Balanced on the Blades Edge #2 Deathmaker by Lindsay Buroker Page B

that Slaughter, too, walked lightly around him?
    “You mean, treat her well on the way to town and give her a swat on the rump to say goodbye, or treat her well on the way to our ship where we take her on?” The captain rested a fist against his hip. “If it’s the latter, I’ll be knowing who you’re bringing aboard and why.”
    Cas held her breath. This was her chance. If Tolemek gave the word, she’d be let go. At the moment, he was the only one who knew who she was, the only one who cared.
    He met her eyes and didn’t answer the captain right away. She lifted her chin and stared back at him. She wouldn’t plead—appearing weak in front of these scavengers was the last thing she dared—but she had to make sure he knew what she would prefer—after all, he had offered her a ride on his ship. She had answered with sarcasm but hadn’t given a straight-out no. What if he thought he would be doing her a favor, taking her across the sea, closer to Iskandia?
    “I can find my own way home from here,” Cas said.
    “Wait.” A pirate in the back of the group stepped forward, raising his lantern toward her. He had matted blond hair and paler skin than the Cofah men.
    Cas’s stomach sank lower than the pouch of throwing stars. She didn’t recognize the man, but what if he recognized her somehow? She hadn’t been flying long enough to be notorious, not like Zirkander and some of the older pilots, but there were pictures of the heroic flier squadrons back home, especially in the capital city, where they had their air base. She had been recognized on the street before.
    “That’s Gargon Ahnsung’s daughter,” the pirate said.
    Cas didn’t move, though her heart threatened to beat its way out of her chest. Was this some colleague—former colleague—of her father’s? If her father had ever killed a Roaming Curse member, she might not be any better off than if they knew her as one of Zirkander’s squadron, but at least they wouldn’t think to use her against the colonel. That would be intolerable.
    “The sniper?” the captain asked.
    Tolemek’s eyebrows rose. “I guess that explains the accuracy with rocks.”
    “Yeah,” Cas managed—her mouth was dry. “We all get together and see if we can knock over empty bean cans at family picnics.” In another situation, she would have laughed at the idea of her father hosting some family gathering, not only because she was his only living relative, but because he was as social as a mountain lion.
    The pale-skinned pirate was nodding. “Yup, that’s her. I been out to Ahnsung’s house once to deliver a message, back when I worked for the guild. Seen her then, shooting bows with him out back. Must have been nearly ten years ago, but she was a pretty little thing.” The pirate grinned. “Deathmaker, she might be all right once them bruises heal up. You might want to keep her.”
    Cas bit down her tongue to keep from calling the man a creep for ogling her when she’d been a thirteen-year-old girl. Nobody was cursing or sharing irate whispers about her father—hells, these criminals probably respected a mercenary sniper—so she might still get out of this alive.
    “She flies with Zirkander now though,” the pirate added.
    “ What? ” The captain’s head jerked up—no his whole body jerked to attention, the finger bone breastplate rattling with the movement.
    A blast of other exclamations, some curses, some streams of anger and disbelief, came from other mouths. The arm around Cas’s waist tightened again, putting images of boa constrictors in her mind.
    The oh-so-helpful pirate snapped his fingers. “’Course, you must have known that, Deathmaker. That’s why you brought her out, isn’t it? Now that’s a fine prize.”
    “I’ll say,” the captain whispered, his eyes as hard as steel as they bored into her. One of his hands was balled into a fist, and the other clenched the hilt of his pistol. “That man ruined—” He was so choked with