Page 39 of Hooked by a Hero (Tales from the Brotherhood #4)
Twenty
I t seemed wrong for Caspian to be as happy as he was when so many traumatizing things had happened to the people he had come to think of as his friends.
But for all the tears of relief and upset that the ladies were shedding as he and Elias walked out of the surf and onto the dry sand of the beach, for all the shouted commands that were being thrown about by the men as the mutineers who had been caught were dealt with, and for all the turmoil that was yet to come, Caspian had never felt happier.
“You’re alive!” Lady Adelaide said, pushing herself up from where she’d been sitting on a fallen tree near the signal fire, her face streaked with dirt and tears, and rushing to greet Caspian and Elias as they came forward.
Emily came with her. “Dear God, you’re both alive. We were certain you had perished.”
Caspian was grateful to find his spare pair of trousers ready for him to slip on, especially when it looked like Emily might throw her arms around him to hug him in relief.
“It is Dick that has perished,” Caspian said, smiling sympathetically at the distraught woman.
As he’d supposed, that knowledge seemed to set Lady Adelaide at ease. It also sent her into another round of tears that resembled tears of joy.
“What happened out there?” Mr. Cartwright asked, looking suspiciously at Caspian and Elias. “As Lady Adelaide said, we were certain beyond any doubt the two of you were gone.”
“We saw the boat capsize and sink,” one of the other men said. “When you did not emerge, we believed the worst.”
“We did emerge,” Elias lied, his face red, though in the dim light of only the moon, the signal fire, and the torches a few of the others had lit, it would have been hard for anyone else to tell. “We were far out, however, so I am not surprised that you did not see us.”
“Yes, that must be it,” Woburn said, accepting the explanation easily, though he eyed Caspian’s now covered legs suspiciously.
Caspian glanced to Elias with a wry grin, then reached for his lover’s hand. Elias did not take the offered hand, however, which likely had more to do with the way Elias was attempting to maintain his modesty by holding the tail of his shirt down and moving carefully in the tatters of his trousers.
“We need to take these prisoners and the ladies back to the encampment,” Woburn said, puffing himself up a bit like he would be the man in charge.
“Agreed,” Caspian said, nodding to him with all the deference he would have used for Hunt. He found Woburn’s sense of authority endearing. “I would recommend that you take the prisoners ahead so that Hunt might secure them fully before the ladies are forced to be in their presence.”
“Oh, that is a good idea,” Woburn said with a bright smile. “Come along, you!” he ordered to the four mutineers that had been captured.
Caspian exchanged an amused look with Elias as the two of them stepped aside so that the mutineers could be led up to the path.
“I am in no state to entertain ladies,” Elias whispered once he and Caspian were the only men left, moving toward their packs. “I need a proper pair of trousers. Modesty aside, my legs are forming silver scales.”
“Oh, I doubt there is any rush,” Caspian said with a teasing shrug. “I am certain the ladies do not mind our state of dress, given the circumstances.”
They glanced across the short distance that now separated the two of them from where the ladies stood after the mutineers and the others had walked on. Contrary to what Caspian thought he would see, the ladies stared at the two of them with wary looks.
“I swear to you,” Elias said in his softest voice as he rushed to don the trousers he’d found in his pack, “neither of us will harm you. We would never, after what you have been through.”
The ladies’ expressions did not change from their wariness.
Miss Winters cleared her throat and all but whispered, “We saw you.”
Her words could have meant a dozen different things, none of which particularly bothered Caspian, but Elias suddenly looked anxious. He cleared his throat and asked, “What do you believe you saw?”
The ladies exchanged awkward looks with each other, which, again, nearly made Caspian laugh. Englishmen were so overly polite and careful with each other.
At last, Miss Winters took a small breath then said, “We saw what could only be…tails flash out of the water after the boat sank.”
Elias did neither of them any favors by squirming and fussing with his trousers, as if his body were the least of the things he wished to conceal from the ladies. “Are you, er, certain you did not simply see a pair of large fish?”
Caspian had to press a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing loudly.
“They were not fish,” Lady Adelaide said. “But I struggle to allow myself to accept what I believe I saw with my own eyes.”
“I saw your legs just now and all,” Emily said, nodding to both of them.
