Prison of Smoke (PRISON OF TIDES SEQUEL)

Cooperation

Jasmine’s Point of View

Sitting with Bennett in my office, Stella brought us both coffee. One cream and four sugars for him, three creams and one sugar for me, iced. After thanking her, she made her exit, leaving the chief and I alone.

This had become a regular occurance - he and I sitting together in my office, reviewing details of whichever case was coming up, going over next steps and figuring out what we needed to do in order to best move forward with that case. It was a pleasant change from the police station he normally worked in, even though the station was updated and state of the art.

“So Raymond took at least one other woman that we know of. It opens a lot of avenues we never expected, doesn’t it?” I sipped my coffee as I spoke, knowing I needed it. It had been more than difficult to get sleep after our meeting with Anna.

Nodding, his brown mustache covered the top of his mug as he enjoyed his sweet coffee. “It does. We thought Cherry was his first, but it begs the question of how many people were victimized that we had no clue of. From the timeline Anna provided us yesterday, it sounds like he sold her shortly before taking Cherry. If that pattern holds, he could have had someone else who he got rid of just before taking Anna.”

“Exactly.” I sighed and sat my cup on my white desk, tapping my foot as I thought, looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked Prinart, Lutna’s capital. “Hmm. I think the best thing here is to try and find this Zachariah guy. If he’s the one who provided Raymond with a warehouse, then not only is he guilty of s*x trafficking, he aided and abetted a known fugitive, as well as sprung him from jail. Who would have the ability to do that?”

Bennett scratched his scruffy beard, crossing his ankle over his knee. “Hell if I know, Jasmine. Would have to be someone involved in the legal system. Now that we have a description and a name, it’ll be easier to track him down, though. I think we should pull up and review employment records from the jail.”

“That’s a great idea. Do you need my computer?”

He nodded and I turned my laptop around, sliding it across the desk for him. He took it, opening an internet browser before logging into the local law enforcement database. He quickly raised his eyebrows and looked at me, spinning the computer around.

There, on the screen, was the man from the video who had strangled me. I gasped and brought my hands to my heart. It felt like it was going to burst from my chest. Zachariah, the man who had killed me, if only for a moment.

“Oh my gods, Bennett. How the hell didn’t we catch this sooner?”

“I have no clue, but I’ll be looking into whoever was in charge of that aspect of the investigation. For now, let's get a warrant and go get the bastard.” He stood, pulling out his flip phone and making a call, requesting that the district attorney obtain a warrant for one Zachariah Eckert, 47, of Lutna.

While he busied himself with the technicalities of bringing Eckert in, I called Caspian, who didn’t answer. I sent a group text to him, Cherry, and Jacob. They all deserved to know.

Found one of them. Bennett’s getting a warrant for his arrest now.

Within the hour, Eckert was cuffed and in the back of Bennett’s car.

I sat outside the police station, watching as he was escorted into the building. Cherry arrived and leaned against my car, sipping on her smoothie while she held my hand. She pulled her sunglasses down and smiled, waving at the man before blowing him a kiss with her middle finger. His eyes were wide as he assessed us, and Cherry dragged her finger across her neck. From the look on his face, he knew exactly what she was referring to. He quickly looked down and entered the station, hands cuffed behind his back, feet shackled.

This day couldn’t possibly get better. Glancing towards Cherry, her face looked like it could crack from grinning so hard, and I realized that my expression mirrored hers. I threw my arms around her, holding her close as we enjoyed the downfall of this man, a man who would hopefully lead to the topple of an empire.

All I wanted was to go home and play with Lilliana, but I knew I needed to let Anna know of his arrest. She would need to identify Zachariah, to help better the case against him. So I made my way back to the center, only to get a call from Bennett as soon as I got out of the car.

“Hello?”

“Jasmine, you aren’t going to believe this. Not only is he cooperating, but apparently, most of the women that have been taken weren’t taken by the people who held them; they were sold overseas.”

