Page 59 of Hooked By a Hero
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.”
There were a few more moments of unsettled murmuring before Elias spoke up and said, “We could row them out to theFortuneand keep them there.”
Everyone turned to him, including the mutineers.
“You propose we turn the wreck of the Fortune into a prison for these men?” Hunt asked him.
Elias shrugged. “It would keep them separate from the rest of us.”
“Until they dive into the ocean and swim back to the island,” Mr. Cartwright pointed out with a scowl. “Once they do, we will be right back where we started.”
“If they swim back to the island, then we’ll kill them,” the man who had suggested their deaths before said, forming a fist and stepping threateningly toward the thin mutineer closest to him.
“Please! I’ll behave!” that man pleaded. “I didn’t want none of this to begin with. I was dragged into it by the others.”
“So was I!” another of the men called out.
“And me!” a third said.
Caspian doubted they were all as innocent as they were suddenly pretending to be, but they were all stuck on the island one way or another. Loyalties shifted easily when survival was at stake.
More discussion followed, including pleas from the mutineers. Caspian found it all fascinating and watched as if he were at the theater in Drury Lane. He found Hunt’s reactionequally interesting to watch. The man appeared to listen to everyone, arms crossed, a grim look on his face.
Finally, Hunt raised his hand again for silence, then said, “Any mutineer who wishes to be treated leniently will be allowed to integrate into our community. But I warn you, even a small infraction will be dealt with harshly. Those who say we need every set of hands we can get are correct, though. We will not be able to survive long enough to be rescued if we do not all work together.”
