Page 75 of The Sky Pirate's Stowaway
“You noticed his eyes too?”
“Ha!” She pointed right at my face. “I knew it. You really do like him. Give me the scoop.”
This time, I rolled my eyes at her. “There is no scoop. Nothing can happen between us. And besides…” I sighed and yanked on a harness. “I’m not gonna be on the ship much longer.”
She sat up straight. “What? What do you mean?”
I winced. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “I… I’m staying in Asteris.”
“Why the hell would you do that? That place looks nice, but it can be just as bad as Sunada.”
That wasn’t the first time I’d heard that, and I didn’t know if I should believe her or not. “How do you know? You been there a lot?”
“I’m from Asteris. Outskirts of Gearhart, in the slums. Trust me, I’m from the part of the kingdom they don’t want you or anyone on the outside knowing about.”
“Oh.” I blinked, processing the new information before deciding to answer her question. “I have to send for my family. They’re counting on me.”
Everything in her seemed to deflate. “Oh. Well… if it’s one thing I understand, it’s doing something you don’t want to do for family.”
I stared at her for a long moment. “Is that why you’re on this ship?” Out of everyone, she seemed to fit the least. She wasn’t your typical pirate in any sense of the word, and I knew therewas a story there. She didn’t even have a real pirate nickname, and no one would tell me why.
“Yeah, it is.” She pulled on a line aggressively, and I could tell that part of our conversation was over. She wasn’t about to tell me her life story, but that was okay. If she would’ve told hers, I might’ve felt like I needed to share back.
And that wasn’t something I could afford to do.
Instead of pushing for answers, I asked, “Do you know why Willy’s on the ship?”
“You’ll have to ask him that yourself. It’s not my story to tell.”
“Fair enough.”
As soon as we were quiet, my gaze automatically sought out Max without my realizing. I found him on the starboard side of the main deck, speaking to Bones. I was pretty sure the guy was in trouble, but Max wasn’t shouting so it couldn’t be too bad. He put on a good show when he reprimanded people for doing stupid and dangerous things.
Max was standing on his right leg, with none of his weight on his prosthetic, so I watched him carefully for a few seconds. When he walked away from Bones, he wasn’t limping exactly, but he was being very careful with his leg. Which likely meant it was hurting him.
Master Redman always struggled at the end of the day with his own missing leg, and when he was trying to hide his pain, he looked a lot like that.
Mermaid tails, Max was hurting. And he was too stubborn to take a break too.
Maybe I could help him later.
“Nothing going on—uh-huh,” Ariella said sarcastically.
I grimaced, and all she did was snort.
“I’ll get it out of you eventually.”
“My lips are sealed, Windy.”
She snorted. “Get back to work before I sic Reap on you.”
I chuckled.
“Although, you’d probably like that.”
Despite myself, I laughed and threw an elbow into her ribs, making her squirm and laugh with me.
For the rest of the day, I continued working, but my eyes kept moving back to the handsome man I really wanted to kiss again.
