Page 102 of Crossbones
I don’t know how long I stand there, taking it all in with a heavy reverence, when I feel a presence at my shoulder and Blackwell steps up beside me.
“I can’t believe it’s real,” I say in a low tone.
“Your conviction was pretty believable.”
“That’s what I do, Captain. I inspire confidence,” I say dryly.
The ghost of a smile crosses his face.
“You didn’t believe me,” I scoff.
He frowns, looking disturbed by the comment. “It’s not that I didn’t believe you—I was just beginning to doubt the legitimacy of the information you had.”
My laugh is nothing more than a breath. “Same thing.”
“Only because you decided it was a good idea to burn the map.” His tone is tinged with amusement.
I chuckle. “Yeah, there are times I regret doing that,” I admit. “But then I remember the chances of you recovering it when you captured me would have been high, and I’m glad I didn’t riskthat,” I say with emphasis.
“To think where we’d be if that had happened,” he teases.
“Dead,” I deadpan. He looks over at me, humor dancing in his eyes and I can’t help but grin. “I’d be dead. You’d have absolutely killed me—”
“You don’t know that,” he insists.
I throw my arm around his shoulder. “You’re right—I probably would have still charmed you into keeping me.”
I can tell he’s trying to hold back his smile, but he fails and I’m gifted with another rare sighting of just how striking he looks when he’s not scowling.It brightens his face and makes me want to drag him back into our tent. Our humor fades and we let the beauty of our surroundings settle over us once more.
“All this death and ruin. Do you think it means something if no one remembers it?”
“It mattered to them—once,” Blackwell says.
“Enough for them to die for it.”
“Wouldn’t you?” He glances at me. “Would you die for Foxhollow?”
Would I die for them?Yeah—I think I would. As much as I think of Fox as being a persona, a mask used to hide from my brother and father, I also know that those people deserve someone to fight for them. Someone to stand up for them. I wouldn’t want to see that destroyed.
“That’s what this is all about, isn’t it?” I give him a small smile. “Stealing the gold so I can continue to resist tyranny—and you can complete your annihilation of your enemies.”
Blackwell’s attention focuses solely on me, a thoughtful expression on his face mixed with something deeper. His eyes are intense black pits, reflecting the occasional flash of ice when they catch the meager light streaming in from above.
He tilts his head, his intensity searing. “Is it still only about the gold?”
The smile stays on my face as I turn back to the view, my hand slips into his and I lace our fingers together.
“No, I don’t think it is, Captain.”
JAMES
We break down camp and head deeper into the fortress. The number of bodies we come across continues to grow—all of them still with the disturbing look of terror on their faces—perfectly preserved in their last moments. It’s eerie and more than a little rattling, especially when a lot of them are looking up. The fortress is at times completely intact, encased in ice, and others in massive ruin where we can’t even tell what we’re walking through. We’re in one such space now, picking our way through a hallway of some sort. There’s a rumbling. The ground shakes, ice splinters and cracks, the sound deafening in the small space.
“Go!” I shove everyone back. “Get back!”
We run backwards down the hall as debris rains down on our heads. Massive boulders and jagged rocks crash around us. Dust and ice particles drop visibility down to nothing. Something hits me in the back and I get slammed to the ground. I throw my arms over my head and wait for the onslaught to stop. It’s over in less than a minute but nonetheless terrifying. I shove rocks and ice off of me and pull myself free, yanking my pack out behind me.
“Everyone okay?” I call.
