Page 9 of The Tides of March (Moon Murder Mysteries)

Eight

I t was said that desperate times called for desperate measures. But Ronan wasn’t sure who was more desperate: him or Tony. And Ronan wasn’t sure what he was most desperate for: a cure for Tony or the remedy. They had tried everything else to heal Tony since the attack and his arrival on Pooles Island and this was the last resort’s last resort.

If Ronan could muster the courage to face Tony and tell him.

“Oh! Wine with dinner? What’s the occasion?” Tony had said when Ronan set the tray on his lap.

“Thought it might make it more pleasant is all,” Ronan muttered.

“Make what more pleasant?” Tony asked but Ronan stomped off and gulped down a glass for courage.

After dinner, Ronan played one of the Dean Martin records Tony liked and dragged the tub in front of the fireplace. Ronan moved his chair and pipe by the window where it was cooler and to give Tony some privacy, but every splash and drip gave him goosebumps and made him more anxious.

When Tony was done bathing and soaking, Ronan grit his teeth and helped him into bed. Instead of refilling the tub so it was fresh and cold, Ronan undressed and lowered into Tony’s tepid water, ignoring his discomfort.

“Are we out of water?” Tony asked cheekily, glancing over his book and raising a questioning brow.

“This’ll do fine. Ye don’ get that dirty, layin’ there and practicin’ bein’ beautiful,” Ronan replied as he lathered his cloth with soap.

He went to work, scrubbing his arms before Tony noticed the goosebumps or that the hairs were standing. The water was still too warm but Ronan shivered at the thought of bathing himself in Tony. He’d thought about drinking the water after Tony got out and had a good chuckle imagining the reaction that would get.

But Ronan felt bolder and a bit naughty as he bathed, especially when he caught Tony stealing glances. He prayed that Tony liked something as he stood and slowly dried, then stepped out. Ronan usually dressed after he bathed, preferring to sleep in an undershirt and dungarees for his own modesty’s sake. Instead, he donned a nightshirt and retrieved an old tub of Vaseline from under the sink.

“There’s somethin’ else we can try, but yer probably not gonna wanna,” Ronan mumbled, setting the tub on Tony’s lap.

He sat up straighter and frowned at the Vaseline, then at Ronan. “What do I do, eat it? Can I get some crackers or do I have to use my fingers like it’s peanut butter?” Tony curled two fingers and made a scooping motion as he picked up the tub and inspected it.

Ronan’s face burned beneath his beard as he scowled down at Tony. “No, ye don’ eat it, ye—!” He scrubbed his face, muffling a frustrated whimper. He thought about putting his head under the faucet to cool it. “It’s…fer our backsides…if ye wanna try… it… to undo what’s left of the enchantment,” he explained in an awkward rush and offered Tony a pained grimace.

“Oh!” Tony drew back, blinking. “You think sex will work?” he asked and Ronan nodded quickly, his gaze darting around the cottage.

“That’s what the legends and me mam said. Only the merrow that sang the spell can release its captive and I’ve done everything else a merrow would do but that.”

“But you didn’t enchant me, technically,” Tony argued. “That zombie kid did it,” he said, earning a dry snort from Ronan.

“Then, ye’d be free because he’s dead now, isn’ he? He used my magick that he stole from me to bind ye, right? None of MacIlwraith’s or Oglethorpe’s magick worked so by my logic, I’m the one that would have to do it,” he explained.

“With sex?” Tony clarified and there was a growled swear as Ronan swung away and paced towards the fireplace.

“Nothin’ else I’ve done has worked,” he said, then tossed a hand at the bed.

There were no spells or potions to break a merrow’s enchantment but Ronan had prepared every tonic and restorative recipe he knew. His mother had said that it was up to the merrow to decide it was done with its victim, that there was no joy left to be had there. For the most part, Ronan was done with Tony and knew that sendin’ him back was for the best. But there was still some joy to be had between them, and Ronan could think of little else around Tony. “Told ye, ye wouldn’ wanna do it.”

“No! I do!” Tony nodded quickly. “I have been curious about it since I first woke up and I’ve had some really wild dreams about us lately,” he admitted, causing Ronan to spin back around.

“Wild? Curious about what?” he asked warily as he approached the bed.

Tony shrugged. “You. Us. This,” he said as he gestured between them.

“Have ye thought about…us?” Ronan managed weakly. He was shaking so badly, you’d think he was the one facing a hideous merrow.

“Of course!” Tony laughed and gave the tub a toss. “You gotta admit, there’s been a vibe between us.”

“A vibe?”

Tony flicked Ronan an impatient look before opening the lid and giving the Vaseline a curious sniff. “What else would I be thinking about since your ‘juicy steak’ revelation?” he said before closing it and dropping it on the bed. “I’m definitely willing if you don’t mind.”

