Page 93 of Tell No Tales
"All the better, if he has something to live for." Vadim toed his way between Klaus's legs and pulled him tight to his front, rubbing their hard cocks together through too many layers of fabric. They'd need to remedy that soon. "He's not here now."
"But tomorrow—"
"He'll be drained," or dead. Vadim didn't dare say the second part aloud, but from Klaus's smirk, he'd heard it through their link. "Don't worry about tomorrow. We have tonight."
"You've been avoiding me," Klaus said. "What changed?"
"We could die tomorrow." It was callous to deny what had been building in Vadim's heart over the past six months. He'd fallen in love with Klaus. Now, the only way for him to walk away with dignity was to deny it. If they survived, Klaus could live in his newly built dwelling on Aquarion, and Vadim would return to the shitty shack he'd built for himself when Efren had first recruited him.
"If we don't?" Klaus asked. He must have gotten hints and whispers of Vadim's thoughts, even though he was doing his best to block them again.
"Nothing changes."
"There's that word again." Klaus's smirk didn't reach his sad eyes. "Nothing. You keep saying that's what I mean to you, but I don't believe you."
Klaus meant far more than nothing, but saying so now would only break Vadim's heart. When they returned to Aquarion, Klaus would be free.
"You really think I'd abandon you?" Klaus asked. "Who would defeat Coryn's undead army, if I leave?"
"Yvette thinks I could use your power through our link. You could stay on Aquarion, or even go to Glamiere."
Vadim wasn't sure he believed Yvette. He'd tried to destroy the undead himself, but he couldn't touch them. Vadim didn't know if he could use Klaus's power himself, but he didn't want Klaus to think he was tied to them indefinitely.
"When are you going to get it?" Klaus smacked their foreheads together so hard it hurt. "I'll never be free until all weavers, seekers, and the like, are free. I won't sit on an island thousands of miles away while you run off and risk your life. We'll do it together."
Klaus tugged on the back of Vadim's head until he leaned down enough for him to kiss the bruise forming above his eyebrow. "This army is designed to kill death weavers. You can't kill something already dead. It's the only way Coryn can touch you."
Vadim shivered as he remembered the reanimated woman in the library. "There was nothing there for me to drain."
"Healers and death weavers are connected through their powers." Klaus kissed him again, a gentle brush of lips, before stepping back. "Coryn wants you all dead. It's only a matter of time."
"She needs a healer to raise her army. Who would do it for her?"
"She has a spectral weaver she can drain," Klaus said. "She only needs to know the spell."
"She might also have a death weaver with more balance than I had." Fanidra had been a scholar in the healing school. While he and Yvette had been learning practical spells for the military, she had been aiding their professors and conducting research. With her suspected suppression amulet, she could hide her full talent from a seeker in plain sight.
"Did you sense anything strange in Coryn's room?" Vadim asked.
Klaus frowned. "Like what?"
"Enchanted artifacts acting as suppressors?"
"I would have to be in the room, and even then, I might think the person doesn't have magic. I recognize suppressors because they give off an aura. I recognize some enchantments because it takes a weave to create them, but a suppression enchantment … suppressors don't have weaves that I can recognize."
Klaus's theory was perfectly reasonable and also frightening.
"Enough talk," Klaus said, removing his shirt as he backed out of Vadim's reach. "Get naked."
Vadim stared at him, wondering what had spurred Klaus to action.
"We might die tomorrow. You said it yourself."
Vadim couldn't argue with that. Nor did he want to. He wasn't ready to admit what Klaus meant to him, but he wouldn't miss the opportunity to show him one more time.
∞∞∞
Klaus
