Corvus (Stars and Sails, Book 1)

Forty-eight (Part 2 of 3)

Holden closed his eyes and pressed his hand into his stinging side. The only thing that gave him some sort of relief was a double shot of whiskey. He drowned it back, not even waiting long enough for the taste.

In the drawing room, he made his way onto the narrow staircase when he heard the quiet tinging of glass. He looked around.

His back hit the wall as soon as he saw Payne with the drawing room bowl of sunflower seeds. He was digging around, very particular about the seeds he chose. He tossed one into his mouth and chewed it with his back teeth. Someone was sitting next to him. She had short hair and dirty, wet clothes. Holden's throat constricted when he realized that it was his wife.

"How responsible is it to put sunflower seeds out on the table when the whole crop is like," he stopped to pour a handful into his mouth, "Destroyed," he finished with a mouthful of seeds. He dusted his hands off and leaned back on the couch. Amelia Rose turned her eyes away from Holden. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, just as polite as she looked on their wedding day, all up until she fled from his bedroom window.

He sighed. "Those are my father's. I don't really like sunflower seeds."

"Interesting." Payne picked the bowl back up and ate another handful. "I don't like 'em either," he said as he tipped the bowl back and poured the remaining seeds into his mouth. Zephram would be furious.

"Mrs. Holden, have you decided to come home?" Holden asked. He already knew what he wanted her to say, but he didn't know if her father would accept that kind of answer.

"Of course not," she said. "Do you think me to be a fool?"

Mr. Holden contained a sigh of relief and fidgeted with his wide-brimmed hat. Although his stress had been mitigated, his tight lips couldn't hide his annoyance. "I do, actually. You—you look—" he gestured in her general direction and stuttered a bunch of random noises that weren't made to mean anything. "Ridiculous! I'm mystified!"

Payne threw the expensive bowl down on the coffee table. "Holden, you look ridiculous. I never really understood that whole beard thing." He circled his finger around his perfectly hairless chin. "Doesn't work for you." Holden rubbed his cheek and looked away.

"I do look ridiculous," Amelia Rose said. "Might you have a pair of trousers that fit me better?"

"No."

"I know you do," she said. Holden ground his teeth and let out a long sigh. With the swift flick of his wrist, he motioned them towards him and walked up the staircase. At least Zephram wouldn't see them. He wouldn't know what his father would do if he saw Amelia Rose looking like this. They followed and Holden bowed his head to avoid hitting it on the hanging lantern.

Payne grunted at the metal lantern bopped him in the forehead. He groaned and rubbed his head. All Holden could do was sigh again. That boy was about as bright as the insides of his shoes.

The three filtered into Holden's room before he shut the door behind them. Amelia Rose sat carefully on the corner of the ottoman, trying not to dirty anything, but Payne was quick to wander over and lie on the bed in his soaking wet clothes.

"Those sheets are satin," Holden said. He'd have to wash them all, it would be a mess. His hand started shaking again. It was doing that all the time as of late. The whiskey would stop that soon enough.

Payne stretched out his arms and moaned. "I know."

Holden tugged on the quilt and rolled him off onto the floor. He disappeared behind the bed. Back in his dresser drawer, Holden found a pair of pants that might fit Amelia Rose, but the legs were certainly too long. His hips were also a lot smaller than hers. If she fit, they'd be tight. He threw them at her and pointed at the dressing screen. She hurried behind it with the new trousers.

Payne sat up, his head poking up from behind the bed. "We didn't just come here for pants," he said. "We can get those anywhere."

"I had imagined," Holden replied as he opened his armoire and looked around for his sewing kit. It wasn't on top of his shoe rack. Maybe it was behind his box of cufflinks.

"What do you know about Kraz?"

Holden's shaking hand found the sewing kit in the closet. He pulled at it and threw it on his dresser, breathing shallowly. Everything he'd done was focused on erasing that part of himself. The changing screen rustled and Amelia Rose stepped out. The pants were indeed tight on her. The legs extended well past her feet and flopped around the floor. Holden glanced at Payne, but ignored his question.

"Those are tight," Holden said.

"They're comfortable."

"Practical for climbing," Payne added. Holden hadn't meant it as a compliment. Women weren't to be wearing trousers, especially not tight ones. They looked awkward. It wasn't his problem though. Amelia Rose went to roll the legs up.

"No, stand on the ottoman," Holden said. "I'll tailor them." She looked confused, but she climbed up onto the seat and watched him roll up her pant leg. "Stand up straight," he ordered. He marked the length and sent her back to the changing screen.

Payne scooched out into the corner of the room and laid on his back. Holden still didn't like the thought of him dripping saltwater onto the floor, but he didn't have a tarp lying about and he wasn't going to walk out to the gardening shed to get one.

Though the thought had crossed his mind.

"Are you ignoring me, Holden?"

Funny. He got his first taste of the upper hand and now Payne was as unbearable as ever. Figures. With little grace, Amelia Rose strung the pants over the side of the screen. Holden snatched them and walked back to his dresser.

"Katz? That means nothing to me," Holden replied. He cleared his throat and ignored the taunt. He focused on cutting the excess length off the pants, leaving a small seam allowance. The little needle he owned wasn't so easy to thread with his hands shaking. He bit his tongue and steadied his wrists on the dresser.

"And I heard this rumor," Payne said, "That he just burned himself? Oddest fellow, wouldn't you say?"

The thread darted out of the hole in the needle. Holden slammed his fists against the dresser. "Must you talk so much?" He searched for the needle. "I get it. You know, I get it all. But I know all about you, too." Holden admitted. He had seen the tattoo when he had accidentally come across Aiden on one of his nightly swims. What kind of low-class fellow just bathes out in public? Disgusting. "Why do you think I told you to leave Aydesreve? If he found you, you'd be—"

"He? You mean Helios?"

Holden grimaced and threaded the needle. "Yes."

"So," Payne stepped over to the dresser and leaned against it. Holden focused on pushing the thread into the hem of the trousers. Payne hovered in the corner of his vision. "Who is he?"

"Helios? I—" Holden frowned again and pulled the hem closed over and over. "I don't know. That's the point. I don't know him, but I know he's watching me. Closely. "

"What if you ran away?" Payne asked. "Disappeared and they never saw you again?"

The room went quiet. Holden tied a knot at the end of the thread, finishing the hem. Amelia Rose breathed in sharply from behind the screen. "Aiden, no I don't think that's the best—"

"What a thought," Holden said. He didn't plan on going with them. Not at all. But if he could stay with them long enough to get what he needed from Amelia Rose and then kill her, then this would all be worth it. "I'll come with you."

"Mr. Holden, I don't think that's the best idea, seeing as we truly hate each other," Amelia Rose said.

"Nonsense," he said. "What a thing to say to someone who has tailored you a new pair of trousers." He handed them to her over the screen and once she came out on the other side, he found himself impatient with hospitality and decided to ask her what was really on his mind. "Have you opened the safe yet?"