Page 91 of Take No Prisoners
"I'm sorry." Niall closed his eyes and tried to put himself in Klaus's situation. Niall didn't want to die, either, especially not now that he'd found Efren. Klaus had always been a fighter and a survivor. At the orphanage, he'd been small for his age, and finding a bigger kid who was also young and naïve had worked well for both of them. Niall was the muscle, and Klaus was the brains that kept them safe from bullies, cutthroats, and worse.
"I wish you would have come to me about your illness," Niall said. "We were close."
Klaus shook his head. "We haven't been close for years. You've been so wrapped up in your work. You never leave Merchant Row, not even for a birthday drink. Besides, what could you have done? Master Othelio never paid you what you're worth."
"Still, I would have listened."
Klaus nodded. "I wanted to, several times. I knocked on the pottery shop door the night an air weaver left me on the docks to die, but I ran away when I heard Master Othelio."
Niall remembered cleaning blood from the walls and floor of the shop's alcove one morning. So much blood.
"Vadim was different." Klaus gazed into the distance. "He told his crew I was off limits. He had a bunk built for me on that giant ship of his, so I didn't have to sleep on the floor."
"That was kind of him."
Klaus started rocking on his shoulder, hands brushing over his shins as though he were cold. All thoughts of escape had fled.
Niall wasn't ready to forgive Klaus for abandoning him, turning him over to Vadim, and now for setting a trap for his grandmother. He didn't know what to do. He leaned against the wall closest to Klaus's feet and slid to sit against it.
"Fuck," Klaus said. "I'm so sorry, Niall."
"You were on a ship all those weeks I couldn't find you in Landale," Niall said instead.
"We made a quick trip to Stony Eel forImperial Fool's maiden voyage. What they're doing to weavers there ... it's not all Coryn." Klaus slid his feet back to the floor and sat up. "I'm scared, Niall."
"Me, too."
"No," Klaus said. He stood and fished the hairpin out of his pocket once more. "I'm scared for you. I don't know why she's been pushing to find a spectral weaver, but she wanted the elders on Aquarion. Now that she's found you ... the earth weaver's right. You won't survive whatever she has planned."
"That's why you're going to get me out of here."
Niall turned so his bound hands were in the strip of sunlight through the porthole again. It took several minutes and a lot of cursing, but Klaus finally unlocked the cuffs. Niall removed them and rubbed his hands together, and he was stunned when Klaus slipped them back over his wrists and locked them shut, looser this time, but still tight enough to block his power.
"Vadim and Efren are coming to get us," Klaus said. "Vadim was blocking me during his trial, but now I can talk to him again."
Niall missed most of what Klaus had said after "Efren." He dug through his core to find his connection to the captain and sighed with relief when it was still there. Efren was furious, and he was coming for Niall. He couldn't sense much more beyond that, but it was enough to give him hope.
"They need time," Klaus said. "They have more wind weavers with Beatrice and Petri, but not as many as this ship. They'll catch up to us when we approach the island, and then we can make our move."
"Until then, you want me to wear these?"
"They're loose," Klaus said, sliding the cuff from Niall's right hand to demonstrate. "You can slide out of them any time you want, but I don't recommend it. The galley's right there." Klaus pointed to the wall in the opposite direction from where the earth weaver had gone.
"You expect them to bring us food?"
"You need to keep up your strength," Klaus said. "They might ignore me, but it's in their best interest to give you three meals a day so you'll be ready to work heavy magic when the time comes." He shrugged. "They'll probably forget about me. They usually do."
"I could let you out of here, at least." Niall slipped one of the cuffs from his hand. He already felt more like himself.
"Where would I go?" Klaus asked. "If they catch me alone where I'm not supposed to be, that's an invitation for bad things to happen, and Coryn won't even care if they kill me. She's got Brigham."
"You two know each other." It wasn't a question. Their banter suggested Brigham and Klaus despised each other.
"He's the one who came for me and claimed me for the empire. He says he has grand seeker abilities, which means he can sense other seekers, suppressors, siphons, and enchanters. I think that's bullshit."
"Didn't you say you could sense Olivia?"
"Yes, but that's because I am a grand seeker. He's not. He doesn't give off the same vibes I do."
