Page 9 of Hooked by a Hero (Tales from the Brotherhood #4)

Five

E lias had never loved and hated an experience so much in his life.

As the days bled into weeks and the weeks with very little but ocean and sky around them wore on into nearly two months, he spent every moment he could in Caspian’s company.

Caspian was more than just beautiful, he was clever and had seemingly adventured all over the world.

“I particularly enjoyed the time I spent exploring the Chinese Empire and the city of Shanghai,” Caspian told both Elias and the circle of friends they’d made in the months of the journey so far as they idled away their time on the main deck one cloudy day.

“You have traveled all the way to China?” Lady Adelaide asked, blinking rapidly as she held the handle of her umbrella with both hands.

Elias supposed the umbrella was to keep the sun from spoiling the young lady’s complexion, as it had Ruby’s, but the way the skies looked, she was as likely as not to need it to ward off the rain.

“I have traveled nearly everywhere there is to travel,” Caspian answered her with a grin.

“Travel has been my life for many years now.” He glanced to Elias and continued with, “There is so much to see in the world these days. Everything has begun to move so fast, from the mills and factories of England to the markets and ports of Cathay. People everywhere are discovering things and creating things that I never would have imagined in my youth.”

“But you are still quite young, are you not, sir?” Lord Dunstable asked with a condescending look, as though he knew better than anyone about everything.

Caspian tensed slightly, a faint blush coming to his face.

“I am,” he said, then immediately turned away from the man and went on with, “The colonies of Australia are fascinating examples of how quickly mankind is advancing in and of themselves. Though I believe you Englishmen tend to forget that the lands you voyage to are not entirely uninhabited to begin with.”

“Those lands are inhabited by savages,” Mr. Ferrars said with a sniff. “We are bringing them culture and organization that they sorely need.”

“Grandpapa,” Ruby scolded him. “You cannot say such things if you do not know the people there already. From the continent of Australia to the lands of Hindustan to the Chinese Empire, people have lived and thrived in these lands for centuries, even if they are not white-skinned Europeans.”

“Longer than that,” Caspian said.

Mr. Ferrars and Lord Dunstable, along with some of the others, still weren’t impressed.

“They are all backward and uninformed,” Lord Dunstable said. “Those of us from Great Britain and the rest of Europe are doing them all a great service by bringing our ways and wealth to them.”

Elias would have tended to agree at the start of the journey. It was what he had been taught to believe, after all. But when Caspian shook his head and laughed, as if they were the uneducated ones, he questioned what he believed.

“The land kingdoms of the east are as rich and vibrant as any in the west,” Caspian said. “Why, the land that you call China has been brighter and more advanced that your lands in the west for centuries.”

His statement was met with scoffing and indignation from half of their group of friends, though some of the others, like Ruby, Mr. Hunt, and Miss Winters, seemed willing to learn more and perhaps change their minds.

“You do not believe me?” Caspian asked, genuinely surprised.

“My dear boy,” Lord Dunstable said, reaching over to pat Caspian’s hand as if he were a child.

“Youth is full of folly. Listen to your betters when they tell you that the British Empire is the pinnacle of life and civilization and that these dirty, backward places full of brown people would do well to adopt our ways.”

“But I have been there,” Caspian said, a rare note of frustration seeping into his countenance.

“I have walked through those markets filled with silks and spices. I have seen the Forbidden City in Beijing and the many grand palaces throughout that part of the empire. Those things were not built by savages.”

“Well, I suppose there are outliers in every civilization,” Lord Dunstable said with a sniff.

Caspian leaned forward in his seat, shifting his hand so that Lord Dunstable was forced to pull his hand back.

Elias sensed the friendly conversation going sour and stood. “I feel the need to stretch my legs,” he said with as affable as smile as he could manage. “Caspian, would you care to walk with me?”

Not a single one of their friends saw the move as anything other than what it was, Elias’s attempt to diffuse what had suddenly become a volatile argument.

They seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief when Caspian silently stood and walked away from the group, though it helped nothing that Elias heard Lord Dunstable mutter, “I am only telling the truth,” as they left.

