Page 30 of Measure of the Stars

Chapter Seven

It was a beautifulday, and Wes hadn’t thought about Delauney’s cock in hours.

He hadn’t thought about it when he woke up that morning, listening to the bells ring to signal the change of the watch on theManatee.He hadn’t thought about it during breakfast, when Delauney insisted on eating together with their notes spread out between them, Ned rolling his eyes on the other side of the table.He hadn’t thought about it when Delauney’s thigh had pressed against his, or when Delauney had touched the back of his neck as he rose from the table.He hadn’t thought of it as he made the bed, and he certainly hadn’t thought of it as he gathered Delauney’s cast-off clothes.

He was doing fairly well, all things considered.TheManateehad left Hekate’s Eye a few days before, assigned to escort a merchant ship to Madog’s Throne.The merchant ship was a small vessel, hugging theManatee’sshadow as they slowly wended through the warm currents.

The sea was steady in this stretch of Diabolos.There were dozens of tiny islands between Hekate’s Eye and Madog’s Throne, and fishing boats hovered nearby like gulls, watching them pass.Jim even spotted a small pod of whales off the port bow, which excited Ned’s children so much that Duck had to lie down in a dark room afterward.Even George was smiling, sneaking off into the shadows to write to Fern while ship cats crawled all over his legs.He’d given Wes a strict lecture about meddling in the affairs of cats, but it was hardly a real dressing-down.

Alain was still moping over their sick colony member, but they seemed to be on the mend, because Alain actually smiled when Wes suggested cough remedies.

And none of that, not one single moment, had involved Wes asking Delauney to spear him with his enormous cock.

It would be foolish to ask.Delauney was his captain, after all, even if he didn’t seem particularly interested in the job.He was a noble, not to mention a member of the military council.The last thing Wes needed was to get physically or emotionally entangled with Delauney de Mazet.

“Wes!”Delauney cried, striding across the ship toward the tubs of laundry Wes and Alain were working on.He was holding a sheet of paper tightly in both hands.“I found one!”

“You isolated an element?”Wes asked.“I thought I told you not to set any of those vials on fire without me.”

“Oh, no, I boiled this one,” Delauney said, as though that was any better.Their last experiment had scorched the roof before they started taking the spectroscope onto the deck.“Well,thenI set it on fire, but it doesn’t matter, because look!The signature matches!”

Wes took the paper from Delauney’s shaking hands.“Really?”He glanced warily at Alain.

“We’ll finish up here,” Alain said.“Go on.”

“I’ll pay you back by doing yours next time,” Wes promised.He turned back to Delauney.“What’s the element called?”

“I don’t know,” Delauney said, practically bouncing as they walked back along the deck.“I was just told that the components are practically explosive.”

“Delauney!”

“Oh, everything’s explosive if you try hard enough,” Delauney said.“And if the sunismade of gas, well, most gases explode by nature.”

“That crate is in our bedroom,” Wes said.

“Yes, andthiselement is in thesun.Do you think there is a name for it in that book of yours?I know the individual components, at least.”

“There must be something,” Wes said, setting aside his reservations in the light of Delauney’s relentless optimism.

They pored over the book until dinner.Delauney managed best if Wes read the book aloud while he followed along or worked on something else.So Delauney worked onWes’tasks while Wes sat with his legs propped up on the desk and the book in one hand.It was slow going.Delauney kept getting distracted with questions, and Wes realized thathehad questions as well, drawn by Delauney’s enthusiasm and a hunger for everything his parents never taught him.

“Howdoyou know that the earth is turning?”Wes asked.“Vee says it’s something to do with how you can see some stars all year round while others move, but no one ever explained it to me.”

“Really?”Delauney said.“Then I’ll have to show you.We’ll do it tonight, after Ned and Peter have gone to bed.”

Wes felt a sudden rush of warmth, followed by a crushing wave of guilt as he thought of Delauney splayed out on the deck in the moonlight, shaking under his touch.Thatwould be an entanglement.Entanglements were messy.They involved late-night assignations and sore knees, not late-night stargazing.Even if Wesdidhave to stop himself from palming his cock at the memory of Delauney’s mouth on him, it was still only a memory.It wasn’t as though they were involved.

That night, they crept out through the dining room together, lugging an ordinary telescope between them.Delauney snickered as they banged a leg of it into the door frame, and Wes had to hurry them both out before Alain materialized from the aether to catch them.