Chapter 26 Kaspar
Kaspar
My body ached, my veins felt like they were on fire, my head was pounding, but my heart was warm.
Max had come for me. He’d saved me, like I’d hoped he would.
And now he was carrying me through the ship… where anyone could see.
If I had more strength, I’d ask him what he was thinking, but I couldn’t even open my eyes yet, let alone speak.
I heard the door to Max’s cabin open, shut, and the lock shift into place. Then Max sat down with me on his lap, and I snuggled into his chest. I wanted to stay here, wrapped in his warmth for the rest of my days.
His fingers made their way into my hair as his lips touched my temple, and he whispered, “Thank the goddesses you’re still with me, Kas.”
A drop of something wet and cold hit my cheek, and I finally found the strength to open my eyes when I realized it was a tear. Max was crying. My Max was crying, and it broke my heart.
Tilting my head up at him, I sent him a gentle smile. “Max.”
He let out a shaky, self-deprecating laugh. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to cry again. I just… for a minute there, I really thought I’d lost you.”
“But you didn’t. You saved me.”
He sniffled, and I pulled him down for a long, lingering kiss that healed me more than anything else could. My magic felt worn out and almost… disheveled, but the rest of me was filled with a warmth only my Max could provide.
Phoenix tails, I never wanted to leave this man. I… I didn’t know if I could.
After a long few minutes, our lips parted, and I found the strength to ask, “What happened? How did you get me out of there? Isn’t Viper just going to—”
“Viper’s dead.” Max swallowed hard. “I’m captain now.”
I blinked up at him, then remembered bits of conversation happening around me while I was plugged in and after Max saved me. My brow furrowed. “Did you make Ariella your first mate?”
He sent me a small grin. “Yes. She accepted.”
“Good choice.” I cleared my throat and cupped his cheek. “He’s really gone? Viper’s dead?”
“He was dead before I threw his body overboard. You have nothing to worry about now. No one will hurt you, and Murray will be disassembling that damnable machine right away.”
I sucked in a breath. “You did all of this? For me?”
“Of course I did. It all needed to happen. I… the crew needs me, but you… I couldn’t let him do that to you. I would do anything to keep you from harm.”
The fierceness of his words took my breath away, and I couldn’t help but kiss his lips with a shaky breath. “Thank you, Max. I… I can’t believe you did that.” I leaned back, rubbing my thumb over his cheek. “But I’m sorry you had to. I know you didn’t want to kill him.”
His jaw clenched. “He deserved it.”
“He did. He absolutely did. I’m just sorry you had to be the one to do it.”
He shook his head. “I’m not. He wanted to enslave you, he killed innocents that didn’t deserve it, and he was willing to sacrifice his entire crew to get what he wanted. He’s better left as sand serpent food.”
“I agree with you.” I was still sorry Viper’s death would be something that weighed on Max’s soul.
Maybe not right now, but I knew it would be something that ate at him in the future.
Hopefully… hopefully, I could help mitigate that.
I shifted to sit up straighter, but I didn’t move off his lap.
I wanted to stay as close to him as I could.
“How are you feeling?”
I sent him a strange laugh. “Like I’ve been sucked dry of all energy and run over by a unicorn.”
He snorted, shaking his head. “What can I do to help?”
I wrapped my arms around him and tucked my face against his neck. “Never let me go.”
He held me tight, one hand finding my hair while the other rubbed comforting circles on my upper back, being careful not to touch my wound from the flux machine. “I’m not sure about never, but I can certainly hold you all night.”
“Sounds like a plan, my Max.”
He sucked in a breath and held me tighter again.
“I don’t ever want to leave you,” I breathed out, holding back a sob.
He must’ve sensed my emotional state because his arms tightened around me. “I don’t want you to go.”
How the hellfire could I possibly walk away from this? From Max? How could I even think about leaving him?
I couldn’t do it. There was no way I could live a life without my pirate first mate—my pirate captain—in my life. No way in hellfire. I cared about him far too much. I… I loved him. More than words could say.
But Max still deserved to hear them.
Leaning back, I cupped his face, making sure his gaze met mine. “I love you, Max. I love you so much.” I planted a soft kiss on his lips.
His eyes widened in surprise before his lips slowly curved into a beautiful smile.
“I… I love you too, Kas. And those aren’t words I ever expected to say again.
You flew into my life like a hurricane, charting a course straight for my heart.
