Corvus (Stars and Sails, Book 1)

Twenty-four

Aiden woke up in a warm bed for the first time in years. He wasn't tucked into it. His body had been thrown on top of the counterpane, his arms bent into weird angles and his leg hanging over the side of the mattress. His button-up had been disturbed. Aiden couldn't help but worry about someone seeing his tattoo. He was still dizzy. He couldn't remember what brought him there, just the creaking of a cellar door and the smell of must.

He scrunched his eyes as a pain shot through his temple. Rubbing his forehead, he sat up on his elbows. His heart seized—someone sat in the ottoman at the foot of the bed.

The man turned. Aiden sat up fully, poised to attack. It was a longshot to think he had a chance at beating whoever landed him this far on his ass, but he hadn't a lot of options at this point.

"I thought you'd sleep forever," Joshua Holden said. He stood up and dusted off his white shirt. His suspenders hung around his hips. Aiden's fingers curled up into clenched fists. He pressed them into the counterpane. Holden closed a book that he was holding and sat it down on a windowsill. Beyond the sheer red curtains was a faint stain of daylight lingering on the glass. The few strands of daylight peeked in through the curtains and illuminated the dust in the air. He hadn't slept that long in his entire life.

Holden laughed. "What would I do then? Well, I think I'd just have to throw your body into the ocean or something."

Aiden's eyes widened.

"Aw, now. I meant nothing by it," he said. He slapped his hands together once causing Aiden to jump. "We're at town hall. I brought you through the church cellar so that we wouldn't be seen. It looks tacky for the mayor to have a boy slumped over him like a corpse."

Aiden ground his teeth. "What did you do to me?"

"Nothing."

Aiden groaned and tugged at his hair. His scalp felt like it was covered in needles. "What happened to me?"

Holden dusted off the footboard with his handkerchief. "Just a little trick I picked up the badlands. It's dangerous out here, you know."

"Just tell me what you want."

"I just wanted to talk. But you 're so busy getting handsy with my fiancé, I didn't know how to get you alone." he said. His cheek twitched. He moved over to a dresser and picked up a bag. He sat back on the ottoman and turned towards Aiden like they were friends.

Aiden glanced at the sun filtering in through the window. It wasn't helping his nausea. Aiden jumped. "I have to go to work." He swung his legs over the side of the bed. The vertigo kicked back in and he hit the pillow immediately. "Really, I can't afford to get fired," Aiden grumbled as his vision blurred and ran like watercolor. He rubbed his eyes.

Holden nonchalantly waved him off. "Randall knows where you are. You've got to rest after falling like that yesterday. Ouch."

"I didn't fall, you sack of—"

Holden waved him off again. "Sure, but listen." Aiden looked around the bedside for something to throw up in. Maybe he'd use one of his scorpion shoes if it came down to it. "You dance well," Holden said.

Aiden swiped his hand across his mouth and cleaned up a bit of drool. "I'm not dancing with you, Holden."

Holden narrowed his eyebrows and said nothing for a solid minute. "Good." He took a breath. "I meant yesterday, with my fiancée. She looked...happy."

"I pretty much ended it with her." Kind of. Not exactly, but he got super close to it. That sure deserved him a pat on the back.

"Good for you. Now, believe it or not, I'm protecting you." Holden sighed. "So, who are you? Suppose I mean, who do you imagine yourself to be?"