroy this world. It is ours alone.”

  The king could see an argument brewing in Prawnsby’s gaze, but he was smart enough to keep his counsel to himself.

  “The child will never see outside this castle.”

  Prawnsby gasped. “You cannot keep him prisoner!”

  “I can’t?” The king lifted his chin and glared down at the seahorse. His long beard fanned out some, swept by a thin current. “If it’s what I must do to ensure the realm’s safety, I will do just that. And more, if I must.” He tilted his head. “And you will help me.”

  “Me, sire?”

  “Yes, you. From this point forward, you are the omega’s protector. You will ensure his care, teach him our ways… and keep him inside the castle at all times.”

  Prawnsby’s eyes widened. “Sire! Please… how am I to contain… a merman child?”

  “Figure it out, Prawnsby. I have no time to rear the whelp myself. I have a kingdom to run. Negotiations with the Atlanteans have not been going well of late. Our army and theirs have clashed along the borders again. It’s all a nightmare.” He lifted his stare to Prawnsby. “And I have a funeral to face. Three young with no papa.”

  “Yes, sire. I’ll do whatever you wish.”

  Seven years later…

  “Prawnsby… what is a…” young Llyr asked as he read over an old scroll. “Shipwreck?”

  “Where did you ever see that?” Prawnsby asked as he swam closer.

  Llyr lifted the old scroll. “This was last night’s reading you left for me.”

  Prawnsby swam behind Llyr and read over his shoulder. “Dear me… that escaped my notice.” He pursed his lips. “No worries… it’s something you have no need to learn about.”

  Llyr spun to observe the seahorse. “But they talk of treasure found inside. I want to go on a treasure hunt! Like that story you read to me—Alesio and the Magic Cavern.”

  “We discussed the difference between fiction and non-fiction, remember? The story was a work of fiction, Prince Llyr.”

  Llyr frowned. “Does shipwreck have something to do with humans?”

  Prawnsby sighed. “You know your father does forbids you to discuss those creatures. How you found out about them, I’ll never know.”

  Llyr kept his mouth shut, refusing to get the cook’s son, Ryland, in trouble. Ryland’s stories of the sea outside the castle walls kept him enthralled. The boy was his only friend… Even his own brothers kept to themselves, refusing to play with him.

  “Did you ask my father about a trip into town?”

  “I’ve told you over and over he will not allow that. There’s no reason to even ask.” Prawnsby cleared his throat. “Now… get out your arithmetic scrolls. You need much more practice with your addition.�
��

  Llyr sighed. “Yes, sir.”

  Hours after his work was complete—when Llyr was about to drift off to sleep—he heard his door open and close. Something swam closer…

  Ryland.

  A smile came to his face as he sat up straighter in his seaweed bed.

  “I found a tunnel today. It leads to a labyrinth under the castle,” Ryland whispered. “At the end… it comes out close to the Enchantress’ lair.”

  Llyr inwardly gasped, excitement filling him. “The old sea witch? My father says she’s evil.”

  Ryland frowned. “Nah… a little scary, but she’s okay. My brother says there’s a shipwreck near her caverns, too. Wanna sneak out with me?”

  Excitement wound in his belly. “Oh yes!” Llyr murmured a little louder than he should. He swam above the bed. “A treasure hunt!”

  “Shhh,” Ryland whispered. “Prawnsby might hear.”

  Llyr nodded. He rubbed his hands together, his smile growing.

  “Okay, let’s go,” Ryland murmured before taking his hand and leading them down the corridor.

  After several twists and turns, they stopped at one of the large statues guarding the end of the passageway. Swimming behind the sculpture, Ryland used his tail to push it out a few inches. Llyr added his own tail strength. Once repositioned, a hole was exposed.

  A case of nerves tackled Llyr’s stomach as he beheld the inky darkness inside the void—but the potential escape it offered was too exciting. Before slipping through to freedom, he gave Ryland one last smile.

  It was the first of many adventures they’d have outside the castle walls.

  With no one the wiser.

  1

  Present Day

  “Your Highness? Where are you?”

  Hiding inside the castle’s vast wine cellar, Prince Llyr Arwyn Of Aegeaus wished his constant companion and irritation would finally give up the search. It rarely happened in the many years Prawnsby had been his minder, teacher, escort—and spy—but there was always hope. Llyr knew he couldn’t truly fault Prawnsby. The prim and proper seahorse only did his job—one commanded by Llyr’s overprotective father. No one seemed cognizant of the fact Llyr was now an adult and had no need of someone always hovering.

  Someone always in the way.

  Someone always there to suck all the fun out of every adventure Llyr attempted.

  He’d been little more than a prisoner in his own home for the last nineteen years. Now he faced a new form of shackling. Llyr refused to be bound any longer. He longed for freedom…

  “If you don’t show yourself, I’ll have to tell your father. I know you’re unhappy with his plans, and I sense you think to run away from the castle… but I doubt you really want the Draugar after you, now do you?”

  The Draugar? That’s a bit much. His father wouldn’t really send the undead army out to stop him. Llyr frowned, unsure. Would he?

  Prawnsby added to his earlier threat. “Do you wish to embarrass your father? And with Prince Alphonse and his parents here, too?”

  At the mention of the deathly Draugar, panic had churned in his gut—but as soon as he heard Alphonse’s name, he slid farther behind the barrel hiding him, regardless of his fear. His father thought to marry him off to Prince Alphonse to strengthen the bonds between Aegeaus and Atlantia. He refused to be a political pawn—moved into play and bargained off to some tyrant in the making nearly ten years his junior. He refused to marry a child, especially a child as awful as Alphonse.

