Read Online Balanced on the Blades Edge #2 Deathmaker by Lindsay Buroker - Free Book Online Page A

the door open. Neither of them walked right in. The cabin inside stood dark, so Cas couldn’t tell much about its occupant, but there was a faint chemical smell. Was this where he made his batches of goo?
    “I’ll, uh, get a lantern. And shackles. Even if he wants to have some fun, he won’t want her touching his stuff.” The speaker released Cas’s arm and walked farther along the corridor, then disappeared down a ladder, leaving her with one guard.
    She eyed the pistol holstered at his belt. A six-shooter, but she didn’t see an ammo pouch. It would be risky, but if it was fully loaded, she might have enough rounds to take care of him and clear the deck above, at least for long enough for her to sprint to that rope.
    “What’s the slimy substance on the floor? Should it be smoking like that?” Cas tilted her chin toward the dark cabin.
    “What?” Eyes bulging, the guard took a step back, his grip on her loosening slightly.
    Cas grabbed his pistol at the same time as she twisted away. Her canvas prisoner smock ripped, but her captor’s hands slipped away. She cocked the hammer, aiming at him. Someone grabbed her from behind before she could shoot. A fist bashed her hand, knocking the pistol out of her grip, and she found herself spun around and slammed into the wall.
    The glowering face of the captain closed in, inches from hers, his anger like a wave breaking over her. He had dark brown eyes, but his brow was drawn down so far, the irises were barely visible. He leaned into her ribs so hard, she feared they would bend—or break. Somehow, her feet were dangling off the ground again. Seven gods, she hated being short.
    “Do not make trouble, girl,” he breathed, the scent of alcohol washing her face.
    She wished she could lean away, but the wall didn’t help her out. “Sorry,” she grumbled as fiercely as she could with her ribs shoved into her organs, “I didn’t know you were used to compliant prisoners.”
    “Just ones not stupid enough to attack their guards.” He leaned even closer and grabbed her chin, his fingers hard as they dug into flesh tender with bruises. Her barely healed lip cracked open again and bled. She hoped it would stain his stupid bone vest. Not that he would care. It probably wouldn’t be the first blood to splash upon it. “If you think I’m afraid to go against the Deathmaker’s wishes,” he breathed in her ear, “you’re wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
    Cas hadn’t thought that at all—wasn’t he the captain and therefore in charge?—but she wasn’t about to start a conversation with the lunatic. On the other hand, if he brought his ugly snout any closer, she would bite it off.
    He released her abruptly. She managed to brace herself against the wall and kept from crumpling to the deck, though her ribs did creak with the first full breath she took. She needed to escape from these madmen—Cofah, pirates, they were all the same—just so she could heal.
    The captain handed the six-shooter to the guard, who was standing nearby, wearing a sheepish expression.
    “Don’t lose that again,” the captain said.
    “No, Cap’n. I won’t.”
    The second man had returned with the lantern. He lifted the shackles in the air. “Sorry, Captain. We’ll get her chained up real good.”
    The captain looked into the dark room. “What is he thinking, putting her in there? Make sure she can’t touch anything.” He glared at Cas again, and she was certain he would have preferred to tie her in twenty or thirty layers of rope and pin her under a five-hundred-pound anchor.
    “Yes, Cap’n.”
    Grumbling under his breath, the captain pushed past the guards and strode down the narrow corridor.
    “You first,” the closest guard said. “You’ve got the lantern.”
    The man grimaced, but took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold. The second guard pushed Cas ahead of him.
    The single lantern wasn’t strong enough to illuminate everything—it was a surprisingly