Chapter 27 Maximus #3
Torres nodded, raising her mug. “To family reunions, then. I’ll get everything ready on this end. Housing in the eastern district, near the workshops. Plenty of work for skilled hands there.”
We spent another hour finalizing details before parting ways with Torres in the busy street outside.
“Send word from Sunada once you’re on your way back with them,” she said. “I’ll have everything prepared.”
After goodbyes, I turned to leave, but she caught my arm. “I stand by what I always say, Max. If you ever get enough evidence to clear your name, just say the word. I’ll be there, at the trial, ready to fight for you.”
I gave her the same response as I always did: a sad smile.
Down the street, Kaspar tugged me toward a small stationery shop. Inside, he purchased paper, ink, and envelopes. I watched as he hunched over a bench, scribbling in fierce, determined strokes.
“Will she understand all this?” I asked, peering over his shoulder at what appeared to be innocuous talk about weather and fabric prices.
Kaspar nodded without looking up. “We developed this when we were kids. The authorities were always reading workers’ mail.” His pen never stopped moving. “She’ll know exactly what I’m saying.”
Next, he wrote Cody his letter, posing as a school friend who missed him. The letter promised tales of his adventures when they next met, complete with a tiny doodle of a dragon.
When he finished, he carefully folded the letters and sealed each of them in an envelope, addressing it not to Kayla but to someone named Bethan.
“Her friend from the factory,” he explained, catching my questioning look. “An extra layer of security.”
We found a postbox near the docks, and I watched as Kaspar hesitated for just a moment before slipping the letters inside, his fingers lingering on the edge as if reluctant to let go.
“It’s going to be okay,” I whispered into his ear, wrapping an arm around his waist. “Let’s go get them.”
I leaned against the crow’s nest railing, watching the horizon as the first hints of dawn painted the sky in pale gold. Beside me, Kaspar fidgeted with anticipation, his eyes fixed on the distant silhouette slowly materializing through the morning mist. Sunada, at last.
“There it is,” I murmured, feeling Kas tense beside me.
Five weeks of relentless travel had brought us here faster than any journey I’d ever made.
Ariella had nearly killed herself manipulating the winds, pushing us forward at speeds that strained the ship’s frame.
I’d had to order her to her quarters multiple times when her skin had gone paper-white and her eyes had rolled back from exhaustion.
Little Willy had paced outside her room, never quite mustering the courage to knock, and instead, leaving water and snacks at her door.
“I can see the mining towers,” Kas whispered, pointing to the dark spires rising from Embergate’s industrial district.
The journey had been remarkably smooth. I’d distributed the money we’d made from Viper’s considerable hoard of trophies, which temporarily satisfied their greed, but I knew the peace wouldn’t last, so I’d decided to find a ship we could rob that would assuage my conscience.
In Viper’s logs, I’d seen a ship name I recognized, one I knew dealt in shady business for the Sunada elite.
So I’d led our crew to that ship, and we’d robbed them blind, walking away with little damage to our ship and a lot of damage to theirs.
Although, I’d made sure to enforce my rule about knocking our enemy out or tying them up, so there were no lives lost. Luckily, the haul was big enough to appease the crew for at least several weeks.
Which should give us plenty of time to get Kayla and Cody’s affairs in order before we whisked them away from Embergate City.
Pirates lived for the thrill of the hunt and the promise of coin, so I made sure they knew more would be coming in the future.
I hadn’t been able to bring myself to order an attack on any of the other passing ships. Under Viper, the deaths had been his responsibility. Now, every innocent life taken would be blood on my hands alone. The thought twisted my gut into knots.
Kas must have sensed my darkening mood. His hand found mine, fingers intertwining with mine.
“You’re thinking too hard again,” he said softly.
I pushed the negative thoughts aside, focusing instead on the pure joy radiating from Kaspar’s face. It wasn’t Sunada itself that excited him—it was knowing that in mere hours, he would finally see Kayla and Cody again.
