Page 76 of Suffer No Fools
"Thank you, Elder Beatrice. I will defer to you for matters that involve Aquarion." Hugo bowed his head, and she returned to her seat. "Unfortunately, we are here for more personal reasons. Today, we will address my kidnapping the night of Solstice."
"It was a mercy!" The most decorated water weaver waved her hands, and Breezy squawked. She must have been her original owner.
She stopped talking abruptly when Hugo cut her off with an air weave. "They think my relationship with my guards is unbecoming of an emperor."
Vadim laughed, and half of the Glamierians shuffled backward toward the wall, as though his very voice could kill them. "They don't know Embertide's history."
"We thought they were old wives tales," Tovey said. Even they had been surprised to see Hugo use both earth and air to escape the burning ship.
"There is no mercy in taking me away from my guards. We are bonded." More gasps filled the room, this time from both the table and the prisoners. "I don't know if my parents were bonded or not. My dad had fire, obviously, and my mother had both fire and ice."
"Bonded to your guards? How do you know?" The man who spoke stood closest to the door and was also a decorated captain. Tovey guessed the man was the captain of the ship that arrived after the kidnapping attempt.
"We are bonded," Hugo repeated, and then turned his attention to the woman Breezy recognized, the one who had tried to abduct him. "No marriage contract can break what we have. No marital spat, either. We're connected, core, heart, and mind. Taking me away from them will only make me angry, and you'll face my wrath, the way you did the night before last."
"What happened?" the man asked. "Our seeker saw something she couldn't explain, one man using fire, air, and earth."
"They talked me out of using ice." Hugo shrugged. "Said it would damage the lifeboat and the two ships. I only wanted out."
"But—"
"I have Stan's earth," Hugo continued. "Tovey's air. I also have a mental link with each, so they gave me directions on how to use those powers to free myself."
Tovey didn't recall giving Hugo any instructions, but he had felt the weave on a level so basic, he could have formed it in his sleep. That should have been terrifying, but it was oddlycomforting to know that his core would answer Hugo's call even if he were asleep.
"Your aura has changed," Klaus said. "It's nothing like a spectral weaver's, either. It's exactly how you described." Klaus glanced at Efren, and then at Nola, and laughed. "It's so new to me, I didn't know what I was seeing. Can you see it, too? The sunbursts around their auras?"
Klaus had addressed a short woman with short blond hair.
"Aye," she said. "I also didn't know what it meant, but if they are bonded, it makes sense."
"Can you see mine?" Klaus asked.
She shook her head. "I'm not a grand seeker. The death weaver, though ... his is even brighter than the captain's."
Klaus glanced at Vadim and grinned. "Our bond is stronger than theirs."
"I don't think it works that way," Vadim whispered. "This isn't about us." He raised his voice to address Hugo. "Were you hurt?"
"No."
"Good, because I consider you my family."
The crowd pressed backward again, though most of them had nowhere to go. Their backs were against the wall.
The meeting dragged onward, with Vadim asking the captain who had kidnapped Hugo her reasoning, and then asking the other captain his reason for sailing to Aquarion. Tempers flared the longer the meeting went, especially since none of their answers made sense. Yvette nodded after each answer, though. They were telling the truth.
"Hugo has no intention of marrying into the Glamierian royal family," Beatrice repeated for the fifth time after Hugo had said so himself.
"What good would come from returning him to Hearthstone?" Vadim asked at least twice. The two captains even disagreed over the execution of their kidnapping plot.
Hugo sighed, pushed to his feet, and stared at the crowd hovered against the wall. "This is getting us nowhere. Who here will volunteer to sail withStarlight Specterto Luminest with a message for your sovereign?"
The woman standing beside the captain who had kidnapped him raised a tentative hand. "I will, Your Majesty."
"You'll return within the week with their answer."
"Aye."
