Page 57 of Tell No Tales
"You didn't stop by the crate before breakfast."
Vadim's bemused look was even more alarming than his frown. "You made it here well enough. Do you need me to walk you back to the crate? Are you feeling lightheaded?"
"No." Klaus's face heated as he stared into his bowl of chicken gravy drizzled over bread. It wasn't as good as Petri's bread bowls, but it was still better than anything Klaus had eaten at the orphanage. It didn't cover the taste of disappointment, though. "Is that all I am to you? A patient?"
Vadim snorted as he scooped another spoonful of gravy into his mouth. After making a point of chewing and swallowing, he grinned. "I'm not a trained healer, so that would be impossible. You are not my patient, anyway. Niall healed you."
It was always semantics with Vadim. Klaus ate the rest of his breakfast in silence. Vadim finished before he did and left through the door toward the prow of the ship, not the aft.
If that was how the death weaver would treat him from now on, so be it. Klaus's chest ached to see him go.
Chapter 14
Vadim
Vadim was happy to see both Klaus and the kitten gaining strength. Unfortunately, with Klaus, that meant he was also returning to his natural bratty self. Vadim hadn't avoided him intentionally. He'd gone above deck to watch the sunrise, as he often did, and then he'd stopped Olivia on the way to her cabin to ask after Frost and Jermain, since he hadn't seen them much during the day.
"They take turns watching Martiz," Olivia said. "They don't make their presence known, but they want to be within earshot if he says anything damning. They also caught Tim's paranoia about Martiz overhearing what's going on above him."
"Doesn't Niall reinforce the shield on his cell every day?"
"Yes, but the longer Martiz is down there, the more he tests it. He's throwing himself at the doorway over and over until he's worn out."
Vadim couldn't hide his glee at the thought, though it didn't bode well if Martiz broke free. "Is Niall certain he can hold him?"
"Niall isn't certain of anything. Frost has offered to ice him in, but that will refrigerate the entire ship. Jermaine could board him up, but if we lose visual on him, we're worried he'll find a way to take his own life."
"I would know," Vadim said, "but I can't heal him against his will."
Olivia nodded. "Now you understand."
Vadim laughed out loud at his next solution. "We could let him die and put him on ice, so he doesn't rot before we hand him over to Coryn."
Olivia laughed with him. "That's dark, even for you."
"It might work."
"Nola was certain Coryn won't accept your offer either way. Living or dead, he's no bargaining chip."
"I'm willing to try." Vadim had a plan, but it would take Hugo's consent to work.
When he didn't find Klaus in the galley, he'd planned to bring him breakfast in bed. Klaus had ruined that by arriving late and picking a fight with him instead.
After Vadim hurried through his meal and left the cafeteria, he returned to the ladder beside Olivia's cabin and went down into the true hold. He found Frost and Jermain whispering in the furthest corner from Martiz's cell. Unfortunately, that placed them closest to the ladder. Granted, it wasn't as stinky as the hold outside Olivia's cabin, or the head itself, but it was still too much for Vadim.
"Can we talk on deck?" he asked.
"One at a time," Jermain agreed.
Frost dragged a hand through his short brown hair and sighed. Everything about the motion and the subsequent roll of his neck and shoulders as he approached reminded Vadim of Emperor Hesse. The image shattered when he reached the light shining down from the porthole. Frost was far older than Hesse lived to be. Vadim's heart ached, and he forced himself to look away.
Frost glanced back over his shoulder. "I'll go first."
Jermain nodded.
"What is our threat level?" Vadim asked when he and Frost were on deck with the hatch closed behind them.
"We're keeping a physical watch on him, and I've asked Niall to strengthen the shield on his prison twice a day."
