Page 48 of Take No Prisoners
"I was a child," Efren said. "It should come easier for you. You're an apprentice. You already know about practice and hard work."
"I never made it to master craftsman." Niall waited for him on the landing. "What if it takes even longer to master magic?"
"You don't need to be a master. You only need to be proficient in not drowning us all, or sinking the ship, lighting us on fire, blowing us up, blowing us off course—"
"I get it. No destruction."
"No unplanned destruction," Efren corrected.
Niall's laugh was as light as the fresh breeze. Sunlight danced through the open door, beckoning Efren outside. Hours had passed in the underground darkness. Every time Efren was called to the meeting room, he worried he would be shut down there without light forever, and every time he crawled back to the surface, he felt a renewed gratitude for the sun, sand, and island wildlife.
He delighted in other sights as they sailed back to the main island of Aquarion, mostly Niall with his head thrown back, brown curls blowing in the wind, his eyelashes dark against his ruddy cheeks as he blinked away the brine. Niall had a simple beauty Efren hadn't fully appreciated before.
After Vadim had left, Efren had assumed attractive men weren't meant for him, so he hadn't bothered to look. He preferred men who came to him looking to bed a sea captain, and he'd not been disappointed.
Niall met his gaze, and the world seemed to stop moving around them. He'd been caught staring, but he couldn't look away. Instead, he offered his hand, and Niall took it to cross to the opposite side of the boat. Stan switched places with him without a word, offering only a lopsided grin.
"I'll be taking you home after all," Efren said.
Niall leaned against his side, chin on his shoulder. "You'll show me around the island sometime, too?" His jaw cracked with a yawn. "Not today, though. I'm almost dead on my feet."
"I will." Efren was tired, too, after being up all night. He'd watched the seas skip by like a dream with the speed of five air weavers in their sails. He'd narrowly avoided a shoal that could have sunk them — they'd rolled up on it so quickly. Still, it was good to be home in half the time. "It will be nice to return to the life of a day dweller."
"You always take the starlight shift?" Niall asked.
"Olivia and I switch. Two weeks on, two weeks off."
Olivia scowled at him from her place at the back of the skiff.
He'd put in a good word for Olivia with Elder Beatrice while they ate lunch. Olivia wanted her own ship and crew one day, and while that would leave Efren without a suppressor, he didn't want to hold her back. He hadn't expected her to blush and demure. She hadn't stopped glaring at him since they'd boarded the skiff, either.
Even though it was an extra half-mile walk to the cabin he called home, he and Niall debarked with Olivia at the boarding house dock.
Olivia waved to the rest of the crew as they pulled away, heading for the dock on the south side of the island, but she growled at Efren as soon as they turned toward the house. "You're putting him up here for the night?"
"I wanted to speak with you."
"I think you've said enough." She turned her back and walked ahead.
He grabbed her arm. "Why was I wrong to praise your sailing to the elders?"
She brushed him off and turned to face him with a glare. "You've been trying to kick me off your ship since the moment I first stepped aboard. Now, you're trying to shuffle me off onto my own boat!"
"I thought that was what you wanted," Efren said. "You said—"
"I've said what you wanted to hear, Efren. You don't want me on your ship, gumming your cogs. You'd rather see me drown than see me succeed."
He deserved that. He ground his teeth together as he considered his words. "I didn't want a new first mate, but that wasn't your fault."
"You didn't want to be captain without him."
"I suppose I didn't." It hurt to admit it, but he'd lost his desire to sail when Vadim left. Once the enemy had such a familiar face, he found it harder to muster the resolve to fight him. "Because I wasn't a good captain, I didn't allow you to fulfill your role as first mate."
"And now you have this one," she pointed at Niall. "You can make him first mate when you're ready."
Niall had walked a few steps away and turned his back on them, but now he turned, red-faced, and shook his head. "I don't want to be first mate! I'd never get to spend time with Efren."
"You'd make time," Olivia said. "He always made time for Vadim."
