Despite our disregard for the habits of polite society, theArrowwas not a decrepit pit of orgiastic delights.Intimate behaviour was carried on behind closed doors, if possible, or in hidden corners, or on deck in the cover of darkness as quietly as was possible.Men looked the other way and afforded privacy when they could.Dinesh and I were the lucky ones, with two large rooms in which to practice our particular predilections.
So far, Dinesh’s benevolent rule had been free from challenge, and I hoped his tenure continued as such, since I benefited greatly from his position as Captain.The crew was made up of men from a patchwork of nationalities, and some, like Dinesh himself, of a mixture of many.They all had a singular desire—to escape the bonds of regular society and find a comfortable way to live outside such confines.
“Rooster?”Captain Martin’s sleep-warmed voice broke the silence of the dark room.
I turned to see him gazing at me from the pillows with a concerned look on his handsome face.I’d discovered he had a mixture of East Indian, Scots, French, and British ancestry.It gave him the look of someone who couldn’t be placed with any degree of certainty, and I knew he enjoyed that ambiguity.And he was simply a very handsome man.
“Nightmare,” I explained, pulling the blanket closer around me.
“Another one?”he asked.
I nodded.
“How bad?”
I shrugged.“The same.”
He frowned.“The sea creature?”
“Aye.”
I shivered at the memory of those spindly limbs, the indigo cavern of its gaping maw, the eyes.But, in truth, the being’s song frightened me most.The notes, the cadence, the emotive energy, pulled me in.I still heard the eerie melody in my head.
“Come back to bed, Rooster,” Dinesh murmured, flipping the sheet back for me to slide in beside him.
Which I did, leaving my knitted shroud on the chair.
My shirt had dried.We had been used to sleeping together in a state of nature, but an incident had occurred which reminded us that we were living in close quarters with a crew of other men.The night sentry had dropped a candle and set a cloth alight, then shouted “FIRE” at the top of his lungs and woken the entire ship, whilst his watch-mate had quickly let go a stream of piss that extinguished the flame.But not before all aboard had woken in a panic and Captain Martin and I had ended up on deck in nothing but our skins for all to see.The crew, who shared hammocks in the hold, slept fully or partially clothed.
Once he’d ascertained the fire was out and become aware of the gazes of our more circumspect shipmates, Dinesh had taken a bow and laughed about our predicament.But we’d quickly returned to his rooms and dressed, red-faced and embarrassed to be caught out.And we’d slept in shirts ever since.
He gathered me to him under the linen sheets, and I melted into his embrace, smelling his sleep-warmed skin and savouring his particular scent.I nuzzled his neck and sighed.
“You need a shave, my darling,” he murmured.I heard the smile in his voice.
“Oh, I’m sorry, does the rough hair on my chin bother your highness?”I asked with mock sweetness.
He laughed.“Not at all.However it does tend to tickle my thighs.”
I choked on a laugh as he continued.
“Perhaps you’d let me shave you, if you’re too lazy to do the job yourself?”
I frowned.“Too lazy!”Then I pictured Dinesh leaning over and scraping my chin with a razor, and my frown vanished.“Wait, would you?Truly?”
“Well, not right now.I need two more hours of sleep, at least.And so do you.”
I yawned to prove his point.“Aye.”
“Shh, now.Go back to sleep, my love.I shall protect you from all the monsters that assail you.”
Chapter Two
Making Headway
Myfingersclutchedthearms of the chair as I blinked up at Dinesh’s bare chest and the razor he held in his hand.
“For fuck’s sake, be careful,” I muttered.
