Page 77 of The Sky Pirate's Stowaway
My hand hesitated over the other item I’d brought with me, and I decided to wait for a bit before I took it out since it was sure to make him uncomfortable.
After a few bites, he said, “You know, we’ll reach desert territory by morning.”
My eyebrows shot up. “We will? I… thought we were going around?”
Max shook his head. “Most people do since it’s too dangerous for many ships. But theWraithhas made this trip a thousand times over, and it’s far quicker than going around. It shaves weeks off our travel time.” Under his breath, he said, “Not that I want to get there quicker.”
I winced at that. I didn’t want to get there quicker, either.
But that was a worry for another day, so I concentrated on the other thing Max said. Traveling over the desert. It was even more dangerous than the sea.
The fluxstones in the engine room seemed to brighten in my mind’s eye as I thought about how little energy they had left. What if we didn’t have enough to make it all the way through? “What about the fluxstones? Won’t we have better luck of running into someone we can trade with if we stay over the sea?”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t call what we do trading. But it’s not my call to make, anyway. And honestly, unless we find a Sunada fluxstone merchant ship, there’s little chance we’ll find anything. It’ll be fine. Like I said, we’ve traveled this way a million times.”
“But… aren’t the monsters… bigger?”
He shrugged. “It’s not that they’re bigger. It’s that they can use sand dunes to launch higher in the air if they want to hunt us, rather than their sea-domain equivalents. In general, all the monsters can fly higher in the air because it’s easier for them to push off of the sand, so they’re already starting at a higher point than the sea monsters. But don’t worry. We got this.”
I took a breath and gave him a nod, trying my best to let it go. Max was the one with experience out here, so I’d just have to trust him.
I only wish the engine fluxstones had more power.
What if I go down there and charge them?
It wasn’t the first time that thought crossed my mind, but I knew I couldn’t. The fluxstone engineer, Mad Murray, would notice for sure, and it wouldn’t be hard for them to figure out it was me who charged them.
As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t.
If only things were different.
Not wanting to focus on that, I leaned heavier into Max’s side and nuzzled into his shoulder. Max dropped his orange peel on the other side of him, brushed off his hands, and wrapped his arms around me tighter. Then he surprised me by kissing the top of my head and resting his cheek there as we both gazed up at the stars. The sweet gesture made my belly flip and my heart flutter.
If only things were different…
I’d never have to give this up—givehimup.
But wishes never came true, even if you wished upon a star. So I’d take this moment, treasure it, and remember it always as a precious time with a precious man who I cared about and who cared about me.
I’d store a piece of Max in my heart and take it with me, keep it safe, for the rest of my life.
We sat there in the peaceful moment for a long time, and I loved every second of it.
But then Max shifted, and I saw the strain of pain around his eyes. He was trying to hide it, but he couldn’t. Not from me.
So I straightened and leaned in to kiss his cheek, making him startle and stare at me. After giving him a grin and a wink, I reached into the sack and pulled out the jar I’d begged Stitches to give me. I even promised to help her in her cupboard tomorrow morning to help pay for it.
I hadn’t told her who it was for, but I had a feeling she knew, and that was the only reason she’d agreed.
After another brief hesitation, I held it out to him.
“What’s that?”
“It’s salve… for your leg.”
He froze, and we were pressed close enough that I could feel how taut his muscles were.
I held back a sigh because I knew this was a touchy subject. “Max, I… I know it’s bothering you, so I think you should take the prosthetic off and let me rub some salve on it—”
