Hidden Island Chapter 40, part 4 of 4

Hidden Island
Chapter 40, part 4 of 4

"There are buoys and marking flags all through the islands. They're color-coded," Will explained slowly, trying to keep his concentration as the serving girl in front of him sucked and bobbed. "Ships that follow the correct sequence of colors are left alone. Ships that take wrong turns are raided.

You have to know what that month's color sequence is."

"Is that how they do it? Clever," Shae said, tilting her head in thought. Her hand never stopped moving between her legs. "How do they distribute that information?"

"The Shackles," Will said, rocking his hips against Calli's chest. "The two big islands at the edge of the Chains, furthest from the coast."

"Where the shipyard is?" She asked. She plunged two fingers inside herself and bit her lip, clearly getting more excited as they spoke.

"That's the one," Will groaned. He watched Shae pleasure herself and felt the tension building in his balls.

"There's a bar there. The Malaharan Slaver's Guild runs it. They give the sequence to anyone with the brand."

"So I need to find one of the Branded," Shae said as she rocked her hips, her pleasure building in time with her planning.

"It isn't that simple," Will cautioned Shae, focusing even more on the captivating white woman. He was still aware of what Calli was doing, but it mattered much less than ensuring Shae understood the dangers he was discussing.

"You can be rougher with her," Shae interrupted. "She is for you to use."

Will hesitated for a moment and looked down at the pale girl between his knees. He'd never been the type to be rough with a woman, but Shae's encouragement made him reconsider. A silent conversation happened as Calli's eyes met his. They both glanced at Shae and then at each other again.

Calli gave him a slight nod, as eager to please him and Shae as he was. He hooked his hand behind Calli's neck and pulled her a little further down his aching manhood. Her eyes bulged a bit, but she didn't protest.

"What were you saying about the Branded?" She asked, drawing lazy circles between her legs as she watched Calli gag and strain against Will's length.

Will groaned and held Calli's head in place, slowly thrusting as deep as she could take and then releasing. She was struggling but still didn't push him away. He talked between thrusts. "They have all kinds of ways of signaling if they're being coerced. That's how they've kept their system a secret for so long. If they have any hint of suspicion that someone with the brand isn't one of them, that ship will never come out the other side of the Chains."

Calli finally coughed too hard and pulled back. Will let her go and smiled as she gasped for air. "You alright?" he asked.

She nodded, blinking back the tears in her eyes as she smiled. "I just can't go that deep for that long." She made a slight sound of judgment and disappointment, and Calli looked mortified. "I'll do better, I promise!"

Before either of them could say anything, the short-serving girl had her mouth wrapped around Will's shaft again, forcing herself as deep as she could go. She put Will's hand on her head and pulled a bit, encouraging him to be rougher with her, but her eyes never met his. They were firmly sideways, watching Shae.

She ignored her as soon as she was back to servicing Will again. She smiled like a hunting cat and buried her fingers inside herself. "I'm sure I can coerce one of the Branded to work for me."

"You are very persuasive," Will said, watching her fingers plunge and dance through her thick, dark hair.

"Why thank you, William," she purred. "Now, tell me about your ship. Who is her captain and her patron?"

Her praise rolled over him like blissful static. His skin prickled with goosebumps, and his cock tightened again to the edge of pain. Her praise was like a drug, and he wanted more. He panted as Calli fisted his cock, stroking madly and plunging her mouth down on him with an energy that bordered on manic. His orgasm wouldn't be stopped. Not with so much stimulation and the bliss of being praised. He grabbed Calli's head with both hands and groaned out a pulsing flood of cum into her eager mouth. She made a sound of surprised protest and coughed a bit. She tried to pull back but relaxed after the surprise subsided. She swallowed as best she could as he held her there, but quickly resorted to simply opening her mouth and letting his white spend drool out the sides and onto her breasts.

After he'd caught his breath, he finally answered. "The ship is the Kestrel. Her patron is an Imperial noble named Morant. He's a ruthless, gutless sack of shit. The captain's name is Belita Vex."

Shae's fingers abruptly pulled free, and she leaned forward in her chair. All seductive pretense was gone instantly.

"You are sailing with Captain Vex?"

Jack sat on the ancient steps, tearing herself in two. It had been a good day. She and Will had managed to work together decently and regain some of the synchronicity they'd once had. It felt like progress, and talking honestly and spending time alone together had been excellent. Still, things felt wrong now, and she was having a more challenging time than usual, ignoring it. She found herself wanting to distance herself from everyone.