“Yer willin’?” Ronan repeated in disbelief. “Are ye sure? I know I keep sayin’ I wanna be rid of ye, but I’m in no hurry. We can look fer other?—”

“There is no other cure,” Tony interrupted. “Like you said, Nox and Merlin would have cured me with witchcraft and Bryn and Arawn would have cured me with modern medicine if any of those things were possible. I’ve been enchanted by a merrow and you’ve done everything else in your power to heal me but I’ve only improved enough to stumble to the toilet and back.”

“Aye, but with time…” Ronan chided, not sure why he was trying to talk Tony out of it. “I don’ know what else to do, but I don’ want ye feelin’ like ye don’ have a choice.”

Tony smiled, his lips taking on a seductive tilt as he flipped back the quilts. “I know.” He looked like a god to Ronan, chiseled from the finest marble, and he had a very obvious hard-on. “It’s alright,” Tony said and raised a hand as he reclined, encouraging and inviting Ronan.

“Alright?” The words were a breathless croak. Did ‘alright’ mean sublime or spectacular in Silver Spring because Ronan felt like crying. He’d gotten used to going about with a twitchy cock and aching balls since Tony’s arrival, but Ronan had never been this painfully aroused in his entire existence.

Ronan staggered closer, dizzy as his fingers touched, then curled around Tony’s. His hand was guided to Tony’s stomach and Ronan let out a gasping laugh, amazed at how warm and smooth he was.

“It’s okay. You can touch me. I want you to,” Tony whispered, spreading Ronan’s hand and pressing it against his skin.

“Aye?” he asked hoarsely. “How could ye?”

“No one’s ever wanted me…the way you talked about wanting me,” Tony said, licking his lips as he used his other hand to lift the front of Ronan’s gown. “And you’re not that bad.” He craned his neck to get a better look but Ronan swept his hand away.

“I’m not puttin’ on a peep show and ye don’ need to flatter me,” he said as he pulled the gown over his head. Ronan threw it at his chair and paused when Tony groaned appreciatively.

“I’m not going to flatter you and tell you you’re handsome, Ronan, but you look like my idea of a good time from the neck down.”

“Aye?” Ronan looked down at himself and tried to get a look at his backside. “Me?”

Tony snorted, gesturing for Ronan to come back and take his hand again. “I’d show you if I had full use of my limbs.”

“Ye don’ mind lookin’ at this?” Ronan pointed at his face. “It doesn’ put ye off?”

“It doesn’t put me off,” Tony stated. He caught Ronan’s other hand and returned it to his stomach. “It’s grown on me and I see a lot of things I like about you.”

“Me?” Ronan asked, letting his trembling fingers brush the closely cropped hairs beneath Tony’s navel. “Yer so smooth! Ye barely have any hair!” His laugh wavered with wonder but Tony smirked.

“You haven’t seen many naked men, have you?” he teased and Ronan shook his head.

“Not really, no. I’ve done me best not to look. I’ve never touched…anyone else before,” he admitted.

“Okay…” Tony licked his lips, looking slightly nervous. “First time for both of us,” he said, then laughed when Ronan shot him a startled look. “I’ve had sex plenty of times with all kinds of people. But never with a merrow. Will it work the same or are you going to…change?”

Ronan shook his head quickly, unable to look at Tony. His face was too hot. “No! Me member’s more like a seal’s and a bit longer than a man’s, but it’ll work the same.”

“Oh? No worries, then!” Tony said brightly but he had to smother a yawn. “We should…start, unless you don’t want me to be awake for this.” That earned another scandalized look from Ronan, making Tony laugh. “I’d like to be awake,” he said, becoming serious. “Because I’ve wanted to see what you’d do if you could have your way with me.”

“Ye wanted to see?” That surprised Ronan too. He would have understood if Tony wanted a blindfold or for all the lights and the fire to be put out so the cabin was as dark as night.

Tony’s wicked chuckle created another bout of goosebumps as he undulated on the bed, kicking the covers away. He spread his legs wider, giving Ronan’s hand one last tug.

That was all the invitation Ronan needed. He dropped to his knees and kissed Tony’s right thigh, inhaling deeply as he rubbed his cheek against warm, firm, flickering flesh. He rubbed his cheek against the other thigh, reveling in how alive Tony felt and how much brighter he glowed as Ronan kissed his way toward the cleft of his ass.

“Yes!” Tony’s fingers sifted through Ronan’s hair and twisted. “That’s it,” he said, his voice taking on a ragged edge.

“I can taste ye?” That was what Ronan’s merrow soul had yearned for, from the moment he first laid eyes on the beautiful Roman.

“Yes! Anything you want!”

