Chapter 10 Maximus #3
“What do you think you’re doing?” I growled, anger and confusion warring inside me.
He didn’t answer. Didn’t even acknowledge my question. He just kept climbing, one ratline after another, his face set in stubborn lines.
I was forced to move backwards as he hauled himself up into the crow’s nest. The small space suddenly felt impossibly tight with both of us there, the air between us charged with tension.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I repeated, my voice unsteady despite my best efforts to sound furious.
Ghost stared at me for a long moment, his copper hair whipped by the wind, his pale skin almost luminous in the moonlight.
“Look,” he finally said, his voice low but firm. “You might not care about me at all and would be happy for me to just leave on that horrible note between us, but I can’t do that.” He gestured around us, at the crow’s nest where we’d shared so many conversations. “Not after… everything.”
I stared at Ghost, trying to mask the turmoil his words created. His face was earnest, desperate—and still so damn beautiful, it hurt to look at him.
“You were just going to disappear,” I said quietly, unable to keep the hurt from my voice. “Without even saying goodbye.”
Ghost looked down, guilt crossing his features. “Saying goodbye to you would’ve been too hard, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to leave if I did that.”
“It hurts that you’d just leave.” The words came out rough. “I’ve had someone I trusted—someone I cared for very much—betray me before. Walk away like I meant nothing. It’s not a feeling I enjoy revisiting.”
Ghost’s eyes widened slightly, catching the rare glimpse into my past. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
“At least tell me why you’re leaving.”
Ghost winced, shoulders hunching slightly. “I’m not… I don’t want to be a pirate. I don’t want to kill people. And I don’t want Viper to kill me. I need to get to Asteris, find some place nice for Kayla and Cody.”
Of course. He had people waiting for him. People who mattered. Things I’d given up long ago.
I leaned back against the railing, trying to appear casual despite the storm raging inside me. “But your only other options are to stay in Duskwater or join another pirate ship.”
“Yes, I know that,” he said, a hint of frustration creeping into his voice. “But at least I’ll be away from Viper. Every night since Willy was whipped, I go to sleep dreaming that it’ll be me next. Me making those horrible sounds of pain.”
If he lays a single finger on you, I’ll slit his throat. Oh, how I wanted so desperately to voice the thought aloud to Ghost, to tell him just how little I cared about our dear captain. To tell him how much I cared about him.
“So I thought I could find a nicer captain. Maybe one that will let me just clean rather than force me to join in with the raids.”
The wind whistled through the crow’s nest, filling the silence between us. I almost laughed at the naivety of it all. A nicer captain. As if such a thing existed in these skies.
Viper was awful—malicious, cruel. But so was every pirate captain. And on those other ships, I wouldn’t be there to protect him.
I stared at Ghost, my heart twisting in my chest. The thought of him walking off The Black Wraith, disappearing into Duskwater’s labyrinth of alleyways and never returning…
it was unbearable. I’d spent years building walls around myself, becoming the Reaper, letting no one close.
But now, somehow, this pale, freckled stowaway had slipped through every defense.
And I didn’t want to lose him, not when he brought a sliver of light into my dark world.
“Stay.” The word escaped before I could stop it, hanging in the air between us.
Ghost’s eyes widened, surprise flickering across his features. “What?”
“Stay on The Black Wraith.” I shuffled closer, close enough to see the moonlight catching the copper strands in his hair. “I have a connection in Gearhart. A very good friend of mine. I can help you find somewhere safe for your sister and Cody.”
“You would do that?” His voice was barely audible above the wind. “Why?”
The question pierced me. Why indeed? Because the thought of never seeing him again made it hard to breathe? Because he looked at me and saw more than the Reaper? Because someone as lovely as him didn’t deserve what this cruel life had thrown at him?
“Because I can,” I said. “Because I want to.”
Ghost’s expression softened, something like hope flickering in his eyes. “I don’t understand. You barely know me.”
“I know enough.” I know that your life is worth ten of my pitiful existence. My hand moved of its own accord, reaching over to squeeze his shoulder. “Stay, and I swear I’ll protect you from Viper. With my life if necessary.”
Ghost’s breath caught. “Phoenix tails, that’s… that’s intense, Reaper.”
I shrugged, looking past him to the distant lights of Duskwater.
I’d heard so much about little Cody that I felt like I knew the child.
I could picture Ghost with a smaller look-a-like on his shoulders, walking through Gearhart.
