Page 38 of Tell No Tales
"Speaking of regret," Olivia pointed toWildfire,where it was rolling up on a reef even Vadim could see beneath the waves. "What the fuck are you doing?" she shouted.
"What?" The pirate atWildfire'swheel wore a long coat much like Vadim's, and long pants over his boots. He looked every bit like a naval officer, except he wore a pirate's kerchief. A curl of brown hair stuck out of the band, and the back of his head was shaved as short as the stubble on his face.
He looked like he could be Stan's smaller cousin, but his actions were far more brazen and foolish than anything Stan had done, even the time he'd kissed a pleasure worker who had claimed to be a siren so the curse of the siren wouldn't follow them. There was no curse of the siren. Vadim had made it up on the spot to see if Stan would do something so foolish, knowing Tovey was jealous of anyone who came close to him.
"You're going to hit that reef!" Olivia shouted and pointed, but the smaller version of Stan only waved back and shrugged.
"Well, it's inevitable." Olivia steered them a safe distance away and motioned for Stan and Tovey to slow their wind.
"Oy!" Stan shouted across the water. "Devon! Land ho! Turn!"
Devon. Stan's older cousin, then. It had been so long, and they were just enough apart in age, that Vadim had forgotten all about him. He'd been a pain in the ass when they were kids, always sending them to do chores that didn't make any sense, like throwing the starfish back into the sea (Efren had finally spelled the shore so they couldn't get stranded at low tide), or to gather driftwood on the beach, where the tide caught it again when it came in.
Wildfireran aground on the reef, the stern sliding around until she was jammed into the living obstacle at an angle.
"Gods, Devon, who said you could wreck my ship?" They could hear Nola's shouts over the rush of the wind.
"It's not wrecked!"
The reef moved. That was the only way Vadim could describe the shift of living coral beneath the ship. First, the prow was jammed into it at an angle, and then the prow was beyond it.
Then,Starlight Specterjerked to a stop in the water, knocking Vadim to his knees. He heard a splash, and then Hannah shouted four words Vadim never wanted to hear.
"Man overboard! It's Klaus!"
∞∞∞
Klaus
Klaus had no time to reach for the deck railing as he toppled over it. Then, he was falling through the air, the water coming up to greet him faster than he could move. He didn't have time to bring his arms into position above his head for a dive. He hit at an awkward angle, and then the world went dark.
He didn't know how long it had been before he came to, coughing and sputtering, his arm both aching and firing sparks from his shoulder to his fingertips. And he was cold. So very cold.
He didn't know how his head was above water until he felt a tug at his good arm. His head snapped back, but then he was bolstered by something solid behind and beneath him.
"Fuck. I can't heal the arm yet. Need to get it back in its socket first." Vadim's voice had never sounded so good. "Are you still with me, Klaus?"
He tried to speak and ended up coughing up more salt water.
"Shh. Don't try to answer. I've got you."
Vadim wrapped his good arm over Klaus's chest and pulled him backward with sure, swift kicks.
Gods, Klaus felt so safe when he was in Vadim's arms, even with most of his body submerged in the ocean. How could he feel safest with a death weaver?
"You called, I came. Again. Always."
Klaus jerked upright in the water, the voice in his head startling him like nothing else.
"How are you talking to me in my head? Did you forge another life link?"
"No!" Vadim's voice was as sharp and hot in his ear as it was in his head. "You weren't dying. You were knocked out. I healed you." Vadim sucked in a breath of air, and then he chuffed a laugh. "Healing. You need healing, so you can hear my thoughts."
"Can you hear mine, too?"
"Yes."
"I never want you to heal my arm. Not until I know how you feel about me, and you know how I feel about you."