“Oh, lad… Ye have no idea how badly I’ve wanted ye, how I’ve longed to taste this,” Ronan growled, nuzzling between the cheeks of Tony’s ass. He licked and Tony giggled as he twisted away.

“That tickles!” he said but he rolled back and braced his foot on the bed, next to Ronan’s shoulder. “Sorry. As you were.” His fingers swept through Ronan’s hair again, cindering what was left of the merrow’s control.

“Oh, lad.”

Until the end of his days, Ronan’s beard and the rest of his miserable face were reserved for Tony’s ass. For Ronan had never tasted anything sweeter and softer than Tony’s hole. Ronan lapped at the tender, flinching flesh, savoring every fold and every precious whimper.

And when he put his fingers in Tony… He was so hot and tight and the noises he made! He moaned and begged and made the most beautiful sounds Ronan had ever heard.

“That’s so good, Ronan! More!” Tony begged when Ronan slid a second finger into his ass. “I always use protection, always get tested. They tested me for everything when I was at Nox’s.”

Ronan gave his head a shake but didn’t stop, licking and sucking greedily as his fingers twisted in and out. “Don’ care.” He kissed and sucked at the taut skin and lapped at Tony’s sac as he made his way up. Ronan dragged his tongue along Tony’s shaft, slurping on the head and delighting at the crisp burst of pre-cum before taking him deep into his throat. Centuries of books and decades of pictures may have prepared Ronan for the mechanics of sex, but he was dazzled by the taste of Tony’s body and the sounds he made as he writhed on the bed.

“Oh, Ronan! Oh, oh, oh, oh!” he sang when Ronan slowly sucked on his cock. “Oh, Ronan! Ronan, yes!” His cries bounced off the cottage’s stone walls, echoing in Ronan’s heart. They brought tears to his eyes and silly words spilled off of his tongue, Ronan was too drunk on desire to help himself or care.

“That’s it, lad. Let me love ye,” Ronan mumbled between breaths, sucking harder as his head rose and fell faster.

“Love me? Yes!” Tony gasped, laughing and lolling on the bed.

Tony may have been delirious but Ronan understood the pact they were making as he committed his soul. “Be mine, Anthony Costa. Be mine and I will love ye ‘til the winds and the seas take me.”

“Yes, Ronan! I want to be yours!”

There was a distant howl and wind shook the cottage as Ronan shattered the demon child’s stolen enchantment and replaced it with a far stronger enchantment. One that Ronan placed upon himself.

Like the fickle seas, a merrow’s magick was cold and cunning. Ronan’s instincts had warned that he couldn’t fully lift the curse that had afflicted Tony without making a far more costly trade. The price would be Ronan’s heart, and possibly his life, if the sea was willing to barter. If Tony was healed, Ronan would be the one to grow weak, wasting away without him.

“Mine. And I will live and die for ye,” he agreed, whispering the vow against Tony’s flesh before reaching deep and stroking hard.

“Yours! I’m yours!” Tony arched off the bed, his heels kicking and his toes curling as cum spilled from the head of his cock.

“Mine.” Ronan licked and sucked up every tangy drop, already addicted and hungry for more. “So sweet… Yer like ambrosia, me lad,” he growled and grinned as Tony twitched and giggled on the bed.

“Wait until you see how I feel,” Tony purred, rolling onto his stomach and arching his back like a siren. “I’ve never been this wet and this ready.”

“I’ve never touched another and this is all I’ll ever know,” Ronan said as he reached for the Vaseline, his hands shaking as he opened it and coated his length. He set a knee on the bed and carefully guided the head to Tony’s hole. He closed his eyes, relinquishing the last of his free will as he nudged forward, pressing into exquisitely tight heat. “Glory be!” he cried as he slid deep, nearly burying himself to the hilt.

“Oh, wow!” Tony squeaked out, his eyes rolling as he clutched at the bedding. “That’s tight!” he managed, bringing a grim smile to Ronan’s face as sweat beaded his brow.

“I did notice,” he chuckled.

“Just go slow for a bit,” Tony instructed through panting breaths.

“Aye, I can do that.”

Ronan kept his strokes shallow and thought about his bees and his peach trees until Tony’s strained pants became sultry moans and he began to ride each thrust. Before long, his fists were tangled in the sheets as Tony screamed for more. And Ronan gave him more, driving hard and fast, taking all that he could. He savored every ragged sob and coveted every drop of sweat and semen, glorying in the feel and taste of Tony’s naked body in his arms.

Their lips brushed and Ronan pulled away, afraid he’d ruin the moment if his ugly face touched Tony’s. But Tony grabbed handfuls of Ronan’s hair and kissed him, firmly and thoroughly, permanently binding their souls. Instead of being healed, Tony had claimed his merrow and Ronan shed tears of joy, grateful to be chosen by an angel. He had spent close to two centuries hideous and alone, but that was penance for being a merrow and Ronan would gladly pay it again to belong to Tony.

