Page 40 of Tell No Tales
Klaus wanted to kiss the upturned corner, but he held back long enough for Vadim to strip him naked so Hannah could douse him with lukewarm fresh water. Once Vadim and Hannah had repeated the step for himself, he scooped Klaus into his arms again and carried him to their crate cabin.
Klaus wanted to protest being tossed into the sail bed, but there was no arguing with Vadim when he was in a state of righteous fury. He stood on the mattress as his hands traced above Klaus's skin by less than an inch.
Vadim's gloves were off.
Klaus had never seen Vadim's naked hands before. The skin was lighter than his arms, thanks to less sunlight. The purple veins that ran across his bones demanded to be traced to his wrists, where they disappeared into his flesh.
Klaus couldn't resist. He reached out with his index finger and followed the thick vein running between Vadim's middle and ring fingers, tracing it along the bone until it swerved over the top of the fourth bone and then curved back to his wrist.
Vadim's breath hitched. He didn't breathe again until Klaus lifted his finger to trace the solid bone of his wrist to the underside. He curled his fingers around Vadim's thumb and pulled his large hand closer to his face for better inspection. The pads of his palm were thick with old callouses, but still buttery smooth on top, thanks to the gloves' protection. Klaus pressed Vadim's hand to his chest until it splayed flat over his breastbone.
"Klaus." Vadim's voice was barely a whisper.
"Touch me, Vadim. I want to feel your skin on mine."
Klaus shivered as Vadim drew circles on his chest with his index finger while the rest of his hand stayed still. It was tiny, but it was a start.
Chapter 10
Vadim
Emboldened by Klaus's gasp, Vadim traced his index finger across the bone down the middle of his chest. He was still too skinny, but he'd been getting stronger before he'd fallen overboard.
Vadim had lost track of time and all coherent thought. From the moment Hannah said Klaus was in the water, Vadim had a singular focus, and everything else faded into the background. He should have put them back on after he'd jerked Klaus's arm back into its socket. Now here he was, touching Klaus with his bare hand, tracing over his bones, reveling in his soft and sensitive skin.
"I need to check you for any other injuries," Vadim said. "Then, I should put my gloves back on."
"No," Klaus said. "Don't put them on."
"You're not afraid?"
"Why do you wear them?" Klaus asked. The smug quirk of his lip said he already knew that Vadim was humoring him by saying it aloud.
"To contain my death weaves." He couldn't control when Coryn stole his power without permission, as she'd done during their imperial conquests.
Klaus shook his head. "On a level, maybe, but your magic operates on consent, and consent goes both ways. Your magic only works when both you and the other party are willing."
This man with no magic training had explained the consent of life and death magic in a simple way Vadim wished he'd heard as a child. Instead, Martiz had twisted consent away from him, making it seem like only the other party held the upper hand in his transactions. Coryn wasn't a weaver, though. She was a siphon. Surely, it couldn't be that easy.
"You consented to help me," Klaus whispered. "And I consented to your help as long as it didn't kill me. That's how we ended up with a life link."
Vadim felt it in his heart. Klaus was right. He'd never viewed himself as part of the equation before. He'd chosen to help Klaus, death weaves be damned. He would never consent to hurt Klaus. If it came to that, Coryn would have to kill him, first.
"If this is how all healing and death magic works, why don't all healers know how to do it?" Vadim asked.
"Balance?" Klaus asked. "Beatrice thinks it's the answer to everything."
Vadim shook his head. "I wasn't balanced when we met."
"You had a deficit of healing power, thanks to Martiz. That doesn't mean you aren't balanced or searching for it." Klaus grinned. "Maybe I'm your balance."
Vadim glanced down at his hand on Klaus's perfect skin. He couldn't stop rubbing circles into his flesh with his fingertips, loving the feel of it. Klaus was something, all right. Vadim didn't feel balanced around him. He felt reckless, needy, and so unlike himself. He knew better than to threaten to kill people for no better reason than because they were acting like careless children, but he couldn't help himself, not when Klaus was hurt by their stupidity.
Klaus grabbed his wrist and dragged his hand lower, down his chest to his tight abdomen. He hissed as Vadim hooked his thumb in his navel and then circled the indentation, loving the quaking sensation beneath his touch. He glanced back at Klaus to make sure he was all right, and the lust in his eyes nearly made his knees give out. Gods, this man.
Klaus pushed Vadim's hand lower, skating his index finger over the line of copper hair that flared into a nest of curls around his cock. Vadim closed his eyes when his fingers trailed through the precome pooling there.
He swallowed as Klaus molded his fingers around his hard cock. "Gods, yes," Klaus whispered. "Better than anything I've ever felt."
