Scorpius (Stars and Sails, Book 2)

One (Part 2 of 2)

Joshua Holden had quite the problem on his hands. His wife was still alive.

"Mr. Holden." Amelia Rose waved her hand. "What's wrong with you?"

She had caught him staring at her. Probably made her feel uncomfortable, but he wondered if it would make her feel better if she knew that all his glances were wasted on shaming himself for ever trusting her. Hm. Probably not. "You have something in your teeth," he lied. She clamped her mouth shut, her tongue moving to dig out the fictitious offender.

Payne and Haworth hung over a stall, looking at the illegal weapons for sale. Holden leaned against a stone pillar carved in the likeness of Phaethon and watched.

"Now, ain't she a beaut?" Haworth asked, pointing at a strange gun behind the counter. It was a pistol, except the bottom of the barrel was a large knife. Holden narrowed his eyes. It looked ridiculous.

"Say's it's a cutlass pistol," Payne pointed at a little sign. "I don't know, Haworth, seems like a bad design."

"A bad design?" Haworth laughed, "Well, knit me striped socks, kid, look at that thing! You can slice and dice and chop and shoot."

"Holden, why don't you tell him," Payne said.

"Don't be a fool," Holden advised, keenly aware of the dagger tucked away in the waistband of his trousers pressing against his back.

Haworth frowned. "Come on now, mayor."

Payne looked at Amelia Rose, "Why don't you talk some sense into him? He always listens to you."

"Haworth, why must you waste your money?" Amelia Rose said, giving up on her teeth.

"I ain't wastin' a thing, Dirty." Haworth spun around and slapped a handful of coins on the counter. The pirate sorted them out.

"Do you have to call me that?" Amelia Rose bunched up her fists together. Payne comforted her.

Haworth pulled his new cutlass pistol off the counter triumphantly. He tried to slide it into his holster. "Aw dash! It doesn't fit." He turned back to the pirate. "You selling a holster by chance?"

Holden locked eyes with Amelia Rose. "Why don't you come back to Aydesreve with us?"

Amelia Rose crossed her arms. Her lip curled back in disgust. "Sure, I'll go back to the land of sand and abusive fathers."

"Mine isn't great either, but I'm still going," Holden replied, glaring down at her.

"At least your father didn't kill your mother. Mine is uncontestedly the worst." she snapped back.

"Woah there," Aiden took his cowboy hat off and held it over his chest. "Let's not argue about who has it worse because I don't want to brag or anything but my dad kinda tattooed me when I was eight years old, so."

"That's hilarious," Haworth guffawed. "Ya'll all got pappy issues."

Holden narrowed his eyes. Haworth was one of those weird Aydesrevean folk. Foreigners.

"Let's just leave it at that. Amelia Roseis going to New Jhatari and I'm joining you to meet with Governor Oriol."

"Yeah," Holden mouthed. "Fantastic." But he couldn't help his gaze returning to Amelia Rose. He didn't want to kill her, but he also knew what he needed to do.