Page 86 of Take No Prisoners
Efren sifted through his core, searching for Niall's essence. Instead of locking it away, he embraced it, letting Niall's emotions sink into him as though they were his own. Sadness pricked the corners of his eyes. Anger followed, with a hint of regret.
Efren wanted to find Niall, to hold him and take away every hint of doubt and ounce of frustration. He didn't have a name for how he felt about Niall yet, but he needed to tell him it would last. If anyone needed stability and order in his life, it was Niall, after so many years of poor treatment and being told he was inadequate. Niall was perfect, and Efren wanted to spend the rest of his days proving that to him.
That sounded a lot like love.
Efren didn't have time to think on it.
Martiz hauled Vadim into the makeshift courtroom. The death weaver's hair hung messy and loose, half free of the leather cord tied at his nape. His white shirt, the same he'd worn the day before, was askew, the laces undone, with one shoulder exposed and the other side tight against his neck.
Efren didn't like what he saw there. Vadim's skin was perfect, completely healed where before there had been a puckered scar in the shape of a barbed arrow point. The shirt was also pulled from his pants in front but tucked in the back.
Martiz shoved Vadim into the lone chair in the middle of the room. It faced a line of five folding chairs set up for the council. The rest of the room was lined with more folding chairs for the audience. Efren slipped into the front row behind Vadim and chose the seat behind him and to the right, where he could lean forward to talk to Vadim. Martiz took his seat, and Vadim blocked Efren from his sight.
"Did he hurt you?" Efren whispered.
"My pride. I need him alive more than I want him dead." Vadim bowed his head, and Efren saw a hint of a grin through his hair. "Bastard got what was coming to him. His dick won't be very pretty for a while."
"You bit him."
"Aye, and he stabbed me for it. The bastard never knows when to quit. He healed too much. I'll need you to testify to that fact. Or are you here to condemn me?"
"I'm here for the truth, Vadim. Nothing more and nothing less. You can count on me for that."
Vadim nodded. "Thank you. That's enough."
Efren's heart ached for the man he once knew. He didn't know what all Vadim had been through the last five years, but it had made him even more cynical and rebellious. Where Vadim had been terrified of Martiz before, now, he was belligerent. Taking on the council member rather than taking Beatrice's offered plea deal, no matter how unpleasant, could mean a death sentence. Efren couldn't let that happen. Personal feelings aside, they needed Vadim to defeat Coryn.
∞∞∞
Niall
Niall's connection to Efren brightened like the sun emerging from cloud cover. Efren's muted emotions were now coming through like shouts across a still pond. Niall wished he knew what to make of them. Was Efren even thinking about him while they were apart, or was he thinking about Vadim?
With Efren an island away, Niall had no way of knowing. He could only guess, and that made him more anxious about Vadim's trial. He strangled the little ball at his core, the part connected to Efren, so he could think again. He watched the waves roll over the beach, shallower each time as the tide went out.
He didn't know how long he'd watched the horizon before voices behind him drew his attention. He heard Petri's tenor, and the distinctive trill of Olivia's laugh.
"There's our newest crew member," Olivia said. "Efren had you watching the direct route. We got distracted by a ship following us, so we went the long way."
"A ship followed you?" Petri asked. "I didn't see anyone on the horizon."
"It was the strangest thing," she said. "It disappeared. One moment it was on the horizon, and the next, it wasn't."
"Illusion?" Niall asked. Before he and his grandmother had moved and reshaped Horseshoe Island, he hadn't believed it was possible.
"Illusions still have a wake. This left no trace."
Petri turned back toward the trees. "We can talk about it over breakfast. I'm starving. I got the kids something to eat before the trial, but nothing for myself."
"Vadim's trial?" Olivia asked. "So soon?"
"They moved it up after Grandmother got stuck in the spectral trap," Niall said. "Vadim insisted."
"That reminds me," Petri said. "I need to wake Klaus. Vadim wanted me to keep him safe until he's needed to testify."
"Keep him safe?" Niall asked. "What did he think would happen?"
"Martiz." Petri's dark chuckle made Niall's skin crawl. "There's a reason Coryn hates healers."
