Read Earthrise (Her Instruments Book 1) for Free Online Page B

saved me from bankruptcy?”
    Another one of those miniscule shrugs. “It seems that way.”
    “Damn,” Irine said in wonder.
    “That makes no sense!” Reese exclaimed. “What would a queen want with me? How did she even find me? Why would she bother?”
    “Why did she bother with me?” the Eldritch said. “But she chose you and she cares what becomes of me and here we are. Why question it, lady?”
    “I’m not your—”
    “—lady, so you say,” Hirianthial said. “But you are an instrument of a queen, so what shall I call you instead?”
    “My name is Theresa Eddings,” Reese said. “I am the captain of the TMS Earthrise . And you will call me ‘Reese’ because that’s what people call me. Not ‘lady’ and not ‘madam’ and not ‘princess’ or whatever else you can come up with. Just “Reese.” Or ‘captain’ if you insist.”
    “As you say,” he said.
    Such polite words, such courtesy, and yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was going to call her whatever he wanted, and damned what she thought of it. Reese pursed her lips and eyed him skeptically, but his expression never changed. With a sigh, she steadied herself against the bars and rubbed her temple. “These guards. Do they ever check on us?”
    “They check about every hour. They don’t always come within eyeshot, but I can sense them.”
    She glanced at him, then back at her crew. Irine had curled up around Sascha, her striped tail wrapped around his so tightly she could barely tell which inserted into which spine. Bryer remained unconscious. This was what she had to work with. Reese sighed and looked back at the Eldritch. “Can you set the guard on fire when he comes? Then we can grab for the field key and make a run for it.”
    The Eldritch stared at her, white brows lifting. “Lady—Captain—do I look like a magician to you?” he asked.
    “You did say you set someone’s house on fire. How much harder is a person’s clothes? If you were sent for your special talents....”
    He laughed then, a breathy, quiet thing. Reese had never seen someone laugh without relaxing; it seemed unnatural. Did all Eldritch have this extreme control over their bodies?
    “Good God! I can’t break the laws of physics at a whim, I’m sorry to say. The Queen sent me because I’m one of the few non-touch telepaths, not because I can set things on fire by staring at them, or teleport or anything equally preposterous.”
    The hairs on the nape of Reese’s neck bristled beneath the tangle of her beaded braids. “How was I supposed to know? Your world is so cloistered it makes a monastery look positively cosmopolitan! I didn’t even know it was your Queen who sent me to rescue you... how do you expect anyone to know anything about you under circumstances like those?”
    His cheeks colored a faint blue-tinged peach. “Your point is taken, lady. Pardon me.”
    Reese snorted and looked away, clenching her hands on the bars. No knives, no data tablets, no pyrokinetic Eldritch, no peppermint chalk, and a hold full of rotting rooderberries. She stared at her dirty, broken fingernails. By the time she found another port she’d have to do some fast talking to get someone to buy the things—
    Reese’s chin jerked up. She smiled, feral, and turned to face Hirianthial again. “But what if they thought you could set them on fire?”
    The Eldritch lifted a brow.
    “I mean, why don’t we set things up so that it looks like you’re doing some sort of magic with our help, and use that to scare the guard into letting us go?”
    “Do you truly believe we can talk our way out of this cell?”
    Oh, he sounded so certain. Reese folded her arms over her chest. “I’ve talked my way out of worse situations.”
    His face remained maddeningly smooth. She wanted him to sneer or roll his eyes or something. “Have you?”
    “Look, Hirianthial,” she said, “I’m sure I can do this. I know my people can. It’s you I’m not sure of. Can you act?