Free Tethered by Meljean Brook Page A

howled, then clamped his mouth shut. His feet stomped the boards as he attempted to manage the pain.
    Gunpowder smoke stung her eyes, her nose. Over the ringing in her ears, she heard the shouts of her crew. Ginger popped her head out of the cabin-girls’ berth, saw Yasmeen, and waved the other girls away from the door. Longcock’s heavy step sounded on the deck, with Vashon’s quick behind him.
    Yasmeen glanced at the quartermaster. “See that the aviators on watch hold their positions, mademoiselle. Tell the others to stand down.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    Vashon disappeared up the companionway. The first mate didn’t move, his augmented bulk filling up the corridor.
    “Mr. Longcock?”
    His pale gaze moved from Archimedes to Bilson, pinned against the bulkhead and breathing shallowly through clenched teeth. “I’m not on watch, ma’am.”
    All right, then. He wasn’t needed on deck, and was also Archimedes’ friend. Obviously, a much better one than Archimedes’ stinking rat partner. She focused on Bilson again. “Is the device on my ship?”
    Bilson didn’t answer—but he didn’t need to. It would have to be aboard
Lady Nergüi
to pose any real threat. The device had such a short range that they could fly out of danger within minutes.
    But that also meant his associate was a member of her crew. They hadn’t taken on any other passengers in Port Fallow…only Vashon, the new quartermaster.
    No.
That was a dangerous route for a captain to take; an airship couldn’t function if she couldn’t rely on her aviators. So she would trust each member of her crew, until one of them proved untrustworthy.
    Or until Bilson gave up a name. She pressed the muzzle harder against his shoulder. “Who has it?”
    Bilson’s face whitened, but he shook his head.
    In a flat voice, Archimedes said, “That won’t work, Yasmeen. He won’t break.”
    Perhaps not, but as the minutes passed and Archimedes remained smothered by that device, Yasmeen thought that she would enjoy trying.
    “Go on,” Bilson rasped. “Torture me, and my associate will realize that you won’t help me—and use the device to kill him for that, too. You have no choice, Captain. Help us, or Archimedes will pay for your refusal.”
    Idiot. If the device was on her ship, it was only a matter of time before she found it.
    She smiled, and Bilson tensed again. Good enough. She released him, stepping back. “If your associate stops the signal, I’ll see that a surgeon is brought to you. If it remains on, you’d best pray that wound doesn’t turn gangrenous before we rescue your brother.”
    Bilson hunched over, holding his shoulder. “If you take us to New Eden, we won’t activate it again—and won’t kill him. Do we have an agreement, Captain?”
    “We do, Mr. Bilson.”
    The lie came easily. Yasmeen only intended to discover who held the device—and then destroy them both.
    He nodded and turned toward the third deck companionway. Would he be foolish enough to lead them straight to his associate?
    Farther down the passageway, Longcock met Yasmeen’s gaze, his blond brows lifted in query. She nodded. The first mate would keep an eye on Bilson, then, and let her know who the man spoke with. She would stay with Archimedes until this horror had passed. While under the device’s influence, perhaps he didn’t care enough to need her with him—but by the lady,
she
needed to be with
him.
    The glint of steel in Bilson’s hand stopped her from returning to the cabin. Wary, Yasmeen watched him. Surely he wouldn’t be foolish enough to attack Longcock? But, no. Injured arm held awkwardly to his side, he swept the dagger over his head. The blade clanged against an exposed copper pipe running the length of the deckhead.
    The slick bastard
, Yasmeen realized. He was using the pipes to signal someone on the ship.
    A terrible, haunted moan came from behind her.
Archimedes?
The hairs on the back of her neck prickled.
    He charged out of the cabin, unleashing a