“What?!” My hand lay over my mouth. Kidnapped in order to be sold? Overseas? “Oh my gods, Bennett…”

“I know. It turns out that water breathers who are low income and mostly solitary have been targeted, because they’re less likely to be reported missing, and because most water breathers who have abilities can’t use them away from sea water.”

At his words, I felt a tightness in my chest grow. That could have been me. “Oh, my gods. Does he know where the women who’ve been sold are?”

Bennett cleared his throat. “He doesn’t know, but he’s willing to help us find out in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table.”

I could hear the question in his voice - would I be willing to agree to the deal? Technically, I had the ability as princess to override the deal. I wouldn’t do that, though. “Bringing people home and stopping these traffickers is the top priority. Do whatever you have to do to make that happen, Chief. As much as I’d like to see him get the injection, I can live without it. On one condition.”

“What’s the condition, your majesty?”

“Chemically castrate the bastard. That way, if he gets out, he can never rape anyone again. Think he’ll go for it?”

“Something tells me he’ll go for anything that doesn’t involve his death. If he doesn’t agree, what do you want me to do?”

“Make the deal anyways.”

“Understood. Thank you, Jasmine. There are others who wouldn’t put the good of others ahead of their own revenge. You’ll make a fine queen one day.”

  At his words, my heart softened. “Thank you, Bennett. I appreciate all the hard work you do. I’m going to fill Anna in. Keep me posted and let me know if you need anything.”

“Of course.”

Hanging up the phone, I fanned my face, trying to prevent tears from spilling over. I never thought I’d feel lucky over my time with Raymond, but he could have sold me. He could have sold me overseas, in a foreign land to people who would do gods know what to me.

Knocking on Anna’s door, I let her know what was going on. She wasn’t as shocked as I was, given that she herself had been sold, but I could see the information still impacted her.

“So he’s not getting the death penalty?” Her dark eyebrows raised, and I knew she was upset, but I was praying she would understand.

“It’s the only way he’ll cooperate. It’s more important to try to get the other victims home than to see his death.”

She nodded in agreement. “That makes sense. Thank you for letting me know.”

I sighed in relief, giving her a small grin. “On another note, how are you doing? Is there anything we can do to help you, anything else you need?”

She shook her head. “It’s perfect here. I never thought I’d be in a place like this. I am a bit lonely, though. I’m mostly busy with therapy, and with the investigation, but I’d really like to get out. I’ve been cooped up for years.”

Smiling, I leaned across the cherry blonde coffee table and took her hand. “What do you say we have a girls night tonight? Me, you and Cherry can go out, have fun. We’ll make sure you’re safe. And you’ll get into the best areas because you’ll be with us.”

After a moment, she nodded. “As long as you don’t leave me alone, that sounds fun.”

“Of course we won’t leave you alone. Why don’t you come with me? We’ll get you an outfit and we can all get ready at me and Cherry’s place.”

Grinning, she stood. “So you and Cherry live together? I thought you were married?”

I chuckled. “I am. Caspian and I are very close to Cherry and Jacob, her husband. We have a house with more than one wing in it, so we’ve divided it that way. Our children were born on the same day, so it’s like living with extended family.”

“That sounds so nice. I can’t wait to meet your husbands. Should I be nervous? You know, because he’s royalty?”

Shaking my head, I giggled. “Not at all. Plus, I’m royalty too, you know. Don’t even think of him as royalty, just think of him as a friend.”

Biting her lip nervously, she agreed with me. “Alright then. But no promises that I won’t freak out a little.” She laughed after that, a deep and husky sound that filled the room. It was contagious, her laughter, and we walked arm in arm out of the building towards my car.

As we approached the palace, Anna’s eyes widened significantly, and her mouth dropped. “Holy shitballs,” She whispered. “You freaking live here?!”

I stifled a snort that threatened to escape. “We live around back, but we have full access to the palace. Come, I’ll show you to the cottage.”

As we approached the cottage, Caspian was walking up the pathway at the same time as us, flowers blooming on the bushes that surrounded us.

“Hello, my love. How was your day?” His sun kissed face formed a wide smile as he bent over and set his lips on mine. I returned the kiss before noticing that he held a bouquet of roses in his hand.

