On his knees, he examined the pit and the trap within. His breath slowed.
He crouched into position, leaning his weight on the elbow of his severed arm. And, with a foxlike pounce, he landed across the opening.
“Now,” he yelled.
Penelope grabbed Thaddeus’s legs and swung him down.
Behind her, the captain roared. Then, the spring trap snapped closed.
~~~
Chev stared at the single spot of blue visible through feathery clouds while his heart whipped against his ribs. Somewhere close, his wife murmured sounds of comfort to their son.
He was alive. With remaining limbs intact.
Which, oddly enough, did not even rate.
There had been a moment, a lightning second, when he’d thought Thaddeus would not clear the pit before the spring trap snapped closed. Everything Chev had survived up to that moment was nothing more than a flickering candle next to that explosion of pure terror.
Spring traps were nothing more than a trigger and hinged jaws that closed like teeth when the trap went off. They were simple, but unforgiving.
He rolled to his side and glanced down into the shallow pit. The trap—pit and spring together—had not been created to catch small game. The branches used to cover the opening would have supported a rabbit or a fox.
But not a man.
Or a boy.
He hung his head. He hadn’t known if he had strength enough to support Thaddeus if Thaddeus fell. All he’d known was that he must trust Penelope to do all she could. Either way, the jaws of the trap would have closed on him—not on his son.
He reached up to wipe his eyes.Wrong arm.He slammed his elbow against the ground. He rolled back, prone and vulnerable, quaking like an untrained child.
C’est comme ça que je t’aime.This is how I like you.
No.No!He refused to listen.
Her voice returned nonetheless.
Le capitaine grand et courageux, impuissant et frémissant.The great and brave captain, helpless and quivering.Et donc très irrésistible.And so very irresistible.
No.No...
This time, not so much a protestation as a whimper.
The pirate would always return, especially in the times he most needed strength. As long as she lived, she’d remain a leech in the shadows of his mind.
A feminine face blocked the sun. “Captain,” she said. “Captain!”
Not the pirate, but Penelope.
Penelope.
She was within inches, but an ocean lay between them. An ocean he, an expert mariner, could not fathom a way to cross.
Slowly, Penelope came into focus. Worry etched onto her face, echoed in her hollow gaze.
What would she say, if he told her the truth? What would she do if he cried out, my wife, my son?
Tu ne possèdes rien.You own nothing.Tu n’es rien.You are nothing.
