Adiron (Corsair Brothers 1)

Well, in a way, I suppose we ARE joining forces. Just…not the way anyone intended.

"There's no sense in beating yourself up," Helen says, dishing up bowls of noodles. She's sprung into action this morning, pressing a kiss of sympathy on my brow and Alice's before deciding to feed us. Everyone's always happier with a full belly, she reasons, and she's determined to stuff ours. "You know how Ruth is. Ruth is always right in Ruth's eyes."

Alice snorts, wiping a fresh round of tears from her eyes. "You think he's going to hurt her? When he finds her?"

"I don't know," I say softly. I imagine Ruth, hiding in the ductwork somewhere on The Darkened Eye, and wonder if she's feeling panicked. If she feels alone and lost, and I just feel even worse.

"He won't hurt her," Helen says, patting my shoulder. "He doesn't want to hurt anyone. Now eat." She bustles toward the control panel and holds down the button we've marked with a smiley face so Helen knows it's the system comm, and calls out in a chirpy voice. "Breakfast is ready, come and eat, male crew members!"

"How do you know he won't hurt her?" Alice asks, curious.

Helen shrugs, happily setting bowls along the table for the three brothers. "He brought Kaspar and Mathiras here instead of tossing them into space. He was on the ship last night and didn't hurt us. He didn't touch the sleepy people." She smiles at us. "He's just sad because he doesn't know what to do so he ran away."

"Like a little bitch," Alice mutters.

"Helen's got a point," I admit, stirring the noodles in my bowl. I'm not the slightest bit hungry. "He hasn't hurt anyone and I guess he could have if he was ruthless."

"He can't get to the stasis pods," Alice says, taking a big bite of food. She can always eat, no matter the news, and I have no idea where it goes considering she's a tiny thing. Me, I sniff the noodles and gain ten pounds on my butt.

"He says it's his ship," Helen says. "That means he can work it, right?" She thumps down next to me, a curious look on her face. “So he can get to the sleepy people.”

Also true. We're listed as cargo and so our options are limited, but I imagine Straik had a way to figure out how to run everything. Hearing Helen's simple reasoning makes me feel better. I picture Ruth's sour reaction when she realizes she's stuck with Straik…and his. "She's really going to make him regret leaving us behind," I say with a chuckle. "Can you imagine?"

"I think he will be very mad," Helen says, giggling. "And make lots of very mad noises."

The door opens and the three brothers file in.

Our laughter dies, and Helen's the only one in a cheerful mood this morning. She pats the table, indicating that the men should sit. "You come sit next to me, Mathiras," she says happily.

The tallest brother shoots us a chagrined look, but does as he's told. When Helen tries to scoot closer to him, he carefully scoots an equal distance away, as if letting us know he's not encouraging her. He doesn't have to. Helen's been sheltered. This is the longest relationship she's had with a man, ever.

And right now we've got bigger problems than Helen's crush.

I study the other two brothers. Kaspar eats in silence, a grim look on his face. To my surprise, big, happy, blustery Adiron just stares down at his bowl. He's hollow-eyed and his shoulders are slumped with defeat. He blames himself, I know. He said as much over and over again as his brothers woke up and realized what happened.

"Well?" I ask, once we're all at the table. "How is the bridge?" Once the brothers woke up, they immediately went to the bridge to see what they could access on the ship.

"Locked down tight," Kaspar says between bites. "Won't recognize anything we do."

"You're pirates, though. Aren't you used to this sort of thing?" Alice frowns at them. "Isn't this what you do?"

"We're limited without our equipment, which I'm sure was part of Straik's plan," Mathiras says darkly. "He's leaving us here to guard the shipment until he figures out what he wants to do."

"Or he's abandoned us entirely and hopes if we sink into the ice field that will hide his family's crimes," Kaspar retorts.

Adiron is silent. It's very unlike him, and I'm a little worried.

"So," I say, taking a deep breath. "What are our options?"

Mathiras appears to consider things. "Our ship is still in this system—hopefully. If we can connect with it, I'm hoping we can override some of the systems here remotely and slave them to the Little Sister…but it's a long shot."

"Slave?" Helen asks, a worried expression on her face.

"Tying in electronics," I explain gently. "Not a real slave."