“I apologize,” Elias said as they made their way to the diagonally opposite side of the deck. “Old men become stuck in their ways and blind to the truths in front of them.”

“I have been there,” Caspian said, still grumpy, though Elias could tell he was trying to shake away his bad feelings.

The trouble was that the entire ship seemed to be enveloped in unsettled feelings since the clouds had begun to gather that morning.

“I have seen all the things that those men have only read about. They are so determined to feel themselves superior that they are missing out on some of the wonders of the world.”

“I agree,” Elias said as they reached the railing and leaned against it, gazing out at the horizon and the razor-thin strip of land that could be seen there.

They’d begun their traverse around the Cape of Good Hope the night before and must have been a fair way around the tip of Africa already.

That was, perhaps, one reason the ship had grown so tense.

Captain Woodward had warned them a few days before that weather was often inclement at that part of the journey.

“I am amazed that you are so well-traveled at your age,” Elias said, changing his tone and leaning so that his and Caspian’s arms touched. “I wish that I had seen even a fraction of the things that you have.”

Caspian’s smile returned, though Elias could tell it took some effort.

As had become their secret custom, Caspian hooked his pinkie finger around Elias’s as they gripped the railing and shielded their hands from view of anyone who might have been behind them with their bodies.

“There is so much to see,” he said with a wistful sigh.

“This world is a huge and wonderful place. Everyone should see as much of it as possible.”

Elias hummed and leaned a bit harder into Caspian. Caspian glanced at him with a longing look.

That was the part of the voyage that Elias hated.

His heart was firmly in Caspian’s hands, and he could not forget the way his cock was in Caspian’s mouth, if only for a moment.

Those few seconds had been glorious and had hinted that there could be so much more between the two of them.

Elias knew Caspian wanted it as well. They’d even managed to steal a few impossible, and all-too brief, kisses in the last few weeks.

But for the most part, a confined ship filled with passengers and crew, cutting through unknown waters, miles away from land and private space, was the very worst place to conduct an affair.

Every time Elias believed he had discovered a safe place where he and Caspian could explore each other the way they both wanted to, those spaces were quickly proved to be as public as any.

“I want to travel the world with you,” Elias said, barely above a whisper, gazing at Caspian with as much open affection as he dared to show.

“I want to show you everything,” Caspian replied in just as warm a voice. His grin turned wicked, and he repeated, “Everything.”

Elias chuckled and lowered his head, knowing that his blush would give him away in an instant.

He would have done something about it, but Captain Woodward and Mr. Tumbrill had just come up from the hatch leading down into the captain’s and officer’s cabins.

Captain Woodward had made his revulsion of the love shared between two men so apparent that Elias moved away from Caspian, even though he wanted to stay in contact with his beloved forever.

“Have you truly seen everything?” he asked instead, attempting to lighten the mood. “Every nation known to man?”

“I’ve seen most of them,” Caspian said, straightening a bit and doing his part to keep the conversation light. “I was telling the truth when I said I’ve spent most of my life traveling.”

“Are you a sailor?” Elias asked. “That is, odd as it sounds, I am still uncertain whether you’re a passenger or a member of Fortune’s crew.”

Caspian laughed, but he did not answer Elias’s implied question. “I’ve traveled in all sorts of ways,” he said instead.

“But what does that mean?” Elias asked, his curiosity suddenly flaring. “Were you apprenticed to a ship’s captain as a boy? Did you serve in the navy of whatever country it is you originate from? What country was that?” The last was the question that had kept Elias’s mind buzzing for weeks now.

Caspian’s expression clouded slightly, but not with anger or irritation. “I have been something of an ambassador,” he said. “At first, as a boy, I traveled with my father.”

“Oh, I see,” Elias said, though really, he didn’t. “Was your father an ambassador?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Caspian said.

The answer was maddeningly vague, but before Elias could ask further questions, the conversation that had been taking place between Captain Woodward and Mr. Tumbrill grew loud enough to interrupt them.