Tethered by Meljean Brook Page A

taken to the danger of it, Yasmeen knew. “Did you?”
    Bilson shrugged. “It was a job.”
    “A job we did well,” Archimedes said. “Until I was infected in Morocco.”
    “We did well even after that, when we began salvaging. It wasn’t exactly the same, but we muddled through together.”
    “Barely.” Archimedes looked to Yasmeen. “He accused me of running after death.”
    “Deliberately running up against zombies is the same thing,” Bilson said.
    No, it wasn’t. Not to Archimedes.
    After being shot during a smuggling run, one of Temür Agha’s men had saved Archimedes’ life by infecting him with nanoagents—and the influence of the Moroccan tower had all but stifled his emotions. Archimedes had always loved danger and excitement, but after the tower, he’d
needed
it.
    For Archimedes, running from zombies wasn’t seeking death at all; it was just a way of making certain that he was alive.
    “I understood why you did it, after a fashion,” Bilson said. “Seeing you affected by that signal…it was like someone blew out a lamp. I hope never to see it again.”
    “Me, too,” Archimedes said softly.
    Yasmeen slipped her hand into his. It wouldn’t happen again; the tower was gone. Unfortunately, that didn’t erase the memory for him.
    Bilson’s gaze flicked to their linked hands. With a deep breath, he abruptly set his wineglass on the table. “You must be wondering about the help I mentioned in my earlier note.”
    “I assumed you’d come to it in your own time.”
    “Time I shouldn’t be wasting.” He sighed. “Do you remember my brother?”
    “Joseph? Or the younger one?”
    “Joseph.” Bilson added to Yasmeen, “He was part of our brotherhood, too.”
    Archimedes said, “And only there because we always had liquor.”
    “True enough.” Bilson’s smile was short-lived. “He began trading weapons not long after we left the business. I gave him some of my contacts, and now he makes regular runs round the bottom.”
    To the smuggling dens in southern Australia. Yasmeen nodded. It was a well-sailed route for both legitimate traders and those carrying illegal Horde technologies, though not one that she often made herself. If Bilson planned to ask for their help smuggling an item, however, she wouldn’t mind flying that course again.
    “He’d been doing well enough until a few months ago,” Bilson said. “I didn’t hear from him for a bit. Then I got word that his airship had been taken by New Eden.”
    Oh, damn
. She met Archimedes’ eyes and saw the dismay that matched hers.
    Led by the idealist William Bushke, New Eden was a floating garden city made of airships tethered together—and almost all of them had been taken by force. After capture, no one was allowed to leave the city. Yasmeen had heard rumors of a few escapes, but only knew for certain of one made by her friend, Scarsdale, and the pirate captain Rhys Trahaearn.
    And now she saw where Bilson was headed. Archimedes apparently did, too, though he tried to stop his friend before getting there.
    “So he’ll be given hard work and religion,” Archimedes said. “Both are likely doing him some good.”
    “Maybe.” Bilson’s gaze held steady on Archimedes’ face. “I want to hire you and this crew; I want you to help me get him back.”
    Yasmeen’s mouth tightened. So he hadn’t come asking for Archimedes’ help, not truly. He wanted hers, and had just used Archimedes as a connection—all the while reminding Archimedes of their old friendship in order to deepen the obligation her husband might feel.
    “No,” Archimedes said. “Not this ship, not this crew.”
    Bilson didn’t react, except to look at Yasmeen.
    Was he waiting for her to contradict Archimedes? Amusement mixed with sharp anger. Did he think that just because Archimedes had made a decision on her lady, she’d counter it to assert her authority? She didn’t need to prove anything to him.
    He apparently tired of waiting for her response. “You