Will. Bella. Quinn. She spun her ring on her finger like a worry stone and wondered if they would all be better off without her.

It would be easy to disappear in a place like this. Shea was a conniving spider of a woman, but Jack could work with that. She'd done it before. Hell, she'd been that before. Part of her intense dislike came from recognizing things in Shae that reminded her of herself.

On the other hand, the familiarity was strangely comforting. She knew it would be easy to worm her way into the good graces of the pirate queen. There was a twisted sort of appeal to the idea.

She shook her head, annoyed at herself for even entertaining the thought. That was precisely the kind of person she was desperately trying not to be anymore. She had to hold herself accountable, especially when it was hard.

In the past, she'd gotten good at shielding herself from accountability by throwing up walls of anger and justifications. She told herself that if everyone fully understood the situation, they'd see that she was right and that it shouldn't matter that she had to keep secrets because they should be willing to trust her. She had convinced herself that everything she'd done was for other people's benefit, and they didn't understand the sacrifices she'd made for them. It was bullshit, but for a while, it had been an excellent way to hold back the tide of guilt inside her. Now, she couldn't muster the anger; without it, she was left with the inescapable recognition that she'd never given Will or Bella a choice.

It was hard to admit to herself, but the alternative was running away again. It was well past time to take responsibility for the harm she caused. It didn't matter how necessary it had seemed at the time. One of her father's most annoying sayings was, 'Intentions are no shield against consequences.' It had always sounded pretentious to her, but now she could see how right he was.

Did the ends ever justify the means? Were the ends natural, or were they just an excuse to feel like she'd made a difference? Had she saved Bella's life? She believed she did, but what if Bella had managed to cure herself alone, as she claimed? What if everything Jack had done was ultimately pointless? What if her entire justification for plunging all their lives into pain and isolation was wrong? What was she left with if ambiguity robbed her of certainty?

She no longer had the strength of her previous convictions and no longer felt like she deserved anything she had been trying to accomplish. The tide of guilt had filled her, and the hole where she had kept it was a bleak and lifeless core. All her confidence and competence was a performance. She had been pretending to be what she used to be so no one would know what she had become. She couldn't lie to herself anymore. No matter how much she tried to make amends, undo the damage, and help Will understand the nature of what she had done to him, it would never give him back the time he'd lost or erase the suffering he'd been through.

It was the same feeling that had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

There was Nothing that frightened Jack more than helplessness. She'd face any danger with Nothing but her wits and skills, but some things couldn't be challenged. When Bella said she was dying, Jack couldn't accept it. Instead of comforting the woman she loved and making the most of the time they had left, she'd buried herself in a library to try to find a solution. When she found one, she went and took Will with her.

Whether Bella had saved herself or if Jack's gambit had worked, she'd still left Bella to face death alone.

She hated herself for it. The part of her she hated wanted to abandon everything. She could still do her job and get the Kestrel repaired but then stay behind. Her skills would be helpful to someone like Shae. She'd left Will and Bella behind before, and they'd been better off without her. Quinn would be even more accessible to go, and she could undo Will's curse. Then they'd all be free of her. This was as good a place as any to start over.

Her jaw clenched, and she squeezed her hands so hard that her knuckles popped. What the fuck was wrong with her today? She wasn't going stay in some random pirate town while Will and Bella headed off on a suicidal mission that she'd gotten them into. She needed to get her head on straight, but she knew she wouldn't be able to until she sorted out everything she was feeling. She just had to pull it apart and analyze it, like any other problem. She was all twisted up and distracted. She needed to follow the thread a little at a time. When had things gone wrong today? The bar. Will.

Shae. She'd been jealous and wary, but there was more to it. She'd blacked and let herself be ushered away.

That wasn't like her at all. Why had she given in so quickly? She focused on the memory.

Will was different now, but the depth of the change hadn't sunk in until she'd seen him interact with Shae. She'd recognized it all. The opportunism, being willing to take risks, isolating himself and justifying it as necessary for the job. The seductive lure of a situation that was dangerous. She knew that behavior inside and out. He'd always been the more cautious of them, but that had changed. After their standoff with the Inquisitors on Barcola, she was afraid. It was an all too familiar pattern.