“I don’t have any family. No one’s waiting for me anywhere.
” The admission felt raw, exposed. “Not much of a life to live, anyway.”
My hand still rested on Ghost’s shoulder, the warmth of him seeping through the thin fabric of his shirt. Before I could move it, Ghost’s hand covered mine. His palm was warm against my knuckles, his touch hesitant at first, then firm. Something electric shot through me at the contact.
“Your life does matter, Reaper,” he said softly, his green eyes holding mine with an intensity that made it impossible to look away. “I’ve watched you. You work tirelessly to make the crew’s lives better, even though none of them really understand what you’re doing.”
I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly tight. “I’m just doing my job.”
“No.” Ghost shook his head, a small smile playing at his lips.
“You’re doing far more than that. When Viper wants to throw someone overboard, you step in.
You protect everyone, even when they don’t see it.
And when Viper was trying to steal fluxstones that would’ve doomed that merchant crew, you fought for them.
You’ll get off this ship one day,” Ghost continued.
“I know it. You’ll start fresh somewhere, even if it’s still in the sky.
Maybe you’ll even be happy.” His fingers shifted against mine, tentative but deliberate, until they were sliding between my own, interlacing us together.
My breath caught. I should pull away. This was dangerous, foolish. Instead, I tightened my grip, our hands now locked together.
“Okay. I’ll stay,” Ghost whispered, the words carried on the night breeze. “Someone needs to look out for the Reaper, after all.”
A knot formed in my throat, emotion threatening to overwhelm me. The night air suddenly felt too thin, my chest too tight. I wasn’t used to this—to being seen.
“Right,” I said, swallowing hard and dropping my grip on his shoulder to lean back against the railing with forced casualness. “Well, someone needs to make sure you don’t fall overboard during a storm. You still haven’t found your skylegs.”
Ghost laughed, the sound bright against the darkness. “Nice try, Reaper.”
“What?” I raised an eyebrow, aiming for nonchalance despite the hammering of my heart.
“That.” Ghost squeezed my hand, still intertwined with his. “You’re doing it again. If you’re not hiding behind a gruff exterior, you’re hiding behind jokes.”
My mouth went dry. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You do.” Ghost’s voice was gentle but insistent. “Every time we get close to something honest, you retreat. Put the Reaper mask back on.”
“Maybe I do,” I admitted, surprising myself with the honesty. I dropped his hand with a sigh. “It’s safer that way.”
“Safer for who?” Ghost asked, his green eyes searching mine.
“For everyone.”
Ghost shook his head, moving closer until I could feel the warmth radiating from him. “My name isn’t Ghost,” he said suddenly.
I blinked, thrown by the change in direction. “What? I know that. I gave you that name.”
“My real name…” He took a deep breath. “It’s Kaspar.”
The admission hung between us, fragile and significant. He was offering me something real—his true self. Only his given name, not his family one. Nothing truly identifiable. But it was something. Something precious.
My heart pounded against my ribs. I could step back, maintain the distance I’d always kept. Or I could meet him halfway.
“Maximus. But you can call me Max,” I said, suddenly desperate to hear that name again.
“You can call me Kas,” he said, the curve of his beautiful smile on full display.
“Nice to meet you, Kas,” I said, extending my hand toward him.
His palm slid against mine, warm and calloused, and the touch sent a jolt through me.
“Nice to meet you, Max,” he replied, his voice wrapping around my name in a way that made my chest tighten. Nobody had called me that in years—not since before my disgrace, before the Reaper was born. Hearing it now, from his lips, felt like reclaiming something I’d thought lost forever.
Our hands remained clasped longer than necessary, neither of us quite willing to break the connection.
The moonlight caught in his copper hair, turning it to flame, and his face broke into a grin, his freckles lighting up like stars.
My fingers ached to reach out to touch his face, to map the constellation of dots.
Blood pounded in my ears, as I was suddenly struck by a feeling so foreign I almost didn’t recognize it.
Hope.
“You’re staring,” he whispered, not pulling his hand away from mine.
“Hard not to,” I admitted, voice raspy. “You’re quite something in the moonlight.”
A blush crept across his pale cheeks. “Well… so are you,” he replied, his eyes traveling over my face with an intensity that made my breath catch. “When you’re not scowling or threatening someone with cleaning the cannons.”
A laugh escaped me. “I smile occasionally.”