  He still pulled bits of sticky tar from his hair and swore he could taste the muck Alphonse had added to his toothpaste. Those were only the latest of the little terror’s pranks. Llyr wouldn’t sign up for a lifetime of that torment. Or worse.

  There was only one way out—and that was up.

  On the surface.

  The place his father had always demanded he never go.

  He clutched the coin purse he’d fished from its hiding place, hoping it would be enough to buy the spell he needed from the Enchantress.

  “I know you’re in here, Llyr,” Prawnsby scolded, still searching behind barrel after barrel. It was only a matter of time before he’d be caught and his dreams of running away shattered.

  Unless I make a swim for it.

  Llyr tightened the cord of the coin purse before shooting out from behind the cask and swimming toward the open door. Water sluiced over his body as he jetted along, leaving a wake behind him. He sped past Prawnsby and out into the passage. Not stopping, he was barely to the next corner when he heard his keeper screaming behind him.

  Giving the seahorse one last glance, his gut clenched. A last heartbeat of doubt. The surface held many unknown threats, and he would be hurtling headfirst toward that strange and wonderful world. He had little knowledge of humans—only from the wrecks he’d snuck out to visit and stories he’d gotten from Ryland. From his father, he’d heard different stories about how violent and dangerous humans were—but then he’d seen violence amongst his own kind, too. Were they and humans really so different from one another?

  There was only one way to find out.

  I must escape. No matter the consequences. Llyr sped off toward a secret exit he and Ryland had used many times before. As he traveled the long hallway, he noticed a guard posted outside the spot he’d been using for months to sneak out. Damn it!

  But then fortune smiled on him. As he neared, he saw it was Ryland. Propelling himself forward, Llyr prayed that friendship would serve him now when it meant the most.

  Ryland seized his arm as he neared. “Whoa, whoa there… aren’t you supposed to have a chaperone when leaving the castle, Your Highness?”

  Llyr scowled. Since becoming a guard, his friend had changed. Gone were their adventures. Now Ryland followed the rules when Llyr needed them broken most. “Ry… I need to get out of here. Please help.”

  “Your father would have my scales, and you know it. He posted me here himself and told me not to let you leave.”

  Llyr frowned. “Did you tell them I could escape here?”

  Ryland appeared guilty. “Not in those terms. It’s a means that could be exploited by those wishing to harm you and your family. I had to speak up.”

  Llyr backed away, stunned. “Ry… my one way out.”

  Ryland frowned. “It was for your safety, Llyr.”

  “Stop him!” Prawnsby squawked as he finally reached the other end of the hall. “Stop him!”

  “I’m a virtual prisoner in my own home… about to be wed to a nine-year-old monster and taken as far as possible from everything I know, to live in an ocean I do not know. Please. Help me.”

  He realized Ryland’s hands were tied. Llyr saw the desire to help in his friend’s eyes, but also the need to remain loyal to his king. He slanted his gaze away, knowing he asked too much of the merman. His freedom could mean Ryland’s imprisonment.

  “Hit me.”

  Llyr’s head whipped up. “What?”

  “Hit me… hard. Give me a good wallop.” Ryland grasped his shoulders. “Then swim faster than you’ve ever swum before.”

  It took a few seconds for Ryland’s words to kickstart his brain. He reeled his arm back. His fist struck Ryland’s cheek before the guard went flying through the water. Llyr slipped into the labyrinth a few beats before Prawnsby reached them. A labyrinth he knew like the back of his hand. He could swim the maze with his eyes closed. Driving through the water, he needed as much distance between him and his keeper as possible. After a moment, he glanced over his shoulder.

  No one followed, to his relief.

  A bit of guilt washed over him as the weight of what Ryland had done hit his chest. Llyr hoped he hadn’t put his friend in danger, but if anyone could get out of a tight spot, it was Ryland.

  Or so he hoped.

  He exited the underground labyrinth and reset the stones that hid the secret tunnels. Swimming away from the underground maze's exit, he headed toward the cavern not too far away where the Enchantress resided and created her ma
gic. He only had to follow along the wall—low beneath the sentries line of sight—until he saw the exploding colors of her spellwork. His heart quickened, and he did a quick gut check. It was now or never… the surface or the little tyrant.

  Those were his choices. The unknown versus a life in hell.

  Llyr swam up to her grotto and peeked inside, watching as she tossed ingredients into her large cauldron. The shelves carved into limestone walls were lined with thick glass bottles of every size, shape, and color, a collection that brought a smile to his face. He had no idea what they contained, but he sensed he could spend hours there learning her tricks if she’d only let him. His stare slid to the enchantress herself. Half mandarin fish, half mermaid—she was an outcast. Merfolk were allowed to mate with their own kind and no other. Stories of foul beasts who’d been born wrong and terrifying filled nightmares of young merfolk.

  The Enchantress was one of the few who didn’t completely fit those stories. Brightly colored and stunning to gaze upon, her fins were larger and silkier than most merfolk, the translucent colors dancing along as they floated in the water. With a face more fish than mer, she was interesting to the eye. Her upper body was more mer in shape, the lower half fish—but not quite the same as other merfolk. She lacked the bend between waist and tail, causing her to swim differently, too.

  Yet, she was beautiful, if not a bit terrifying. Somehow, she balanced both in equal measure. Her crimson lips moved ever so slightly as she whispered some incantation, her bright blue and orange wispy tail feathering around the cauldron’s bright blue energy. That energy was the chilling part. Her strong magic was the only reason his father permitted her to remain so close to his kingdom.