Page 160 of Tempting Fate

“Your crewmate? If this dandy is a pirate, I’ll hand myself into the Alliance.”

“You won’t be able to hand yourself in if you’re dead. You’d better show him to me now, give me one good reason not to open fire on your slimy arse,” Reskavi said, giving a nod to Kapiya.

The other pirate tilted his head and left the bridge.

Dickbeard’s laugh echoed through the comm. “You don’t have the balls.”

“Don’t I?”

“No, I’ll be handing this bounty over to the shadow stalker, so you may as well skik off now.”

I gripped Kira’s hand tight.

“Check the listings,” Reskavi said. “It’s going to be cancelled in a matter of hours, if not already.” He gave a pointed glance to Urula.

Dickbeard stroked his thin beard as he spoke. “So the sooner I deliver him, the more chance I have of getting paid.”

At the other console, Urula’s fingers flew over the holopanel.

Please let the bounty be cancelled. Please. Then all of this can end.

She turned to Reskavi, swinging her head and murmuring, “Not yet.”

My stomach sank into my feet. Of course it hadn’t. Nearly a day after we’d spoken to Rokharu was still too soon to hope—but I’d done it anyway. I took a slow breath. There was still time. And until then, I was surrounded by friendly, badass pirates.

“Kapiya,” Reskavi growled into his comm.

“Aye, Cap.”

A streak of light flew from our ship to theirs. A bright flare over its hull was the only sign it had hit.

Reskavi squared his shoulders. “Warning shot across the bow, Dickbeard. Give me one good reason not to aim directly at your junkpile.”

“I wouldn’t do that again if I were you. Wouldn’t want to hit the vhoz and blow up your friend. Is that a good enough reason for you? Bring him.”

Vhoz?

Two more figures filled the holoscreen, the kri’ith man from before and… “Airida!”

The corsair dragged my love closer. Blood oozed from the nostrils on one side of Airida’s face, and anger glittered in his eyes.

I darted in front of Reskavi. “Airi! Are you okay?”

“Better for seeing you safe, my moonlight.”

Before I could say anything more, he was yanked out of sight.

“That’s enough. You’ve seen he’s alive,” the enemy captain said. “Now get lost. You can’t stop us handing him over, unless you want to risk killing him too.”

Captain Dickbeard closed the connection, leaving only the ghost of static in its wake.

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Static

Imani

AIRIDA WAS ALIVE.