“I have a lot to catch you up on, dear. Before I do, this is Anna. Anna, this is Caspian, my husband.”

Caspian shook Anna’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” We headed into the massive cottage. “Please make yourself at home.”

“Your home is lovely,” Anna mumbled under her breath. “Thank you for having me.”

“Of course.” Caspian handed me the roses and I smiled, breathing in their delicate scent.

“Thank you, sweet prince.” I set them in a vase and placed them on the tan granite breakfast bar that wrapped around the kitchen before turning on a kettle to make tea. “So Anna and I are going to go out tonight, probably with Cherry. Can you watch Lilliana?”

“Absolutely. As long as by ‘watch Lilliana,’ you mean watch her babysit JJ and Ruby…”

At that, we both burst into laughter, and Anna chuckled lightly. “So, why don’t you take a seat and we’ll catch you up on what’s happened today?”

We all sat at the dining table, and I filled Caspian in on the eventful day Anna and I had, and his jaw dropped when he realized the scope this new investigation had revealed.

“Oh my gods. I don’t know whether to be thrilled that there’s been such a big break in the case or horrified at the new information.”

“Both,” I said, sipping on my tea. “I know I’m both.”

“Same here. I’m just happy to be out of there.” I understood Anna’s sentiment all too well, and I nodded in agreement as Cherry and Jacob walked in the door, the little ones in tow.

“Mommy! Daddy!” Lilliana came running up to us, and I wrapped her in a big hug. “I missed you!” Her words were slightly mumbled, and my heart warmed at our sweet girl. She ran to Caspian next, who gave her tiny forehead a kiss as he hugged her.

“We missed you too, little one.” His smile always made me melt, especially when it came to our daughter.

“Jacob, this is Anna.”

Jacob smiled, stepping forward to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you, Anna. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you.”

Anna smiled back at him, a glimmer of flirtation in her eyes. Jacob must have noticed, because while he kept his smile on his face, he wrapped his arm around Cherry’s shoulder and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Anna quickly looked at both of their hands, and seeing their matching rings, turned her attention towards Cherry.

“Hi Anna, how are you doing?” Cherry’s red hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and I noticed Jacob playing with it absentmindedly as the twins ran around the living room with Lilliana, playing tag.

“I’m okay. We’re going out for girls night. Want to join us?”

“Absolutely!” Cherry loved going out. I could practically see the wheels turning in her head, and Jacob watched her adoringly as she bit her lip in thought.

“We should hit up the bar. Go dancing. Sorry babe, I know we talked about a movie night, but duty calls.” Her fake remorse had us all giggling.

“It’s alright, babygirl. We have all the time in the world to watch movies.” She smiled, and Caspian and I exchanged a glance while they were distracted. His hand under the table moved towards my knee, and I let his hand travel under my skirt for a minute before licking my lips and interrupting the moment.

“So, there’s been a major break in the case.” 

With my words, the mood instantly changed. Cherry and Jacob sat down, holding hands with one another while I rested my hand over Caspian’s. I let them know the progress we’d made.

“Holy s**t,” Cherry whispered, eyes wide. “This is bigger than we thought.”

“Damn right it is.” Anna’s expression matched Cherry’s. I suspected we all had similar looks on our faces.

  “In the meantime, I say we get ready to go out and party. Celebrate this fucker’s fall.” Cherry was determined, as always. One of the many qualities I loved about my best friend.

At the bar, the three of us danced, drinking and listening to the live indie band that was playing. Our attention was caught by the news; a feature was running about the investigation. Video footage of Cherry and I being rescued years ago ran, along with footage of Raymond’s sentencing. Anna’s picture flashed on the screen, followed by Zachariah’s. While we couldn’t hear what the news said, the subtitles revealed that the anchor was talking about how the royal couple as well as a royal advisor and his wife had been taken in the past. At the sight of the footage, we decided to leave the bar. It was too much, being out and celebrating only to have such a reminder of the pain we’d gone through shoved in our faces.

We dropped Anna off in silence, and on the way back to the palace, Cherry and I held hands in the backseat.

