Page 118 of Suffer No Fools
"Not again," Klaus whined. "That bastard gave me another disease."
"Shush," Yvette said. "Thank fuck Fanidra's a healer. I'm almost out, and so are you." She glanced meaningfully at Vadim, who clutched Klaus's shoulders tighter and let the others work.
Fanidra followed Yvette's orders, and soon Klaus was back on his feet. He still looked exhausted, but at least he was healed.
"You did it," he whispered to Vadim. "I knew you could do it. All it took was a life-or-death situation, like our bond."
"I'd prefer not to test any more of our abilities that way," Vadim chided, pulling Klaus into his arms.
Tovey turned his back on the sweet moment and caught Stan and Hugo staring. They both blushed and looked away.
Tovey went to them, holding Hugo to his chest and then dragging him to Stan, where they both clung to him. Tovey sighed as Stan's warmth seeped through their clothes, thawing his frozen heart.
He loved them both. He wanted to tell them, but fear gripped him again. He wanted them to know, in case the worst happened and one of them—
He couldn't think like that. He would tell them once this mess with Coryn was over.
He would tell them, even if they parted ways forever after the battle.
Another wave of undead came through the wall, and Klaus stifled a moan. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I can't sense them anymore."
"Stop blocking." Vadim chuckled as Klaus's face brightened, and then he scowled.
"Gods," Klaus groused. "Why are you always right?"
"Not many more," Vadim called. "We'll find Coryn in the throne room."
Once again, Tovey turned back to the corner filling with undead. He froze the creatures stuck in Nola's water weaves, and Stan and Hugo burned them with fire until Vadim finally gave the all clear.
They worked well as a team. It was time to test their skills against Coryn.
Chapter 18
Hugo
They met Efren and Niall in the hallway. Efren was still bleeding from a cut he'd received from an undead creature. Unlike Fanidra's and Klaus's wounds, the cut had stitched itself back together.
"Niall and I share healing," Efren explained when Klaus asked. "It's not as quick this time, though."
"This time?" Klaus asked. "You were cut by one of those things before?"
Efren nodded. "On Stony Eel Island."
"These are more powerful," Niall said.
"Coryn still had the power from the scales when she turned them," Efren said. "We have to assume the scales changed her."
"She's stronger," Vadim agreed. "When she tried to siphon our death weaves, I almost couldn't stop her, even with Allora's enchantments."
"It felt different this time," Fanidra said. "Like she had power of her own and wanted to add to it."
Hugo didn't like the sound of that. "You mean she used the scales to become a spectral weaver?"
"Maybe?" Fanidra shrugged. "I doubt it's permanent, or even spectral, since she couldn't use death weaves against us."
"You did well to destroy the scales," Efren said.
"Now we've got her cornered," Hugo said. "She'll fight us like a wounded animal. We need a plan."
