Page 3 of Measure of the Stars

“And everyone else aboard theManatee.”

Wes didn’t give that much thought.People were always making assumptions about submissive officers.He had an officer on his first ship who’d been thoroughly uninterested in sex, but rumor had him sleeping with every dominant he met.Rumor didn’t mean anything where a submissive was concerned.

“There you are!”

Delauney pushed open the doors behind Wes.His face was slightly pink, and he smiled nervously at the guards before extending a hand.

“Glad to have you aboard,” he said.Wes hesitated.In the Starian navy, sailors and captains didn’t shake hands.He saluted instead.Delauney sighed and tucked his hands in his pockets.“Nasty business in there, wasn’t it?I hate court duty.Let’s collect your things before Lord Cecil changes his mind.”

“Don’t you have a man to do that, sir?”Wes cast the guards a bewildered look as he followed Delauney across the street.The guards shrugged helplessly.

“I used to, but his contract ended and I never got around to assigning another.”Delauney was bright and boisterous, with no sign of the care he’d taken with Lord Cecil.He evenwalkedloudly, swinging his arms with each bouncy step.“I suppose that’s your job, if you like.”

Wes tried not to talk back for a solid five seconds before folding like a cheap deck of cards.“Sir.Whatismy position?”

“Well, Cecil says that I need to reform you into someone who won’t whip a man who beats children,” Delauney’s voice was loud enough for a group of people at a bakery window to turn and stare.“But he isn’t in charge of my ship, so you’ll be...”He stopped in the middle of the road and turned on one heel, making Wes stumble so as not to knock him over.“I suppose you can be my valet.”

Wes wondered if he could catch up with Lord Cecil in time to beg for a last-minute trip to Mount Hazel.The only good thing about his time at sea was avoiding all the ridiculous rituals noble officers had to put up with.He didn’t serve officers.He got out of serving duty as a cabin boy early on, when his commanding officer tired of Wes ‘accidentally’ spilling wine all over his lap.Being a valet to a noble, let alone one as cheerfully posh as Delauney, was a nightmare.

“Then it’s settled,” Delauney said, when Wes didn’t speak.“You’ll have half a year until you can leave the navy and collect your pension, so long as Lord Cecil doesn’t find anything to charge you for in the meantime.And I have someone to handle...”He gestured vaguely.“Things that need handling.”

“I’ve never been a gentleman’s valet before, sir,” Wes said.

“Well,” Delauney said, smiling at Wes with the exuberance of a puppy about to prance into a pool of bull sharks.“We all deserve a chance to learn something new.”

***

DELAUNEY DE MAZET WASonce again in over his head.

It was a familiar feeling by now.Delauney had been treading water in the metaphorical ocean of life since he’d been eight years old and had to read theTwelve Virtues of Noble Childrenaloud in the schoolroom.Faced with the burden of responsibility for the first time, Delauney had looked down at the letters swimming on the page, up at his earnest governess, and had burst into tears.

It was a shame that captains couldn’t have a good cry now and then.The thought of letting a man into his quarters on the ship was enough to make Delauney shudder, but trusting him with his clothes?His papers?The dangerous pile of things he shoved in the bottom of his bolted-down chest and tried not to think about?Mortifying.

Still, it was the best way to keep an eye on the man.Delauney was the first to admit that old Lennox deserved more than just a thrashing, but he couldn’t leave Wesley Leonhart with the rest of the ship and hope that he’d worked any mutinous thoughts out of his system.

Heknewit was an ill-advised decision.He knew it was reckless.The dirty looks he received from the rest of the court was proof enough that Delauney was making a terrible mistake.But something had possessed him in that small courtroom, and now Delauney was stuck with a sailor known for lashing his own captain with a whip.

“They don’t let you keep many possessions, do they?”Delauney said, standing by the dockside cells as Wesley emerged with his sea bag.Wesley gave him a long-suffering look.

“No, sir.”

It was always strange being calledsiron a ship.As a captain, it was expected.As a submissive who spent most of his life ducking out of engagements, it made Delauney want to turn into a husk and drift away on the breeze.He wasn’t some hard-headed dominant with a title and a dozen fawning suitors.Delauney was much more comfortable being the one doing the fawning.

“I have a spare bunk in my quarters,” Delauney said.The problem was, it was covered in cast-off clothes he hadn’t sent to be laundered yet.“You can follow me around in my day-to-day and figure out what needs to be done.”

Wesley fell silent.He was a handsome fellow with a fine figure, brown skin weathered by the sea, and a hawkish nose.His eyes looked just like his brother, Ferrin’s.Delauney had met Ferrin a few times in the palace, and he’d always seemed like a capable, even-keeled man.He had to be, with King Adrien upending his own court every other day.

Wesley didn’t seem to have the stony patience of his older brother.His mouth worked for a few seconds, then he turned to Delauney.“Are those your orders?Follow you around?”

Delauney shrugged.“To be quite honest, Wesley—”

“Wes.”

Delauney continued walking down the docks, hands in his jacket pockets.“Between you and me, I expect you’ve been through enough.Consider this a reprieve.”

Wes stopped mid-stride, took a long, frankly melodramatic breath, and closed the distance between them.He was a little taller than Delauney, and when he spoke, he had the slightest accent of a man from Duciel.“Sir.I don’t require special treatment.If I’m on a vessel, I’ll work.”

Delauney had never considered that someone would actuallywantto work.“I thought I would do you a favor.”