Only Tony.

The secret of the merrow’s magick, that learned humans had failed to discover, was that enchantments could work in either direction. A younger or weaker merrow could be vulnerable in the presence of a more wily human. The craving for flesh and ecstasy could become dangerously fixed upon that one human, making the merrow hopelessly dependent.

Ronan didn’t want to keep humans as pets or risk losing his soul, so he had avoided humans and the pleasures of the flesh. Until Tony turned up, with his big, bright smiles and his beautiful everything. There wasn’t a hair on his body or a thought in his head that Ronan didn’t admire and now, he belonged to that perfect, beautiful boy.

“It’s working!” Tony laughed beneath Ronan, his voice and his body brimming with giddy vitality. “I’m not tired anymore, Ronan!”

“Aye… I know.” Ronan nodded into the corner of Tony’s neck, high on the smell of his hair and his skin and his breath. He’d never been this close to another and when Ronan shut his eyes, it was like he was swimming in Tony. He would have stayed there forever if he could but Tony gave Ronan’s shoulders a hard shove and easily flipped him onto his back.

“Ha! Look at me!” Tony said as he popped up and over, easily mounting Ronan. “I feel so…normal!” He laughed again, then stopped. Tony flashed Ronan a cheeky grin. “Not that I do this all the time, but the rest of me feels right as rain. I’m not tired anymore!”

He swung forward and kissed Ronan, giggling as their lips clung and making the room spin. Their eyes locked and for a moment, Ronan felt like Tony could see the real him—the man inside that wasn’t hideous and miserable. Tony kissed that man, then pushed off of Ronan’s chest and took him for a bruising ride.

Tony set a brutal, slapping pace and it wasn’t long before Ronan was crying and begging. He never wanted it to end, Ronan was enthralled as he watched Tony, pinching his nipples and stroking his own cock as he rocked and rolled his hips. His frantic gasps and strangled swears pushed Ronan closer and closer to the edge. The heady pleasure and throbbing pressure building in Ronan’s core was astounding. But it was over when Tony came again and stuffed his cum-covered fingers into Ronan’s mouth and ordered him to suck them clean.

“Tony! Lad, I can’ hold on much longer!”

“Don’t. I want you to let go,” Tony huffed as he rode harder, his ass clapping against Ronan’s pelvis. “Breed me, Ronan. I want to feel you coming deep inside of me.”

That was all the warning Ronan had before his body imploded. “Fuck, lad!” he shouted, bucking off the bed as cum rushed from his cock, flooding Tony’s passage. “Fuck!” He laughed and shivered through another weak orgasm as Tony fell forward, collapsing on Ronan’s chest.

“I can’t believe that worked,” he said breathlessly, rubbing his cheek against Ronan’s chest hair. “I feel like me again.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Ronan replied as he cradled Tony’s head, then laughed softly. “I wasn’ sure if ye’d wanna or ye could. But ye managed, didn’ ye?”

“ Pffft! You should have seen some of the toys Aubrey bought. Her ex was…sick and they never did anything so she went a little nuts. I was pretty wild in college so I was cool with whatever she wanted to try. I think it’s the only reason we lasted as long as we did,” he said and was quiet for a moment. “I couldn’t admit that before because it sounds like I didn’t try. We had a lot of sex but she wouldn’t let me in no matter what I did.”

“Probably had nothin’ to do with ye, and more about that ex,” Ronan guessed and Tony nodded.

“That’s a pretty safe assumption. We both grew a lot and I might not have helped her heal as much as I would have liked. But I made the rest of her time here a lot better, before she moved on.”

“Of course, ye did. Ye make everything better, lad.”

“Really?” Tony raised his head, an adorably goofy grin on his beautiful face. “I thought you might have said all of that because you got carried away.”

Ronan considered agreeing and taking the easy way out, but he didn’t want Tony to let go or feel him grow cold. “No. I meant every word, lad. I spoke them from the heart.”

“Me too.” Tony kissed the words against Ronan’s lips. “It seems like I’ve spent my whole life trying to please others so they’ll love me as much as I love them. But it was never enough and I’ve always felt like I was unwanted—an outsider—until I came here.”

“How’s that?” Ronan asked, confusion knitting his brows. “How many times did I say I wanted to be rid of ye?”

There was a hard snort from Tony. “Who knows, but how many times did you mean it?” he countered.

“Aye. I might have been bluffin’ or ye might have grown on me,” Ronan conceded and was happy to listen as Tony babbled about destiny and mythology. Content and too exhausted to do more than hum and nod, it wasn’t long until Ronan drifted off and found Tony waiting for him in his dreams.