Page 69 of The Sky Pirate's Stowaway
I pushed off from the railing, launching us into open air.
The world beneath us disappeared. My stomach lurched upward as gravity claimed us, pulling us down through misty cloud after cloud.
The rush was exhilarating—that perfect moment of weightlessness before the line caught us, when we were nothing but two bodies surrendered to the sky.
The wind roared in my ears, cold and sharp, whipping my hair into a frenzy around my face. My blood sang with the familiar thrill, every nerve ending alive and electric.
I still remembered with crystal clarity my very first sky-drop—during my first posting with Sunada’s Eldritch fleet, on my very first flight. I’d known right then I had made the right choice—that I belonged to the skies.
The safety line snapped taut with a jerk, and we swung in a wide arc beneath the ship’s hull, the wind tearing at our clothes and hair.
Kaspar’s continuous scream vibrated against my chest, his arms and legs clamped around me with crushing force. His fingers clawed at my back, grabbing fistfuls of my shirt as if it were the only thing keeping him from plummeting to his death. His entire body trembled against mine, his heartbeat a frantic drumming I could feel through both our chests.
As we swung beneath the ship, I pulled back, catching Kaspar’s chin with my hand, lifting it gently. His eyes were still squeezed shut, his features contorted in terror. Copper strands of hair danced wildly around his face, glinting gold.
“Open your eyes,” I said.
Very, very slowly, he unpeeled his left eyelid, then his right.
The morning light caught the flecks of gold in his irises, making them shimmer like sun-kissed leaves. His pupils were blown wide with adrenaline as he took in our position—suspended hundreds of feet above the ground, nothing but air beneath us and the massive hull ofThe Black Wraithabove.
“Oh my goddesses,” Kaspar gasped. His gaze darted frantically around, taking in the vast expanse of sky, the very distant ocean below, the clouds drifting past us like spectral ships. “Holy freakin’ goblin toes! We’re—we’re—”
“Flying,” I finished for him, unable to keep the joy from my voice.
His breath came in quick, shallow pants, his fingers digging painfully into my shoulders. But gradually, as we continued to swing gently at the end of our tether, the rigidity in his body began to soften. His death grip loosened, just slightly.
“This is—” He started, then stopped, shaking his head in disbelief. “I can’t even—”
A sudden gust caught us, sending us spinning in a lazy circle. Kaspar yelped, burying his face against my neck for a moment before daring to look again. When he pulled back, his expression had transformed. Terror still lingered in the tightness around his eyes, but something else had awakened there too—a wild, primal exhilaration.
“I can’t—” he whispered, voice trembling. “I’ve never felt so alive. Or so close to death.”
His face was flushed, hair whipping wildly around his features, eyes glittering with unshed tears. His lips parted slightly as he drew in deep, hungry breaths of the pristine air.
Despite his fear—or perhaps because of it—he’d never looked more beautiful to me. Raw emotion transformed his features, leaving only the purest expression of life I’d ever witnessed. My chest swelled with something powerful and dangerous, something I wasn’t ready to name.
The line continued its pendulum swing, carrying us through the sky in a graceful arc. I closed my eyes briefly, savoring the sensation of weightlessness, the cold rush of air against my skin, and Kaspar’s warm body pressed against mine. This was freedom in its purest form—suspended between earth and sky, untethered from all but a single lifeline.
When I opened my eyes again, something caught my attention. A flicker of red in the distance, barely visible through the wisps of clouds. Too dark in color to be the sun’s light. I squinted, focusing on that spot. There it was again—a flash of crimson against the pale morning sky.
My heart stuttered in my chest.
No.Surely fate wasn’t going to be this kind to us.
My pulse quickened, thundering in my ears almost loud enough to drown out the whistling wind. In all my years of flying, I could count on one hand the amount of times I’d seen one. The day after that first time, I’d had ink tattooed on my arm.
“Kaspar! Look over there!” I pointed toward the flash of red, my hand trembling with excitement. “Do you see that?”
He twisted in my arms, following the direction of my finger with confusion. “What?”
Before I could answer, something massive moved through a distant cloud bank. The mist parted like a curtain, revealing a glimpse of scaled crimson hide that gleamed like polished rubies in the morning light. A wing—larger thanThe Black Wraith’smainsail—unfurled with terrible grace, sending a gust of wind strong enough that I felt it ripple through our tether.
The creature banked, offering us a fleeting glimpse of its serpentine neck and the ridged spines that ran along its back, before disappearing once more behind the clouds.
Kaspar’s entire body went rigid in my arms. His fingers dug painfully into my shoulders as he stared wide-eyed at the spot where the creature had vanished.
“IS THAT A FREAKING DRAGON?! MAX?!” His voice cracked from equal parts terror and wonder.
