Corsairs: Kaspar (Corsair Brothers 2) - Page 130

She manages the faintest of smiles for me, and then sags on the med-scan bed. "God, I'm tired. I feel like I've gone through the wringer in the last hour."

This, I can fix. I promptly scoop her up into my arms, ignoring Sterre's tail-swat of protest. "Zoey's getting a room together for us. How about you and I take a hot shower, curl up in bed, and talk about baby names?"

She puts her arms around my neck. "Yes to the hot shower, yes to the bed, no to the baby names."

I'm surprised at that. I carry her out of med-bay and down the hall. She's so light in my arms, and it just makes me all the more aware of how fragile and precious she is to me. My chest feels like it can't contain all the emotions I'm feeling right now, and for a moment, I wonder if I'm going to burst into tears like she does. How keffing embarrassing. I clear my throat. "Don't want to think about the future just yet?"

"I do. But I was thinking more along the lines of “what kind of gun does a pregnant lady pirate use?” She rests her cheek against my chest. "What does a pregnant lady pirate wear when kicking ass and taking names? Those kinds of things."

"As far as I'm concerned, she can wear whatever she wants," I say proudly.

Alice is going to be an amazing corsair.

Kef, she already is.

Epilogue

KASPAR

The Jabberwock is a great ship, but it's not home. The halls are clean and tidy, and it's got the sleek, faintly metallic scent of a newer ship, one that hasn't burned all the dust off of the new engine yet. She's fast, and all the controls are top of the line, but I find myself missing the Little Sister's aged charm.

Still, a rescue's a rescue, and this one's better than most. It means spending time with my sister and her mate. It means spending time with old friends and talking about old jobs. Most of all, though, it means a safe ride for me and Alice back to the Sister, which is parked on Jerrok's old, abandoned asteroid base.

After a few months of living in the wild and scraping for the basics, it feels strange not to have something to do when I wake up in the morning. I don't have to check traps or dig pits. I don't have to haul water or clean the water filters. I don't have to pluck my breakfast and roast it. I can just lie in bed and relax.

Yeah right. I'm not the relaxing type.

Neither is Alice. She was up before I was, probably grilling Zoey on what I was like when I was younger (which she finds endlessly amusing) or hanging out in the mess hall, eating bowl after bowl of sweet noodles mixed with sour chski pickles. It's a craving, she tells me, and probably a pregnancy thing. Me, I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to stomach watching her devour that mess…and how we're going to have to load up the Sister with more, because she's my mate, and my mate gets what she wants.

Just thinking about Alice and her delight in all the comforts that the Jabberwock has to offer makes me smile. I prowl down the halls of the ship, looking for my mate. Not that she's in any danger, but after months of being at each other's side constantly, it feels a little odd to be in separate rooms. I find that I go hunting for her regularly, just to be near her, just to watch her. It's idiotic and my brothers will probably tease the kef out of me when they find out how obsessed I am with my fierce little mate, but I don't care.

I hear conversations coming from one of the engine rooms, and even though I know it's most likely not Alice, I still head down the hall to see who's talking. When I run into Tarekh, I'm not surprised to see that Salvotor is with him. Tarekh's a big ugly brute of a mesakkah, but he's got a good heart and an easy personality. He's taken Salvotor under his wing while we travel, showing the former gladiator some of the basics of the ship.

And some teasing, to boot.

"You see that vent?" Tarekh is saying, pointing at one of the overhead vents that line the walls of the Jabberwock. His messed-up face is covered in smears of grime and oil, and Salvotor looks just as filthy as he stands next to him, gazing up. "I'm gonna need you to climb into that."

"Me?" Salvotor asks. "Why me?"

"Because you annoy my mate and she's avoiding chores while I look after you." He claps a big hand on Salvotor's shoulder and grins. "Which means it's your job today."

Tags: Ruby Dixon Corsair Brothers Fantasy
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