Aiden Payne is a drifter. His only memory of home is a mysterious tattoo. While working as a gold miner, his path crosses with Amelia Rose Wagner, a sheltered girl in love with navigation and the stars. After a fatal mistake, the two find themselves...
Rafaele had taught Amelia Rose how to navigate at the wheel. She had spent days with him in the navigation room and more at the wheel. Now she could steer a vessel like the Scholar II, although she might have been a little more nervous if the goal wasn't to destroy it.
But that was the idea. If the Scholar II couldn't sail, then it couldn't shoot down the Coronis, and then they had a greater chance of leaving Aydesreve alive. They were getting closer to the Alphard, the pirate's galleon. Aiden looked over the side of the ship at the massive vessel.
"Do you think we can sink it?" Amelia Rose asked.
"Depends on where you hit it," he said. "Don't just—"
"I know exactly what to do," she said, spinning the wheel around. She had spent years in her father's library when he wasn't home rereading the same nonfiction books until her brain was numb with information. The tension buckled on the wheel, and then it spun back loosely in her hands. There was a knot of tension in her shoulders that she couldn't release.
In her encyclopedia, there was an entry on sunken ships. She'd reread that book so many times out of boredom that she could remember a lot of what she had learned. It was about physics and sometimes there were those crashes that were so perfect that the whole vessel—once boyant—could sink from stem to stern. She supposed the closer to land you sink, the better chance you had at living.
Applying science to her problems didn't make her any less terrified. Now that the galleon was in plain sight, she had to will her hands not to shake. Keeping the wheel straight wasn't so easy now.
An officer pushed across the deck, running up to the helm. "Why are we headed for the Alphard, Petty Officer..."
"Payne," Aiden replied, straightening his coat. "Petty Officer Holden here is following the Captain's orders." He smiled at her coyly.
"Really, Petty Officer Holden? And what were these orders?" the officer asked, pushing forward again.
Aiden cleared his throat. "To promote the pirates' confidence in him, Captain Fairburn has directed us to stay close to the Alphard."
The officer looked convinced, but that didn't stop him from crossing his arms. "Right. And if you must know, I wasn't speaking to you."
Amelia Rose coughed and patted her throat. Aiden nodded. "Holden here has laryngitis. Lost his voice, poor thing."
"Feel better." His face drooped in a disapproving grimace. "And you, Payne. You're wanted on the gun deck."
"So I am," Aiden said. He looked back at Amelia Rose for just a moment before heading below decks. The officer gave Amelia Rose a dirty look before heading back to the bow.
Amelia Rose exhaled once he was gone. She was perfectly in line, but she only had one chance to do this correctly. They were already pulling down sails as it was. The more speed they had, the more momentum she'd get. Not thinking twice, she jerked the wheel towards the left, the bow heading right for the stern of the Alphard. The vessel was feet away from a nasty collision. Perfect.
She glanced at the officers on deck, but they were already rushing for the stern, calling out for her to stop.
One chance to get this right.
With a jerk back to the right, she let go of the wheel and dropped onto the deck. The hull tore across the Alphard. The entire ship shuddered and skipped like it was a little stone tearing off against a great structure. Amelia Rose dug her fingernails into the deck as the vessel rattled around her—the masts swung back and forth like pendulums, the officers slipped, and rigging snaked through the air like it was mere thread.
The collision was over and for a moment, Amelia Rose suspected that nothing had happened at all. Everything was quiet. Seagulls squawked above the vessel. And then a bell began to ring, louder and louder, followed by the shouting of the crew. Amelia Rose got up off the deck and leaned over the gunwales. The Alphard had a few large tears across the hull. There must have been more damage below the waterline because the vessel was listing towards her, but it wasn't sinking. The Alphard was stronger than she hoped.
Something black flew through the air. The Scholar II shuddered, taking the hit of the cannonball to its bow. Amelia Rose stumbled backward. She looked down the vessel and realized that they were tipping forward in the water. It wouldn't be long before the whole vessel sank.
The Alphard fired another round of cannonballs. Amelia Rose screamed and dove for the safety of the deck.
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