Page 8 of Tell No Tales
"Could another weaver do it?" Vadim asked.
"Aye, another earth weaver, but why?"
"Tovey—"
Stan squared his shoulders and straightened so he towered over Vadim. "Tovey's many things, but he'd be more likely to strip my sail than yours. He's terrified of you."
"Still?"
"Aye."
Vadim shook his head. The younger Aquarion children had avoided him growing up. Aunt Elsie had spread the rumor that they might die in their sleep if they got on his bad side. He'd considered it a point of pride growing up, but now, he was disgusted at her poor treatment. He was a child, for fuck's sake. He hadn't deserved everyone's fear.
He considered the other two elders on board, but neither would have stripped the sail from the wall in the same way. Jermain was an earth weaver, but he took pride in his work. He would have disconnected the two pieces without stripping the grooves.
"Niall?"
"Now you're being ridiculous," Stan said. "Why would the captain's man want you to sleep on the floor?"
"He and Klaus are friends."
"Aye, but I thought Klaus didn't like you much. I heard him caterwauling' at you when you first came on board as our prisoners. Said he'd rather die in the hold than be with you."
Vadim's face burned hotter the more Stan talked about Klaus. He couldn't erase the memory of Klaus with his cock in hand, his beautiful, freckled skin with a rosy sheen from the top of his head to mid-chest in the ribbon of light through the door frame. If Vadim kept thinking of it, he would need to take another dip in the ocean and hope Efren kept his sharks away.
The wood creaked as Stan held the pieces together. When he dropped his hands, there was no break or seam between the sail anchor and the wall.
"There," Stan said. "Good as new. I've merged the wood. It won't swing as easily as before, and the sail could still rip, but the frame will hold as long as the ship's seaworthy."
"And the other side?"
"We'll have to leave her, or it'll be like sleeping in a bed. You need at least one side to rock with the ship, or you'll roll right out with a good wave."
"Will it keep me from getting seasick?"
"Aye." Stan clapped him on the back. "So will going above deck with your seeker."
"You're certain he couldn't have done this?"
Stan shook his head. "'Twas stronger than I could pull out of the wall. I know because I tried it, and then I made it stronger than that."
Vadim had narrowed it down to one suspect, then. "Where is Niall?"
"In the captain's bunk. With the captain."
Vadim didn't have to ask to know what that meant. "I'll wait to speak to him, then."
"Aye, would be a good thing to do. Captain's a right bear when you interrupt him mid-fuck."
Vadim remembered.
As he followed Stan to the deck and took his favorite spot along the aft quarterdeck's railing, he pondered his failed relationship with Efren. He'd been the cause of that failure, but he didn't have any regrets about leaving Efren behind.
He'd been too wracked with guilt over Willamina and her crew. He'd sentenced them to hang and said the word to drop the platform beneath their feet. Niall said he forgave Vadim for killing his mother, father, and their crew, but Vadim knew the truth. Coryn had given the order, and Vadim had let them hang when he could have made his last stand against her.
Then he'd be as dead as they were, and Hugo would be trapped forever in the palace, cut off from his fire weaves, his voice, and his imperial birthright. Coryn ran Embertide in all but name, and she kept their rightful ruler on a leash like a pet.
It wasn't fair, but then, neither was losing Hesse when Hugo was seven, and losing Empress Delilah when he was twenty. Little of Hugo's life had been fair. Vadim hoped the young man would embrace his duty as emperor once they freed him from Coryn's shackles. Vadim had done his best to stay in Coryn's good graces over the years. Now that he'd let his hand slip and showed her his cards, they needed to act fast.