The jobs she'd taken after leaving Bastard's Bay had become increasingly dangerous. She knew exactly what it was like not to care if you live or die. That's what had driven her to accept a mission through the Drifts in the first place. It was likely to be suicidal, and at the time, that seemed fine.

She hadn't counted on Morant and Vex deciding they needed Will Godsdamned Sterling to be their navigator.

She'd tried to get them to change their minds, but the more she fought, the more they'd seemed convinced he was the right choice. Ultimately, she'd been overruled, so she'd tried to sabotage. She'd gone to Will's stupid lighthouse with Morant and Vex specifically because she knew it would make him angry. She'd even brought Quinn along to twist the knife a bit more. She'd bet everything on Will hating her enough to say no to the whole endeavor so she could sail off and die, but he didn't. Now she knew he'd agreed because of how dangerous it was and because she was there. He even brought Bella.

Jack's entire house of cards had come falling before they'd even left port. It was one thing to risk her death, but she couldn't do that to them. She'd found herself unexpectedly having to make a plan to survive the suicidal mess she'd gotten all of them into. It was the first crack in the dam she'd put around her shame. In Barcola, a full-blown leak had sprung. Today, the whole thing crashed down and unleashed the flood. Now, she felt like she was drowning. Part of her wanted to sink into it and disappear forever.

The morning she had been so good. She'd let herself have hope. Only a few hours later, for no good reason, she'd left him alone with a poisonous spider while the curse she'd given him started acting up.

Why had she let him stay? She didn't have to leave. She could go back and tell him she thought all this was a bad idea. What was stopping her? Was she that afraid of upsetting him? They'd had fights before, many times.

Their relationship had always been volatile, but they hadn't had a real battle since boarding the Kestrel. They'd both been walking on eggshells with each other. Even when they argued, it seemed like they were both more interested in de-escalation than anything else. A part of her wanted him to get righteously angry with her. She knew she deserved it, but even at his most bitter, he never let it turn into rage.

She wanted to go back to him, but Shea was dangerous. He seemed like he had a plan. Undermining that now might undo any progress she'd made with him. Besides, even if Shae was dangerous, she could be instrumental. There was no reason to provoke her deliberately. Poking a bear in its lair was stupid. Maybe she could try honey? She knew how to speak Shae's language. It wouldn't be hard to smooth things over. Making Shae happy might very well make Will happy.

She smiled to herself and started forming a plan, but she stopped herself as that creeping sense of doubt and wrongness came flooding back. Before she could think about it, a voice distracted her.

"Move yer arse."

Jack's attention jerked behind her to see Candy come stomping up. Jack stood up quickly and stepped away as the stocky redhead crashed past her like a Malaharan Water-Ox. She weaved and turned at the bottom of the first flight of steps with a lean that nearly overbalanced her, but she steadied herself on the wall of the switchback and kept half-stumbling down the long twisting path without another word to Jack. She tossed her bottle sidelong off the cliff's edge and stumbled around another curve.

It felt like someone had dumped icy water down her soul. There she was lamenting the self-destructive tendencies she and Will shared, and here, a woman she'd barely met showed her what a death wish honestly looked like. The narrow, winding trail full of ancient steps, sloped ground, and stray rocks looked like it would be Trachurus sober. Falling drunk, it was a bet with the Harvester.

Jack quickly followed Candy, not sure what to do but compelled to help.

Being touched was blissful, but it was also odd. Janie had always been so used to keeping people at a distance.

Emotionally, socially, physically, it didn't matter. She rarely lets people into her space. She'd finally let her guard down with Will and then with Bella and Belita, and then they'd all have to run just as she was starting to be comfortable. It hurt. Without realizing it, she'd returned to her old habits of keeping everyone at arm's length.

Even her Evangelina disguise had been carefully crafted to entice while keeping people away.

She had been getting closer with Tonya and Caine, but none had been comfortable. Neither of them was disarming the way Bella was or enticing like Belita, and she didn't know them like she knew Will. To complicate matters, there was all the sex stuff mixed in. She kept finding herself in situations with them where she felt it essential to maintain clear boundaries.

Earlier, when she had been washing Tonya, she'd been the one touching her. It was one-sided. There was enough of an element of control to it that she'd been able to ignore her nerves, but she'd tried hard to give herself some mental distance anyway.

So, besides the occasional friendly hug with Tonya, she hadn't been touched by anyone in weeks. Now, she had four hands on her naked body, gently washing away all her troubles. At first, she'd been twitchy, embarrassed, and constantly on guard, but all it had taken was Caine's firm voice telling her to close her eyes.

