Page 44 of Tell No Tales
Olivia's eyes widened as she took in the scene. Vadim knew they looked very much together with their interlocked hands and Klaus's chin digging into his collar bone. She smirked. "About time."
"I thought you told him to stay away from me," Vadim said.
Klaus came around in front of Vadim and pulled him down to sit facing the sisters. Vadim snorted with surprise when Klaus curled up in his lap.
"Why should he listen to me?" Olivia glared at her sister. "No one ever does."
"Not true." Hannah dropped to the deck without a sound, but still managed to scare everyone but Klaus with her sudden appearance between their knees. "I listened to you when you said we should watch for enemy ships. It's a naval vessel. Too small to take us on, but they might be able to catch the smaller pirate sloops."
Hannah situated themself between Vadim and Olivia, widening their little circle on deck.
"They're being too quiet," Nola said. "I would have missed them until it was too late."
"It's a good thing you found us, then," Hannah said.
"What was your last port of call?" Klaus asked.
"Brinstock."
"They followed you here." Klaus's voice had the ring of arrogance to it. Vadim had hated that about him at first, his bratty confidence and sheer audacity to stand up to death. Now, Vadim found it endearing, though Nola looked like she wanted to slap the smug smile from Klaus's face.
"Followed me?" She scoffed. "I run the fastest ship in this ocean. They'd be stupid to follow me."
"Did you tell anyone you were looking for us?" Hannah asked.
Nola glanced at Olivia, and then at the deck boards. "That fucking bastard, Slimy Lou."
Vadim should have guessed. Slimy Lou was the sleaziest bartender in all Embertide. Brinstock was a small port, too small for Lou to acquire the vast knowledge he had. Vadim had often wondered if he had a way to communicate with Coryn through a healer or death weaver. He always knew too much for a mundane barkeep.
"He's not mundane," Klaus whispered. "He's an enchanter."
"He's a what now?" Nola asked as Hannah leaned in.
"I've always wondered," they said. "That explains so much."
"Fuck," Nola said. "It does. Like the time I almost passed out on his doorstep from one stout."
"When have you ever met him?" Vadim asked Klaus. He didn't mean for his tone to sound as accusatory as it did. He was only asking, but he also never wanted to see Klaus and Slimy Lou in the same room at the same time. The thought of it had him adjusting Klaus on his lap so that Klaus's back was pressed even more firmly to his chest.
"When Coryn shipped him to Landale for a private meeting at the Blue Rose." At least four years ago, from what Vadim gleaned from Klaus's memory. Even though the man posed no risk to Klaus, Vadim still wished he'd been there to protect him.
Klaus shrugged. "I didn't talk to him. He was far more interested in Coryn's fire weaver than in any of us." Vadim caught another hint of thought from Klaus. Slimy Lou had thought the young fire weaver was Hugo, but he was one of her decoys.
Nola shivered. "That asshole has been drugging weavers and using them to make enchantments!"
Olivia motioned for her to keep her voice down. "How were we supposed to know? We can't tell someone's an enchanter until they say so."
"I can," Klaus said, his smug voice earning him another stink eye from Nola. "I'll tell you if we cross paths with another."
"In the meantime, what are we going to do about Slimy Lou?" Nola asked. Her knife remained sheathed at her hip, but she looked like she wanted to kill the man.
"What he's doing is gross, but harmless," Olivia said. "Black market enchantments are nothing new."
"He might be convinced to share how he can communicate with Coryn over such long distances," Vadim said. If he had to guess, Slimy Lou had pulled the telepathic powers from a death or life weaver and turned it into a means of communication. "He might even be persuaded to make a similar device or two for us."
"Let's talk about something less offensive." Hannah leaned over and patted Klaus's knee. For the longest moment of anticipation in his life, Vadim worried they were about to ask what he and Klaus had been doing in the hold. Instead, they asked Klaus to describe the enemy ship's crew, from what he could sense.
From there, the conversation trailed off to anecdotes between Nola and Olivia. Niall and Milton joined them after a few minutes. Klaus's posture changed the moment they sank to the floorboards and widened their circle even more. Klaus turned to the side and wrapped an arm around Vadim's neck. He curled his legs tighter between Vadim's, pinching Vadim's cock uncomfortably against his thigh.