” Max lifted my chin, stroking across my jaw with his thumb.
“I will treasure our time together for the rest of my life.”
I stared into his eyes, taking in everything he was giving me. All the love, the affection, the care, the warmth. I soaked it in, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was where I belonged. I belonged here, with this man.
He was my safe harbor, and there was no way I could ever leave him. Not and be sane afterward.
“I don’t want to leave. I-I can’t… I want to stay with you, here on this ship.” I stared into his dark brown eyes, which held such sadness… and a sprinkle of hope. With a more definitive voice, I said, “I’m going to stay… if you’ll have me?”
He inhaled sharply. “You really want to stay?”
“Of course I do.” I caught his gaze, making sure he could see the truth in my eyes.
“You’re my home, Maximus Blackwood. I don’t want to be anywhere you’re not.
I want to spend the rest of my life flying with you on this airship, taking us wherever the wind blows.
I don’t care where we are or what we’re doing, as long as I’m with you.
As long as you’ll have me, I’ll be by your side. Always.”
His eyes met mine, and the hope I saw in them grew. “You’re going to be okay being a pirate?”
I nodded. “I’m already a pirate. This life isn’t so bad.” I gave him a tired wink. My energy was fading fast, but I needed him to know how serious I was. “Like I said, wherever you are, that’s where I wanna be.”
“I want that too.” His voice was barely above a whisper, almost as if he was afraid if he spoke about this out loud, it wouldn’t come true. “What about your family?”
I took a breath. “I’ll just have to find a way to arrange passage on a ship, and once they’re set up somewhere nice in Asteris, I’ll send them part of my spoils.” It was going to be hard being separated from them, but I knew they’d want me to be happy.
“You’ll be able to visit them anytime we make port in Gearhart.”
That made me smile. “Yeah… yeah, that’ll be great.”
His eyes searched mine for a long moment. “You’re really staying?”
I nodded, a slow smile spreading over my face. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m not going anywhere.”
Whatever he’d been searching for, he must’ve found because he grinned, wide and beautiful. “I love you, Kas.”
“I love you too.” I pecked his lips. “Now put me to bed so we can sleep.”
He let out a small laugh and kissed my forehead. “Anything you want.”
“Mm. Well, what I really want is you naked and inside me, buuuut I don’t have the energy for that yet. So sleep, and then you naked.”
He laughed again, and the sound was freer than I’d ever heard from him, and it warmed my heart further. “I like that plan.”
He carefully set me on the bed on my side, and I held in the flinch that wanted to come from the movement. Now that my adrenaline was fading, the pain was more prominent in my mind. My body was not happy about the movement or my sitting up for so long.
Max lay beside me, covered us with a blanket, and gently pulled me into his arms. I snuggled into his chest and held onto him tight, content in the knowledge that this wasn’t going to end. That this was only the beginning of our lives together.
I’d found the love of my life, and I planned on keeping him. Forever.
Things on the ship had been very, very different for the past three days.
Less tension, less fear, and definitely a lot more laughter.
Despite the fact that most of the crew was scared of Max, of the Reaper, it seemed that everyone knew he was a reasonable leader. They weren’t afraid of being chucked off the side of the ship for a simple mistake or because they smiled too widely in front of Viper and he was in one of his moods.
No, with Viper gone, everyone was more at ease, and that meant they were more willing to work hard and put in the effort needed to get us out of the damn desert.
It was crazy what a little security could do to a person.
Despite everyone mourning for Hawk-Eyes, the overall mood was pleasant, and I was enjoying the vibe, even if guilt liked to sneak up on me over her death. I knew it technically wasn’t my fault—I wasn’t the one who killed her—but when was guilt ever reasonable?
I missed my friend dearly, and I was horrified that she was gone. Horrified, sad, and grief-stricken. I wished I would’ve been able to kill Hunter during our fight so he wouldn’t have been able to hurt her.
My chest ached every time someone brought her up. But at least with Max in charge, we could all grieve the way we needed to.
My wounds were still healing, so I couldn’t do much, but I was helping where I could and doing anything that didn’t require bending over and opening the damn wound on my back.
Everyone was helping me out and being super nice to me, especially Murray, who maybe felt bad about the whole plugging me in thing.
Max told me that the night before Viper ordered Butcher to grab me, Murray had overheard them all talking about the plan.
He’d instructed Sprocket to find every gun on the ship and take the bullets out of them while everyone slept.
I knew I liked that little creature.