“Why did they have to show those f*****g videos?!” Cherry yelled, her voice shrill. “Because it isn’t enough that we lived it over and over again, but they had to show videos of us being rescued, videos of us at our worst. We have worked too hard to overcome this bullshit for this to be the public’s perception of us!”

“I don’t think anyone who sees it will think less of us, but I don’t like it being shown either.”

Looking towards Cherry, I knew her anger was a mask for her heartache, for humiliation over the things that simply were not her fault. However, I sensed that it would do no good to point this out. It was better to let her stew until we saw Jacob again. From how often her phone was going off, I assumed he’d seen the news and thought she wasn’t okay. From how she ignored the buzzing of her phone, I assumed he was right.

Finally arriving home, Cherry and I parted ways as we each went to our respective wings. I made my way to my bedroom, only to find Caspian asleep, book in hand, his reading glasses crooked on his nose.

Smiling softly, I grabbed a bookmark and set the book on his nightstand, carefully taking off his glasses and placing them on the book. I took off my makeup, changed into one of Caspian’s t-shirts, and lay in bed with him. As always, the muscle over his heart made the perfect pillow, and I quickly fell asleep when he instinctively curled his arms around me. This was heaven. This was home.

Jacob’s Point of View

Holding Cherry to my chest that night, I absentmindedly twirled a strand of her hair that had fallen onto her face. I was ready to hold those who’d hurt her accountable, but I knew it would reopen wounds, remind her of scars she would rather forget about. I didn’t want her to get hurt further in the process. It led me to wonder if it was really best to revisit the past like this. As well as Cherry had been doing since exacting our revenge on Raymond, I knew there were still memories that broke through. I would catch a far away look in her eyes, notice her hand gripping whatever was closest to it until her already pale skin turned white and purple from loss of circulation.

Other times, like that moment, I saw her eyes roaming beneath her eyelids, felt her arms clinging to my torso as though for dear life. Her breathing got heavier, and even unconsciously, she squeezed her eyes shut tighter, as though she didn’t want to see what was happening. With my thumb grazing her throat in an attempt to calm her, I felt her heart beating at a rapid rate. Noticing that, I shook her shoulders softly, wanting to wake her from the hell she was reliving in her sleep.

The evening news had covered the break in the investigation. They made it clear this was an international ring, and that it was the same group who took the princess and a royal advisor’s wife. That the second time around, he took the prince as well. They even mentioned that I found them when he broke out of prison. Normally, I’d laugh at my fifteen minutes of fame, but I had bigger things on my mind that evening.

As if that wasn’t triggering enough, the reporters somehow managed to get their hands on pictures from Cherry and Jasmine’s rescue from the cave to bolster the story of Anna being located. Seeing her as she was then, my normally proud and fearless wife so scared, I could practically feel ice encircling my heart. I saw her trying to control her breathing when they replayed images of her testifying, images of Raymond staring and laughing at her and Jasmine as they watched the videos in the courtroom. I hated them all. Sometimes, I wished I could bring Raymond back just to burn him again.

“Cherry,” I combed my fingers through her hair as gently as possible. Her normal grumbling upon waking was replaced with a few distressed noises as she tried to get closer to me. Lifting her head, her grip on me relaxed a little before she repositioned herself, trying to force a small smile to form on her face. We laid like that for a while, me trying to soothe her by rubbing her back and stroking her hair, and she eventually started to sigh and relax her tensed muscles.

“Was it bad tonight?” The rain fell against the window, and it seemed like the noise relaxed her and helped her come back to the moment.

Wiggling closer to me, her blue eyes found my face. “Yeah. It was the knife again.”

I kissed her forehead. “I’m right here. What can I do to help?”

Brushing her nose with mine, she gave me a soft kiss. “Just this. You always let me know how safe I am, Jake. I know you’ll protect me.”

Bringing my lips to her small, sharp nose, I comforted her through the darkness. “I’ll always keep you safe, babygirl.” And I would. No matter where this investigation led, I needed her to know I would always be right by her side, always be there to wake her up from her nightmares.

