Read Online Captain Gravenor’s Airship Equinox (Steampunk Smugglers) by Heather Hiestand - Free Book Online

helped. After he’d
unbuttoned the cuff of his wretched, torn shirt and folded it up to his elbow,
he undid the strap and then unlaced the cuff of the attachment. She had seen
his stump before, but something had her swallowing hard when he revealed it.
    “Looks a bit sore this morning,” he said. “I shouldn’t sleep
with the hook.”
    “You need ointment.”
    “I’ll be fine.” He grabbed the silk stump cover he had sewn
himself and placed it on his arm, then she picked up the hand.
    “Your fingers are shaking.”
    Her chin jutted forward, erasing her slight underbite. “You
are mistaken.”
    “I didn’t mean it as an insult.”
    “Hold out your wrist, underside up.” He did as instructed
and she placed the open cuff around him. “Hold the hand steady, please.”
    Her fingers didn’t shake as she laced him up, using a
braided ribbon she’d created from the silk. With every grommet that tightened,
he felt a prick of pain as she embedded the hand more tightly into his wrist.
At least the sharp connections were not deep, and she promised the blood would
be minimal.
    “I made you a list of movements that work the hand.”
    “I saw it. I think I know them.”
    “Really?”
    “I can think of little more important to me than this,” he
told her. “Now let me see what I can do.”
    He rocked his wrist back and forth, his skin aching as the
silk rubbed against his tender flesh, the connections poking into his stump, but
the fingers opened and flexed as designed. “I am amazed at your skill. It works
perfectly the first time, and you’d never designed one until now.”
    She smiled, a happy curve of her lips he’d never seen
before. “I love this work. I truly do.”
    The only reward he could think to offer was her cooling
porridge, so he went to the bars and gingerly inserted his arm. It didn’t work
right away, but when he lay down on the floor and stretched out, he could just
manage with his brass fingers, using his good hand as leverage to press against
the bars to gain that useful extra inch of reach. He pulled the tray forward,
cursing when his fingers suddenly lost their grip.
    “Try again,” she suggested.
    “I can pull it in now, or you can.”
    “Use the hand. You need the practice.”
    Focusing so hard he felt sweat beading on his forehead
despite the chill morning air, he flexed the fingers again and grasped the tray.
After a tense moment when they didn’t respond, the fingers bent to the tray and
he was able to pull it to the bars.
    “We’ll have to eat through the bars.” She coughed.
    “I can do that. It is a strange feeling, to have the
capability without the sensation.”
    “I would imagine. But I hope you will gain some feeling in
time.” She frowned, and he could see her mentally making adjustments.
    “It is wondrous, nonetheless,” he assured her. The pain was
already subsiding.
    “I am glad.” She offered him that truly happy smile again.
    He didn’t return it, for now came the less pleasant part of
the operation. First this woman had made him whole again, or as nearly whole as
anyone not the Creator himself could, but now the torture would begin. She
would learn to do the things to him that the Blockaders did to their enslaved
men.
    *****
    Torture began after breakfast. Or so Philadelphia planned.
She didn’t know quite how the Blockaders created the electric shocks.
    “You may think you are risking death, but I assure you we
will avoid that in these experiments.”
    “How?” Brecon sat on the bench with his back against the
wall. She hoped it would hold him up if he lost consciousness.
    He had wished aloud that they had an armchair.
    “I will ensure we only create a shock running up your one arm.
If we don’t create a pathway to your heart, the current should not be lethal.”
    “Such a relief,” he murmured.
    “Furthermore, we will keep our tests short. That will
protect you as well. And finally, we will do what we can to keep the voltage as
low as