Page 31 of Tell No Tales
Klaus met Vadim's gaze again to try to judge if he was serious. Incest had been outlawed when the royal magic started to wane centuries before, about the same time they made it legal to hunt down fire and ice weavers among the common folk.
Vadim stared back at him. "Incest is not outlawed in Glamiere, for example. Or on Aquarion, though we pick up more strays than births these days." Vadim frowned. "Not many women lived to bear a second child. It's easy to see why, now that we've taken Martiz's power and his knife away, but before then, we assumed it was the hard island life that had made our mothers weak."
"Did Martiz let your mother die?" Klaus thought he remembered a hint of a shared thought before Vadim had locked his mind with a song to keep Klaus out.
"I believe so, but it's hard to know. He was there. My aunt remembers that much. Martiz was on a naval ship for most of my youth, but he was there when I was born. I've asked, but he won't speak of it. While my memory is good, it doesn't go back to infancy." He smirked, but there was no humor in it. "I tried to tell Aunt Elsie as much, but she didn't want to believe. She blames me to this day."
Klaus remembered the deep anguish of losing his own mother. While he pitied Vadim for never knowing his mom, he couldn't imagine growing up with an absent father and an auntie who hated him. "How did you survive?"
"Martiz knew I had healing power from the start." Vadim shivered. "Don't ask me how he knew. He told Beatrice to keep an eye on me, thank the gods."
"Did you grow up with Niall's mom, then?"
Vadim shook his head. "No. She was a water weaver, and older than me. Efren remembers her more because they had the same teachers. She wasn't vocally abusive, unlike some of the others." He shrugged. "Maybe that's why I don't really remember her? That's no excuse for killing her, though."
"If Efren or Stan hurt you," Klaus said, the anger roiling in his gut, "I swear to the gods—"
"No. Mundane kids. And younger weavers, Tovey's age." Vadim sneered at him. "Don't get any ideas. He was just a kid."
Klaus already kept his distance from Tovey. The air weaver's temper seemed about to snap at any moment.
"Martiz returned when I was sixteen. He said it was for my training, but Coryn and I discovered the truth. He was dishonorably discharged for letting too many people die on his watch. Mostly pregnant women." Vadim shook his head. "I was lucky to survive him, I suppose. By the time he finished with me, I had no emotions left for my bullies."
"None?" Klaus knew that wasn't true. He'd felt Vadim's deep resentment for his teacher and tormentor. "You should have been an air weaver. You would be the strongest in the land."
Vadim rolled his eyes and slid a slip of silk into place as a bookmark. "I'm glad it doesn't work that way."
"Are you?" Klaus had always imagined death weavers wished they were anything but. "You never wanted to be another type of weaver?"
"Have you seen what Tovey can do?" Vadim shook his head. "You have, because an air weaver ripped you to shreds and left you bleeding on that doorstep. What I do is much more humane." Vadim laughed. "Fuck, Stan and I were talking about how Tovey is afraid of me. I wonder if he knows I'm terrified of him."
"You can counter air weavers, though, right?"
Vadim shrugged. "It all depends on their intent. If they want to kill me outright, I have a chance to counter before they can cut me. If they want to tie me up and slowly slice me to pieces—"
"You can counter that, too." Klaus grinned. "Remember the Sloppy Sailor?" Vadim had used the Landale tavern as a meeting place for any of Coryn's sailors looking to jump ship and sail for a new captain. One of the earth weavers had gotten out of hand when he saw Klaus. He'd also tried to wrap a slip of air around Vadim's wrists. It had been enough for Vadim to drop him where he stood.
"I didn't kill him because he bound me," Vadim said. "I killed him because he shoved you up against the wall."
Klaus stared at him while the words bounced around inside his head until they made sense. "You can do that? You can kill for other people?"
"We were linked," Vadim reminded him. "Any threat to you was a threat to me."
"And now?"
Vadim shook his head. "I wish I could promise to always protect you."
"Can you put it back?" Klaus swallowed hard, hating how needy he sounded.
Vadim dropped his legs over the side of the sail and sat up. "Not without a life-or-death reason."
"Not even if I consent?"
"Why would you?" Vadim asked. "You hated being bound to me. You fought it the entire time and swore you'd never see me again once it was broken."
Klaus grinned. "I'm still here, aren't I?"
"Why are you still here?"
