Skypirate (Coalition Rebellion, #2)

by Justine Davis

“That run you made was . . .” She hesitated. Crazy, demented, suicidal, all the words she wanted to use were sure to destroy whatever there was of that leniency she had sensed in him, and it was tentative enough as it was. But at the same time, she wanted to shake some caution into him. “A calculated risk,” he said with a shrug, sounding so casual that Califa felt that knot inside her tighten further. “And if you had . . . miscalculated?” “The Evening Star still would have made it.” That knot was becoming unbearable. Did he not care at all for himself? He seemed to get such amusement from life; did he not feel any urge to preserve his own? The words came out incredulously, and almost against her will. “And you would be dead.” He shrugged again. “I thought he might break.” The knot snapped, unraveling with all the ferocity of her tangled emotions. “You thought he might break!” she exclaimed. “And on that piece of absurdity you risked your life?” He blinked, as if startled. He opened his mouth, but Califa wasn’t about to let him spout some other piece of lunacy. As happened far too often with this man, the emotions she usually kept tightly under control broke loose, tumbling out in a spate of words. “Do you think your crew would have welcomed your sacrifice? Do you truly believe they would think it an even trade, their lives for the life of the man they esteem above all others?” Amazingly, Califa saw a tinge of color stain his cheeks. But she didn’t, couldn’t stop.