Page 30 of Tell No Tales
Vadim flipped past that page to the first entry with trepidation. He didn't know what he expected to see, but he was surprised by the date. Instead of beginning when Hesse first arrived at the academy, it was instead dated the morning after Vadim and Hesse had met.
"A death weaver killed my bodyguard last night. The idiot attacked him first, and this death weaver was unlike any I'd met before. He had no qualms about taking lives. When I asked him if he knew he could just drain the person to unconsciousness instead of killing him in self-defense, he said no! He's from the barbaric northern islands, Aquarion I think he said. I hope barbaric translates to good in bed."
Vadim wished the man still lived, so he could yell at him for being such an uncouth asshole. No wonder Hesse had pushed him so hard.
The corners of his eyes stung as he remembered the day Hesse had graduated with full honors and returned to the palace with his guards before nightfall. Vadim had expected him to return to their room to pack his things. Instead, a passel of servants arrived the next morning to clean their shared room as though the prince had never been there.
A week later, the black banners dropped from the palace walls to announce the emperor's passing. Hesse had been whisked away after graduation to prepare. Vadim understood, but it still hurt. And when Hesse had called him to the palace before his wedding, Vadim had locked himself in the room they no longer shared and read book after book until his eyes hurt and the sun rose on Hesse's wedding day. He slept through the ceremony.
This book already made his eyes hurt, and he wasn't two pages in. He flipped to the next page, and dropped it to the mattress, letting the journal flop closed.
"You asshole," he said to the empty cabin.
Hesse had drawn a picture of him while he slept. He had one arm draped over a pillow, his hair a messy spill over his shoulder and his back, his eyes closed so anyone could see the nasty pucker through his eyebrow and lid over his left eye.
"Can't have you losing your depth perception,"Martiz had said when he'd healed his eye."You're a weapon of war, Vadim. That's all you'll ever be."
Vadim was counting on it.
Once his embarrassment wore off, he flipped back to the image and kept reading. Hesse had made notes about his injury, including a few guesses on how he'd gotten it, proving he was almost as sheltered as his son.
"Possibly a hunting accident? Or an arrow to the eye? I'll have to ask him. The eye has a sheen over it as though it's been healed, but not all the way. His retina is still scarred like his brow. It's such a minor imperfection in an otherwise perfect face, but I worry about his ability to protect me if the scar causes a blind spot."
It wasn't exactly a blind spot, but it was blurry. Vadim closed both eyes and focused on the left, willing the tissue beneath his eyelid to heal, but not the scar above it. If Hesse had seen it as a possible liability, Vadim would take it seriously. It could mean life or death for Vadim or the small group of people he would protect with his life.
Once he'd fixed his vision, it was easier to keep reading.
∞∞∞
Klaus
Klaus noticed Vadim's eye the moment he returned to the crate. The left had been slower to dilate and a little dimmer under the light, especially when he refused to let Vadim look away earlier that morning. Now, Vadim tracked him from the door to the corner of the mattress with an intensity that almost made his knees buckle as he approached the sail bed.
He traced the scar with his finger, loving the way Vadim's breath hitched at the touch. "Why?"
"Hesse said it could hinder my ability to protect the people I love."
"I thought you didn't believe in love."
"I never said that."
"Right. You said you were impossible to love, and people always leave you. Is that right?"
Vadim nodded.
"You still love Captain Efren?"
Vadim laughed. "No. Not like that, anyway."
"The others? Stan, Tovey, Olivia, Hannah, and Tim?"
"They're my family."
Klaus couldn't hold Vadim's potent gaze any longer. He stared at the stretched sail until Vadim took his hand and watched as Vadim brought it to his lips and kissed his knuckles. "You're my family, too."
"Gods, I hope not," Klaus said. "I've never had a family, but from what I've learned from turning tricks, sex is frowned upon between family members."
Vadim laughed. "That's only if they can reproduce. Sex between family members is perfectly acceptable with consent and without the possibility of children."