When she couldn't see them, it was easy to give in to the sensations, and she loved it.

Caine's hands were big and strong, and he had a gift for finding the spots where she was most tense and applying pressure in ways that made her relax and let go. Tonya's hands were small and soft and just a little bit tickly, and she had zero qualms about where they went. The short, paralyzing war Janie had with herself the first time Tonya's hands had smoothly washed across her breasts had shocked her so much that she didn't even realize that Tonya had already moved on, dragging soap across her other breast until it was done. The air was still warm, but Tonya had asked if she was cold because of how much she was trembling. She had goosebumps over every inch of her skin, and her nipples were painfully hard.

But it wasn't because she was cold.

She was molten between her legs, and it was warming her entire body.

She ached. She wanted to be touched more. She tried to put her hands on the wall and let them both do whatever they wanted to her, but she refused to move. She'd made a promise to Will. He'd probably encourage her to have fun. She knew he was. Bella and Belita were with him, and they seemed insatiable. Her promise hadn't been for him, though. She knew that now. It was for her. Giving herself away like that helped keep her safe.

It was a good idea, too, because now she was discovering that she had a hard time resisting temptation on her own. She knew she'd be begging them to take her by now if it wouldn't betray her promise to Will. She could never do that. It was all such a confusing, delicious tangle. She was aroused but ashamed. She wanted to be taken but trusted them not to. She refused to give in but wanted to. She felt vital for refusing but weak for wanting. She loved their touch but didn't want to see what they were doing to her.

Their hands roamed up and down her legs. Caine stayed safely to the outside but sensuously kneaded her calves and thighs through the wet, soapy cloth. Tonya used her bare hands, pushing the suds over her bottom and between her thighs. Only once did the little witch's knuckles brush up against the light hair covering her most delicate folds, but it was enough to make Janie scream.

It would all be so different if she could talk to Will. She knew what he'd say. He'd embarrass her on purpose, but he'd do it in a way that let her know he was encouraging and accepting. She'd get flustered. He'd get that amused twinkle in his eye and make her tell him everything, no matter how embarrassing. All her magistrate training let her read him like a book. He tried to hide it, but she knew he enjoyed the control she'd given him.

Once, that look had exasperated her to no end, but now it was one of the things she missed most. In truth, she loved it when he told her what to do.

And that was it. The missing piece of everything was Will's permission. She wanted him to encourage her. She wanted him to watch.

When did that happen? She had never thought of herself as someone who would let herself be controlled.

She'd rebelled against her family and run away to the Magistrate, then rebelled against the Magistrate and ran away to Will. She lived on her terms and prided herself on her self-control. Why did Will's blessing matter?

She followed the thread of emotions and motives in her head but shied away with a physical jerk of her body when she realized where that path might lead. She did not want to think about it. It's better to enjoy the moment.

"You alright?" Tonya asked.

"Yes," Janie replied. "Something just... tickled a little."

"You have nice skin," Tonya said absently, running her fingertips across Janie's lower back.

"Perhaps I used to," Janie said with a self-effacing laugh. "Now, I expect I'll have quite a few scars."

"Let's see what we can do to keep them small," Caine said. "These bandages should be plenty soaked by now."

Janie took a deep breath to prepare herself. To the others, it seemed like she was bracing for pain, but she was forcing herself to put a mental vice on the throbbing desire between her legs. She kept her eyes closed and nodded quickly.

"Watch how I do this," Caine said to Tonya. "We start at a top corner and work across slowly, rolling the bandages downward and not tearing the scabs. If the bandages stick, we use water and go as slowly as we need."

The sensation was surprisingly painless as the clusters of bandages were peeled back. She noticed the sting more as the wounds were exposed to the air. It wasn't terrible, but it told her exactly where the worst cuts were.

"Some scabs will be stuck to the bandages and lift away clean after soaking a while," Caine continued. "That's fine. What we don't want to see is new blood because we tore something open."

Tonya squeezed Janie's hand unexpectedly, and Janie squeezed back.

"You alright?" Tonya asked.

"Yes. The pain is mild. How does it look?" Janie replied.

"Like you got real cut up," Tonya said bluntly.

Caine winced at Tonya's candor and spoke up before Janie could react. "You're healing cleanly and reasonably quickly.