Elias blanched, but Caspian smiled. “It is a dark night, my ladies,” he said with a half bow, like the English made. “The moonlight often plays tricks on the mind, particularly when one is experiencing distress. And the humidity in this part of the tropics can trick the eyes as well.”
The ladies exchanged looks and nodded to each other and Caspian.
“We will leave the explanation at that,” Lady Adelaide said. “Perhaps we could return to the encampment now.”
Without another word on the subject, their small group made their way to the path and through the jungle. Emily fetched burning branches from the signal fire for them to use as torches, and although the danger had passed, the five of them moved quickly to rejoin the others at the encampment.
What they found there was surprising. The battle had ended, and fortunately, Hunt had led the other male survivors, and Ruby, in defeating the tired and malnourished mutineers.
Tumbrill had been subdued and shackled and now sat in the clearing between two of the ramshackle huts that had been damaged in the attack.
“You’ve survived,” Hunt greeted them with a wide smile, leaving the clustered group of mutineers to cross to Caspian and Elias so that he could shake their hands. “Woburn said you were captured momentarily by Dick, but that you were somehow saved?”
“Yes, er, I was,” Elias said warily, sending Caspian a look. He glanced back to Hunt and said, “If you do not mind, my clothing and Caspian’s were damaged in the fight. We need to find shirts and make ourselves more presentable.”
Hunt glanced at Elias’s wet shirt and Caspian’s lack of a shirt, and though his face pinched in confusion for a moment, he had no way of making the connection as to why Elias and Caspian were in such a state. “We will share our stories as soon as you return,” he said.
Elias nodded, and he and Caspian hurried off to their hut, which had somehow not sustained any damage in the brawl.
“What do we tell them?” Elias whispered as the two of them searched for and donned the shirts that had been left there when they’d set out that morning, which seemed like a lifetime ago.
Caspian laughed. “I have asked myself that question a dozen times and more in the last few months.”
Elias’s expression softened a bit, and as they were both fully dressed again, he stepped over to rest a hand on the side of Caspian’s face. “I understand so much more now,” he said. “I do not blame you in any way for failing to tell me everything straight from the start.”
“Do you wish to tell the others everything now?” Caspian asked. He was not enthusiastic about revealing his true nature, Elias’s, too, now that they were together, but whatever his lover wanted, he would agree to.
But Elias shook his head. “No. It is far too complicated. And to be honest, the others would just think we’ve gone mad. We have raised enough suspicion about ourselves in their eyes as it is.”
“You are right as usual, my sweet,” Caspian said, then leaned in and kissed Elias’s lips.
As he pulled away, Elias smiled shyly, which sent Caspian’s heart soaring. “I love you, Caspian,” Elias whispered. “I want you to know that.”
Caspian stole another quick kiss, then said, “I love you too, Elias.”
He took Elias’s hand and boldly pushed the woven grass door aside, marching out to join the others without any shame or hesitancy about showing his affection for Elias.
The two of them had done more than enough to prove themselves to the others, and if they dared to say a word against them now, the two of them could simply swim away.
Caspian was eager to show his beloved the world he was now very much a part of.
They received a few looks from the others as they joined the gathering in the center of the encampment, but no one dared to say a thing against them.
“Now that you’re all here,” Hunt said. “We must decide together what is to be done with Tumbrill and the others.”
“Kill them,” one of the survivors growled right away. “They would have killed all of us and taken everything we have made here. They should be executed as traitors to the Crown.”
“We cannot kill them,” someone else said. “That would make us as bad as them.”
“We will need all the extra help with labor that we can get,” Mr. Archer said.
“But they will consume our much-needed supplies,” Mr. Cartwright argued.
“They can gather their own food and supplies,” still someone else said. “They will work for what they get.”
Several people spoke up with similar opinions on both sides of the matter. Soon, everyone was talking and arguing over each other, until Hunt held up his hands to stop the discussion.
“No one will be killed,” he said definitively. “I, for one, do not want blood on my hands, and I do not believe any of you would wish that either.”
“But if we keep them here among us, they will rise up again and kill us,” Woburn reasoned.
“He is right,” Mr. Archer said. “But I’ll be damned if I know what to do about it.”