Page 92 of Take No Prisoners
Niall tried to hide his grin against his shoulder. Klaus had the same competitive scorn for other seekers as he did for other pleasure workers. "How did he find you?"
"I went to a healer who uses drugs to hide the fact that they can weave. I was so delirious, I told them I could see their magic. Brigham snagged the healer, and then he brought me in. Asshole likes being passed around to the sailors, too. He begs them to be rough with him." Klaus gave his shoulders a shake. "Gives me the willies."
Niall couldn't blame him, but he didn't want to lose Klaus to his bad memories. "When it's time, what should I do to break out?"
"We can't leave Coryn with a ship," Niall said. "She won't think twice about destroying theSpecter.She left them alone because she needed to get you to Stony Eel Island. Once she drops us off, she'll return to Aquarion to raid the island and sink every pirate ship she can find."
"There are other pirate ships?" Niall only knew of one other.
"Olivia left messages at the taverns in Luminest, calling the others home for a meeting. They'll be sitting ducks."
"Vadim's trial?"
"Possibly. Beatrice gave her the order before she was caught in the trap." Klaus folded his hands together so hard his knuckles were white.
"Do you think Vadim will win?"
"He's guilty as fuck," Klaus said. "The question is, can he talk them into seeing things his way?" He sounded more unhappy with each word. "I never expected to care so much whether he lives or dies. If he dies, I die, so at least my worries would be over."
Klaus closed his eyes. After a moment of silence, he snorted a laugh. "He can hear everything I think. He's telling me not to be so morbid." He flashed a fake smile at Niall. "I'm sorry for being morbid."
"It's fine," Niall said. "I can't imagine what you're going through."
Klaus bowed his head and closed his eyes again. Niall thought their conversation was over.
He was startled when Klaus said, "They're staying steady with us, and he's surprised Efren's water is powerful enough to gain on her wind weavers."
"You can hear his thoughts, too?"
"Most of the time. He can't shield from me the way he can from you." Klaus blushed. "It helps when I'm sleeping or trying to sleep. That's why I stayed in bed so late this morning. I wanted to avoid the boring bits of his trial."
Niall couldn't remember the last time he'd heard one of Vadim's thoughts without Vadim purposefully sending them to him. He'd surprised the death weaver onImperial Fool,but they'd only traded conversations since then. No more eavesdropping. Niall wondered how it worked, and if he could learn how to block other death weavers from his mind, too.
"He's not at all what I expected," Klaus whispered. "He's unlike anyone I've ever met. A pirate and a gentleman."
Klaus sat up and tucked himself into a corner of the cot. "I never thought I'd live to see a pirate ship, let alone a pirate island. Your stories gave me so much hope when we were kids."
Niall nodded, too choked up with emotion to speak. He couldn't forgive Klaus, not yet, but he had a much better understanding of how he'd ended up working for the empire. It was pure luck that he'd found Vadim instead of another of Coryn's captains.
Klaus motioned to the other side of the cot with his chin. "Have a seat. It might be a while."
Niall sat.
Chapter 23
Efren
They'd been gaining on Coryn's ship through the afternoon, but then she started to pull away again in the evening. Efren had asked their newest recruit, Milton, to take a break until sunset on the off-chance Coryn would let her weavers rest overnight.
"She's got them working in twelve-hour shifts," Vadim confirmed when Tovey and Milton returned to take Petri and Stan's places. Even with Tovey's added strength, they lost more ground.
"Stan could send a diversion at dawn," Efren said.
"What are you going to do, hurl a ball of seaweed at them?" Vadim shook his head. "Nothing will slow her down until she reaches the inlet. Then, she'll have to wait for the tide to roll in before the water will be deep enough for her to make it through Reaper's Gate."
"Are we close enough to catch her?"
Vadim grinned. "You're the water weaver. How long before high tide?"
