Page 149 of The Sky Pirate's Stowaway
Kaspar laughed, the sound bright in the quiet morning air. “Kayla’s practical. She’ll judge you on how you treat me and Cody, not your profession.” He squeezed my hand. “Besides, she’s hardly in a position to be picky about how we survive in this world.”
I nodded, but uncertainty still gnawed at me. Family was sacred to Kas—what if his sister disapproved of me? What if she saw only the Reaper, the criminal with blood on his hands?
“Stop it,” Kas said firmly, reading my expression. “Kayla will love you because I love you. That’s all that matters. And Cody? He’s going toadoreyou. He’s going to completely lose it when we tell him that you have your very own airship. He might ask a million questions about your leg, though.”
“I shall tell him a sea serpent took a bite out of me.”
We laughed, then our hands remained intertwined as we stood together, watching the approaching kingdom through the mist. Kaspar’s thumb absently traced circles on my skin, his touch both comforting and electric. I felt him shift slightly, his fingers drifting to the silver band on my ring finger. Eric’s ring.
He twisted it gently, rotating the ring that had once symbolized so much. I glanced down, watching as his freckled fingers played with the band, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.
“What is it?” I asked, noticing how he opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it again.
A blush crept across his cheeks, spreading to the tips of his ears. “It’s nothing,” he said, pulling his hand away.
I caught his wrist, keeping him close. “It’s this ring, isn’t it? It really bothers you that I still wear it.”
Kaspar’s eyes darted to the silver band, then back to my face.
“I told you, I don’t wear it because I still love Eric,” I said, the words tasting bitter in my mouth, making my stomach clench. “I do it to remind me…” I trailed off, unable to finish the thought aloud.To remind me never to trust. Never to love with my whole heart. Never to let myself be vulnerable again.
Without another word, I slipped the ring from my finger, feeling its familiar weight in my palm one last time. I closed myfist around it, drew back my arm, ready to launch it into the endless sky—
“Wait!” Kaspar’s voice was panicked. He grabbed my wrist. “You might need it!”
“What? Why?”
“Like Torres said—evidence.”
A hollow laugh escaped me. “It’s not evidence of anything, Kaspar. Except maybe the worst time of my life.” I shook my head, looking into those earnest green eyes. “And I don’t want it on me. Not now that I have you, the brightest star in my darkest sky.”
I drew my arm back again, ready to release the last physical reminder of Eric’s betrayal.
“Stop!” he snapped. “Look, honestly, I can’t bear the thing on your hand. But give it to me. I’ll keep it. Just in case.”
I sighed. He was being ridiculous. That damned ring would never help me. Eric had returned it to me, lying unconscious in jail, as one final cruel taunt.
But I couldn’t ever deny Kaspar a single thing, so I nodded and handed it over. He took the thing like it was pure poison, pulling a face and wrapping it in a handkerchief before pocketing it.
“I’ll keep it safe,” he promised, his expression softening. “Just in case.”
The weight that lifted from my finger felt more significant than the small silver band should have warranted. Five years I’d worn it. Now my hand felt strangely naked, but also… lighter. So much lighter.
A voice sounded from below—Ariella calling up to us. “Morning, Captain. How’s the sky looking?”
I glanced upward, taking in the canvas above us. The dawn had broken fully now, painting the heavens in strokes of amber and rose gold. Wisps of cloud stretched like spun sugar across the expanse, catching fire in the morning light. The endlessblue beyond promised freedom, possibility—things I’d stopped believing in until Kaspar had stowed away on my ship.
For the first time in years, I looked at that sky and saw more than an escape route. I saw a path forward.
“Beautiful,” I called down. “Absolutely beautiful.”
28
Kaspar
Seeing Sunada from high in the air was a surreal experience and not something I ever thought I’d be lucky enough to behold.
Who would’ve thought a blacksmith’s apprentice from the slums would wind up flying around the world on a famously terrifying pirate ship?