“Do you think she’ll like me?” I asked suddenly, the question escaping before I could stop it.
Kas turned to me, brow furrowed. “Who? Kayla?”
“Yes.” I shifted uncomfortably. “I mean, what will she think? Her brother in love with a pirate captain, of all things?”
Kaspar laughed, the sound bright in the quiet morning air. “Kayla’s practical. She’ll judge you on how you treat me and Cody, not your profession.” He squeezed my hand. “Besides, she’s hardly in a position to be picky about how we survive in this world.”
I nodded, but uncertainty still gnawed at me. Family was sacred to Kas—what if his sister disapproved of me? What if she saw only the Reaper, the criminal with blood on his hands?
“Stop it,” Kas said firmly, reading my expression. “Kayla will love you because I love you. That’s all that matters. And Cody? He’s going to adore you. He’s going to completely lose it when we tell him that you have your very own airship. He might ask a million questions about your leg, though.”
“I shall tell him a sea serpent took a bite out of me.”
We laughed, then our hands remained intertwined as we stood together, watching the approaching kingdom through the mist. Kaspar’s thumb absently traced circles on my skin, his touch both comforting and electric.
I felt him shift slightly, his fingers drifting to the silver band on my ring finger. Eric’s ring.
He twisted it gently, rotating the ring that had once symbolized so much. I glanced down, watching as his freckled fingers played with the band, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.
“What is it?” I asked, noticing how he opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it again.
A blush crept across his cheeks, spreading to the tips of his ears. “It’s nothing,” he said, pulling his hand away.
I caught his wrist, keeping him close. “It’s this ring, isn’t it? It really bothers you that I still wear it.”
Kaspar’s eyes darted to the silver band, then back to my face.
“I told you, I don’t wear it because I still love Eric,” I said, the words tasting bitter in my mouth, making my stomach clench.
“I do it to remind me…” I trailed off, unable to finish the thought aloud.
To remind me never to trust. Never to love with my whole heart.
Never to let myself be vulnerable again.
Without another word, I slipped the ring from my finger, feeling its familiar weight in my palm one last time. I closed my fist around it, drew back my arm, ready to launch it into the endless sky—
“Wait!” Kaspar’s voice was panicked. He grabbed my wrist. “You might need it!”
“What? Why?”
“Like Torres said—evidence.”
A hollow laugh escaped me. “It’s not evidence of anything, Kaspar. Except maybe the worst time of my life.” I shook my head, looking into those earnest green eyes. “And I don’t want it on me. Not now that I have you, the brightest star in my darkest sky.”
I drew my arm back again, ready to release the last physical reminder of Eric’s betrayal.
“Stop!” he snapped. “Look, honestly, I can’t bear the thing on your hand. But give it to me. I’ll keep it. Just in case.”
I sighed. He was being ridiculous. That damned ring would never help me. Eric had returned it to me, lying unconscious in jail, as one final cruel taunt.
But I couldn’t ever deny Kaspar a single thing, so I nodded and handed it over. He took the thing like it was pure poison, pulling a face and wrapping it in a handkerchief before pocketing it.
“I’ll keep it safe,” he promised, his expression softening. “Just in case.”
The weight that lifted from my finger felt more significant than the small silver band should have warranted. Five years I’d worn it. Now my hand felt strangely naked, but also… lighter. So much lighter.
A voice sounded from below—Ariella calling up to us. “Morning, Captain. How’s the sky looking?”
I glanced upward, taking in the canvas above us.
The dawn had broken fully now, painting the heavens in strokes of amber and rose gold.
Wisps of cloud stretched like spun sugar across the expanse, catching fire in the morning light.
The endless blue beyond promised freedom, possibility—things I’d stopped believing in until Kaspar had stowed away on my ship.
For the first time in years, I looked at that sky and saw more than an escape route. I saw a path forward.
“Beautiful,” I called down. “Absolutely beautiful.”