Her lips found mine again, opening slightly to deepen the kiss. With one hand petting my chest in the way I found so endearing, she brushed the curve of my face with the thumb of her other small, delicate hand. “I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you too, Cherry.”

My heart pounded in my chest. My perfect babygirl’s lips tasted so sweet, and she lay on her back, pulling me onto her. With her arms wrapped around my neck, I noticed how her skin was illuminated by the moonlight filtering in. The patterned shadows of raindrops against her sharp cheekbones reminded me that she was living art, her breath hitting my neck and sending shivers down my spine.

When my mouth met hers again, she let out a small sigh and parted her legs. I noticed the lace purple panties she was wearing, the way that her black tank top showed off the curves of her breasts and tiny waist. I let my hands travel those curves, appreciating the softness that lingered from the pregnancy years beforehand.

I slid my hands under her shirt, kissing her stomach as I raised the top up, letting my lips fall on one of her n*****s. I pushed it the rest of the way up, until the shirt was off entirely, leaving her in just her underwear. The way they hugged her hips had my mind spinning and my member standing at attention against my boxers. Soft moans escaped her lips when I kneaded one of her breasts and sucked on the n****e of the other, her chest pressing up further into my mouth.

Kissing down her stomach, I dragged her panties down her thighs, past her knees and shins before setting them beside us on the bed. I kissed each of her knees and my mouth trailed each thigh until I reached her center. Bringing her tender folds into my mouth, I sucked on them before spreading them and lapping up her center. There was the well I could drink from forever, an oasis in the middle of a desert that parched my endless need for her.

When she started quivering against my tongue, I pulled away. She hooked her index fingers into the elastic of my boxers, pulling them down. She ran her hands up and down my c**k, leading me to let out a muffled groan. Positioning myself between her legs, I slid inside of her, relishing in the feeling of her hands roaming my back as her body welcomed me.

“Jake..” Rocking her hips up to take the entirety of my length, she sighed into my collarbone, her breath leaving damp warmth on my skin. I angled myself to rub against her upper wall, watching as her mouth fell open, listening as she tried to keep her whimpers low.

  Bringing my hand to her face, I traced her lower lip with my thumb before bringing my mouth down onto hers. Her back arched upwards, driving me further into her as she returned the kiss. The sprinkle of rain turned into a downpour, and she wrapped her arms tighter around me. Thrusting into her, feeling how soaked she was, I let my hands tangle into her hair, holding her form to mine.

“Cherry, you feel too good,” I whispered, kissing under her ear. She shivered at the touch, and I felt her start to squeeze my c**k. I slowed my thrusts, putting more pressure into my tip against her upper wall, and a high-pitched whimper escaped her mouth.

“Daddy...” I covered her mouth with mine, swallowing her moan as I continued the slow, calculated motion. The tightness in her voice matched the tightness of her surrounding me, and I refused to stop, drawing out her orgasm. I buried my face in her neck, kissing her flushed skin. I didn’t care that her cries were ringing out anymore. Mixing with the sounds of rain hitting the ground, they created the perfect duet, and I needed to hear more of it.

 "f**k, babygirl, I love you,” I said, keeping my voice quiet as it cracked through my guttural groan. I made my thrusts harder, making sure to keep the angle, loving the feeling of her walls bending against the head of my c**k, which was aching to release inside of her.

  Clamping around me harder, she dug her nails into my skin, spasming around me as thunder crashed outside. “I love you, too, Daddy… Daddy… just like that... please, show me… show me...” She begged.

  “All mine,” I sighed into her ear, knowing she needed a reminder that she was mine and mine alone. With that, she threw her head back. I covered her mouth with mine, swallowing the screams that were forming in her throat.

“Daddy, oh gods, Daddy...” I heard her whimpering against my lips, and with that, I let myself spill inside of her, filling her with my seed.

Sighing, I felt the tension leave my body, letting myself rest against her, my head falling into the valley between her breasts. Her hands stroked my hair, nails scratching my scalp. This was exactly where we belonged; holding each other in our arms, tenderly kissing while I stroked the curve of her waist until we fell asleep, her head tucked into my chest.