Page 17 of Tell No Tales
Vadim was tired of making the wrong decisions for the right reasons. Elemental magic didn't allow anyone the power to see into the future, nor did it allow them to go back and change the past. If he could, he would have ended Coryn's life the night he first met her. She'd attacked him, thinking he was another courtier trying to sleep his way into Hesse's good graces. She wasn't the first of Hesse's bodyguards to attack him, either, but Vadim had known Hesse better by then. When Hesse had laughed at his, "overenthusiastic bodyguard," Vadim had spared her. Hesse had looked on Coryn with affection, and Vadim had drained her to unconsciousness instead of taking her life force.
He'd made so many mistakes in Hesse's name. He'd ignored the summons to the palace the night before the emperor's wedding. An audience with Hesse wouldn't have changed their future, and their eventual paths. Vadim had received a letter a month after the wedding, again beseeching him to speak with his emperor. He'd assumed it was about love, not duty, and he'd refused.
Knowing Hesse, it was entirely possible he'd guessed right, but something Delilah had said afterward still rankled.
"He wanted you to take Coryn's place as captain of his guard."She wouldn't say anything beyond that, even when pressed.
Hugo had burst into tears every time Coryn entered a room. He would quiet when Delilah scolded him, but Vadim had always wondered what Coryn had done to scare him so. He wasn't an easily frightened child. He'd been enthralled by Vadim's gloves and would beg him to take them off so he could wear them, even when Vadim had explained his reason for keeping them on.
"I can kill people with a thought and a raised hand."
"Brilliant! Show me!"
"If I show you, you'll be dead,"he teased.
"Not me! Someone … bad. Coryn!"
"If only it were that simple."
They were lucky they'd been alone. If Vadim had dared to say those words, even in jest, within hearing distance of Coryn's loyalists, he'd be dead, and Hugo would be trussed up even tighter than he was now.
He paced the length of the deck twice before Milton stopped him for a chat. Milton's skin was still lighter than the rest of the crew's, but Vadim guessed it would be as tan as Hannah's in a year. His hair was darker than Hannah's, which was harder to place. He was from somewhere north, but Vadim wouldn't take bets on the location.
"It's so wonderful to work with you again!" Milton held his hand out for Vadim to shake.
Vadim wouldn't call it "wonderful," but no one asked him, so he kept his mouth shut as he took Milton's hand in his gloved one.
The air weaver had a strong grip. Thankfully, he let go before it became too awkward. "Where are you from originally?" His brow arched with excitement, and he hadn't yet stopped smiling.
"Aquarion. You?" Vadim was curious, and he had some social skills. Conversation was about turning the tide back on the other person, so he didn't have to talk about himself.
"I'm from Catsbreath."
The port town was the furthest north on Embertide's main continent. That explained the air weaver's dark brown hair.
Milton had rambled on about his family, and Vadim almost missed his question. "Do you have family on Aquarion?"
"Not anymore."
That wasn't fair. His aunt still lived, but she saw death weavers as a danger, the same way Coryn cataloged healers.
"I never thanked you,"Coryn had told him once."You drained me, but you didn't change me in any way. I don't know why healing magic changed me, but I know it did. One morning I woke up after Martiz had cut me and I was able to throw him across the room with air and run away."
Air manifested from anger. Vadim studied the young man who was still staring at him with a curious expression, as though waiting for him to elaborate on his family situation. Wherever Milton had trained, he'd learned better manners than Tovey on Aquarion.
More time passed, and still Milton said nothing.
"Where did you train in air weaves?" Vadim asked, again trying to turn the conversation's direction.
"I was raised at the academy in Hearthstone."
"Raised?"
"My parents were both conscripted earth weavers mining gold on Tozbony island." The island was an hour offshore from Catsbreath, less if they had an air weaver with them. "I was three or four when they put me on a nursery ship bound for Hearthstone."
"How old are you?"
"Eighteen."