Nothing looks infected. Cerise did an excellent job cleaning you up and ensuring all the glass was out. That stuff she gave you to put on the wounds seems to work. Do you think you can sleep on your stomach tonight?"

"I've been sleeping on my stomach since this happened," Janie said with a slight shrug.

Caine started filling up the bucket from the spigot. "It's warm enough. I think you can go without a blanket. I want to let the cuts breathe and dry out. We'll put new bandages on in the morning,"

"Alright," Janie said. She held her hands as he approached her with the bucket. Then she realized they were entirely on display before each other, and she hadn't reacted. It seemed normal for a moment. When she realized it wasn't normal, she felt her cheeks grow red and looked at the floor.

"Turn around," he said gently, sounding like he was trying not to let her know he was amused. The mixture of indulgence, amusement, and comfort was so much like Will that she felt another surge of heat between her legs and more color in her cheeks. Caine was different, though. The edge of the challenge was missing. Will had an infuriating way of adding a smug coaxing to his interactions with people. Caine did that with Tonya but never with Janie. It was almost the opposite. With her, he was as gentle and reassuring as possible.

Feeling like she'd just discovered something important, she slowly turned around. The two men were alike at their cores. It was no wonder they got along so well, and also a bit discomforting considering her situation. She added the implications of Caine's underlying similarities to Will to the list of things she consciously avoided thinking about.

Caine began to slowly and gently pour water over her wounded back and rinse all the soap off Janie's body.

"Oh, she gets the nice bucket?" Tonya asked acerbically.

"She's not a brat," Caine countered.

Tonya huffed and took a knee in front of Janie. She started ringing out the washrag in the runoff and looked up at Janie with a happy grin. "This is so much fun. We should do it again tomorrow!"

"Um..." Janie said awkwardly. She knew she'd likely need help bathing for as long as her back was still healing, and she found it hard to deny Tonya's infectious enthusiasm. Despite that, she instinctively tried to devise a reason to say no. Nothing came to mind. To her surprise, she found that comforting after the initial surge of panic faded. She smiled. "Alright."

"Do you want to do something about all this," Tonya asked her, making a circular finger motion in front of Janie's womanhood.

Janie's eyes widened, and she unconsciously covered herself. "What? No. What's wrong with... this?"

"Oh, nothing," Tonya said. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to use some of Bella's goop?"

"What?" Janie asked, bewildered.

"Bella's goop?" Tonya repeated. "It gets rid of hair."

Janie blinked. She'd assumed Bella's hairlessness was just careful diligence with a razor or some trick of her mystic art. After seeing Bella's body painted with sigils during the mirror ritual, it had been very apparent why, but the details of how had never occurred to her. "How does it work?"

"I don't know," Tonya shrugged. "She got it from her ex. You just put it on, and a few hours later, all your hair disappears. Then you rinse it off."

"That sounds... uncomfortable," Janie said.

Tonya shook her head. "Not really. It feels a little weird afterward, especially the first time. Nice though.

Everything feels silky. I like it. Makes cleaning up witch paint a lot easier, too."

"I'll pass," Janie said gently.

"Alright," Tonya said, standing up energetically. Her earlier fatigue had vanished. She handed Janie the washrag again. I'd offer to do the rest, but I think you might explode," she winked.

Janie shook her head again, amazed at Tonya's perceptual ability to confuse or embarrass her. "The rest?"

Tonya made another small circle with her finger, pointing between Janie's legs again.

Janie's mouth opened slightly, then closed again as her face burned brighter. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see Caine conspicuously turn his back and start filling the bucket again. He wasn't quick enough to hide the amused look on his face.

Janie quickly rubbed the rag between her legs and shuddered, loving and hating how good it felt to touch herself there finally. Tonya winked at her, and Janie wanted to die. She finished quickly, dropped the rag into the wash bucket, and got out, trying to ignore her pounding heart.

"So now it's Caine's turn, then?" Tonya asked.

A chill ran down Janie's spine.

"I'm good," he said without turning around. "Washing down, you two got me cleaner than I've been in years."

Janie exhaled and felt her heart unclench.

"Aw, you're no fun," Tonya complained. "You go first tomorrow."

Janie's heart clenched again.

A heavy knock hammered on the door, and a booming voice called from outside.

"EVANGELINA CASTILLIAN, OPEN THE DOOR IN THE NAME OF THE MAGISTRATE!"


To be continued