Page 134 of The Sky Pirate's Stowaway
There was no way out of this, but at least I got to see those pretty eyes that glowed with a beautiful soul within them one last time.
“Let him go, Viper,” Max repeated.
Viper let out a malicious chuckle. “Never.” Then he pointed his sword at Max and yelled, “Now!”
25
Maximus
Ihunched over a lower deck port-side cannon, squinting at its internal mechanism in the dim light. Viper had sent me to fix a malfunction—something about the firing pin sticking and the loading mechanism jamming. It had struck me as odd when he’d approached me earlier. Patty knew the cannons better than anyone. Then Viper had said her pea-brain couldn’t figure it out, and that someone with common sense better look at it.
Though as I examined the firing mechanism more closely, my suspicion grew. The pin had been deliberately bent, not worn down from use. And the loading chamber… I pulled out a small wooden wedge that had been carefully inserted.
This wasn’t a malfunction. This wassabotage.
I turned the wedge over in my hand, wondering who would risk sabotaging our own weapons. The only explanation was—
“Reaper!” Ariella’s distant voice, barely audible over faint shouting, carried a note of panic that sent ice through my veins.
Kaspar.
I dropped the wooden wedge as I lurched toward the ladder. My prosthetic leg, which I’d been awkwardly balancing on whileexamining the cannon, buckled under the sudden movement. Pain shot up from my stump as the ill-fitting socket twisted against my skin.
“Damn it!” I clutched a rope on the wall to steady myself, forcing my leg to cooperate. The familiar phantom pain mingled with very real discomfort as I half-ran, half-limped across the deck.
More shouts reached me now, the unmistakable sounds of a scuffle. My heart threatened to escape my ribs as I climbed the ladder, gripping the rungs with white knuckles. Each step sent a jolt of pain through my hip, but I pushed through it, hauling myself upward with desperate strength.
This had been planned. The cannon… getting me away from the main deck. Viper had set this up, and I’d fallen for it completely.
“Viper!” I bellowed as I emerged onto the deck, drawing my sword in one fluid motion. The scene before me confirmed my worst fears. “Let him go. Now.”
My gaze fell straight on Kaspar. Those gorgeous green eyes locked with mine, wide with fear but blazing with defiance. A thin trail of blood trickled from his split lip, and a darkening bruise marred his bloodied chin. The fabric on his arm was torn, stained crimson. The sight of him in Viper’s grasp, a blade pressed against his throat, sent white-hot rage coursing through my veins.
I tightened my grip on my sword, the familiar weight offering cold comfort. My mind raced through calculations—the distance between us, the positions of Butcher’s crew, the loyalty of the rest of the aeronauts. But beneath the tactical assessment, raw terror clawed at my chest. Not for myself, but for Kaspar. For what Viper would do to him.
No. I wouldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t.
“Let him go, Viper,” I commanded, my voice low and deadly.
Viper’s laugh echoed across the deck, a horrible sound that set my teeth on edge. “Never.” He pressed the blade harder against Kaspar’s throat, drawing a thin line of blood, and my heart shattered into a million tiny pieces.
With his sword pointed at me, he yelled, “Now!”
Like a trap springing, Butcher and his men moved to surround me, weapons drawn. Maneater grinned, revealing his filed teeth, while Hunter’s rapier gleamed in the sunlight.
For most of my life, I’d dreamed of being captain of a ship.
Not apirateship. Never that. My grandfather had said pirates were the lowest of the low, scum of the earth. When I joinedThe Black Wraith, it felt like I was personally betraying him.
But as I stood there, watching Kaspar bleed under Viper’s blade, something crystallized within me. Ariella was right. It didn’t matter what I wanted. This crew needed me.
“Whoever is with me and Ariella,” I bellowed, my voice carrying across every inch of the deck, “take Viper’s men down!”
For a heartbeat, nobody moved. The wind whistled through the rigging, and somewhere above, a loose sail snapped.
Then Willy yanked off his brown knitted cap and hurled it at Butcher’s face. “I’m with the Reaper!” he shouted.
His cry broke the spell—an excited ripple shot through the crew. I could only pray that Ariella was correct when she said most of them would stand with me.
