Free Cold Copper: The Age of Steam by Devon Monk Page B

alarming range of things attached to it, each of which he could handily use as a weapon. He gave Hink a bored look.
    Behind Seldom, filling every spare pocket of the shed was the
Swift
.
    It didn’t take much imagination to see that she was an airship, even though bits of her were scattered out across the floor, stacked up against the shed walls, and hanging by chains from the rafters.
    Her huge tin envelope was almost whole now that they’d had a couple months to rivet, bend, and weld. And all of her internal framework, also made of tin, was strong again.
    The ship had been nearly blown out of the sky, and been so filled with holes, Rose didn’t know how she’d limped all the way to Kansas.
    It had been good to work on her, to know her quirks. Even now, Rose’s fingers itched to pick up a wrench or a hammer, and start in on making her whole again, strong and fast.
    But that was done now. Breaking up with the man meant breaking up with his ship. She was sure she’d miss the ship more.
    “I’ll have your word,” Rose said, looking away from the beautiful airship. “Mr. Seldom, I’ll have your word that you’ll not harm Mr. Wicks while I’m gone.”
    “While you’re gone?” Hink asked. “Where are
you
going? And in a dress, I might add.”
    “I’m leaving Hays City. By train. Like a lady.”
    “Are you now?”
    “Yes. And I’m already late. Mr. Seldom, please do nothing to harm Mr. Wicks. He seems a decent, upstanding man, whom I spoke with only once. Also”—she stabbed Hink in the chest—“you have no right ordering innocent people to their deaths.”
    “Need I remind you I am a U.S. Marshal? I could hang the man before you could say Nelly.”
    “Nelly.”
    Seldom snorted.
    Hink gave him a deadly glare.
    Seldom went back to stitching up the net he had hung over a rafter, pulling the rope through it to rebuild one of the
Swift
’s glim-harvest trawling arms.
    Rose walked over to Mr. Seldom. She stood with her back to Hink, hoping he hadn’t seen what she carried in her hand. “I trust you, Mr. Seldom. Please don’t bother Mr. Wicks.” She handed him the finder compass, which he took with a frown. “I think this should stay with the ship,” she said quietly. “A ship should always know where her captain is.”
    She turned before he asked her any questions. He knew what the object was, had been mighty interested in her making a version for the ship, but now she wouldn’t need to. Seldom would be able to find Hink anywhere he was in this country. At least some good had come of all this.
    “Good-bye, Mr. Seldom. Marshal Hink.” Rose turned and strode toward the door.
    “Cage,” Hink corrected her. “It’s Marshal Cage or Captain Hink.”
    “I’ll leave you to the sorting of your special names,” Rose said. “I have a future to find.”
    Hink was quick and caught her arm.
    “Without me?” He stepped up close, so she had to tip her head up to see the all of him.
    Her heart about beat its way out of her chest. He’d left her. He’d gone sleeping with other women. Was he asking to be in her life, her future?
    “Well…I have a train to catch,” she said softly.
    “Isn’t that something?” he said with a smile. “So do I.”
    She narrowed her eyes. “No, you don’t.”
    “Oh?”
    “I don’t know why you are so set upon bothering me!” she said. “I am leaving you behind.”
    “This has nothing to do with bothering you. I’m set to leave on that train.” He stepped back and hooked his thumbs into the pockets of his long, heavy coat, then shrugged. “Bothering you is just a happy accident.”
    “Happy for whom?” Rose demanded.
    “Me,” Seldom said. “Because then both of you will be out of earshot. Winds are turning, Captain.”
    Hink looked up and over Rose’s shoulder, his eye widening at the brightness of day. “Hell, woman. I have a train to catch. Why’d you have to go and make me late?”
    “I’m so sorry to get in your way!” Rose shouted. “Oh, and by