Ultimate Nyssa Glass by H. Burke (best value ebook reader .txt) 📕

fabric of the zeppelin’s balloon. That she could definitely hit.

“Because, if you so much as look at Ellis wrong, I will put a flaming hole in this blasted blimp and send us all blazing into the ocean,” she growled.

Blythe recoiled.

“That’s my Nyss.” Ellis grinned.

“Shut up!” Blythe snapped. His nostrils flared, but he continued in a calmer voice. “You do realize the hydrogen in that balloon will ignite instantaneously. You wouldn’t have a chance to escape.”

“Your mistake is thinking I care … no, actually it was before that, when you kidnapped and threatened the only person I care about, the only person who cares about me. I have nothing if you take him from me, and sending you to Hell might not save him or me, but it would definitely let me die satisfied.” She slipped her finger onto the trigger of the flare gun. “So. Let. Him. Go.”

“I told you not to trifle with me, girl,” Blythe said.

Barabbas’s gun hand twitched.

Panic shot through Nyssa. Her hands shook, and a sound like two trains crashing together made her scream. She’d fired the revolver! Barabbas yelped and leapt back. Ellis ducked.

The shot went wild, ricocheting off the handrail with a clink, and tearing a hole in the outer casing of the zeppelin’s balloon.

Nyssa’s body trembled. Her ears rang. “That was a warning shot!” she lied. “Let Ellis go!”

Blast it.Thegunshot would summon the air-raft, but Nyssa wasn’t ready yet.

Blythe’s hand strayed to his ear. He tapped at the device there, at least a dozen times. Barabbas stiffened.

“Let the young man go, Barabbas,” Blythe said.

Barabbas nodded and stepped back to stand beside his employer.

With a confused glance from Blythe to Nyssa, Ellis rolled to her side.

“You do realize you have no way off this ship?” Blythe raised an eyebrow.

“Get upright and attach yourself to me,” Nyssa whispered, motioning towards the leather straps peeking out from below her peacoat. She might need to use her backup plan. Hopefully Renard was a good shot with that grappling gun.

Ellis fiddled with his switches, and the chair adjusted so he could stand beside her. His body pressed against hers as he fastened the straps around his waist.

“We’ll figure something out,” she said. “As mentioned, there are parachutes.”

“And I thought you were afraid of heights.” Ellis chuckled in her ear.

His warm breath soothed and excited her simultaneously, but it wasn’t the time to dwell on that. The possibility of falling from a zeppelin … it was the perfect time to dwell on that. Especially with the opening in the deck less than a yard behind her and the cold air snaking around her face.

I need them to get away before Renard and Amara get here.

“Why don’t you go fetch us a pair of parachutes?” she suggested.

“And leave you young folks unchaperoned?” Blythe laughed. “That wouldn’t be very responsible of me, would it?”

“I think we’ll be fine.”

A whirring noise rose over the steady hum of the airship’s mechanics.

Barabbas rushed to the rail. “The air-raft is coming back, boss. I think it’s your niece.”

The Mercutiorose to hover besideThe Juliet. Close enough that Nyssa could see the look of horror on Amara’s face when she sighted her uncle. Renard stood at her side, holding the grappling gun.

“So, they’ve returned,” Blythe snarled. “Shoot them down.”

The grappling hook rocketed through the air. It clattered against the railing and caught. Nyssa grabbed it.

“Stop them!” Blythe shouted.

Barabbas jerked in a circle, uncertain which command to follow first.

Nyssa gulped. She fumbled with the hook, but managed to secure it to her harness.

“Hold on, Ellis!” she yelled. She raised the flare gun overhead, aiming at the rip caused by the ricochet.

Blythe’s eyes widened. Barabbas shrieked. Nyssa fired.

Chapter Fourteen

The orange flare pierced the balloon. Nyssa kicked off the deck. Her breath escaped when gravity grabbed her. Ellis gave a strangled cry.

With a bang, the hydrogen ignited. The flames roared, sweeping down the length ofThe Juliet. The skeleton-framework of the blimp stood out against the rage of the inferno.

Nyssa and Ellis swung away fromThe Juliet, towardsThe Mercutio. Everything spun around them. First Nyssa faced the airship, then the sea, then the horizon. Ellis’s fingers tightened into her arms.

The world jerked as they hit the end of the line, jarring Nyssa’s teeth together. The rope quivered. They swung like a clock’s pendulum, rapidly at first, finally slowing. Sparks flew about them.The Juliet crumpled into itself, like paper turning to ash. It sank slowly in the sky. Ellis’s arms tightened about her.

A cloud of steam rose as the flaming wreckage hit the water. The rope oscillated … hopefully Renard had tied it to something strong. She made the mistake of glancing down, and her vision wobbled.

“Hang on. Hand over hand,” Ellis said. He let go of her and began to climb the rope. She did her best to help, but with their bodies so close, it was cumbersome, and after several feet, she gave up and let him drag her along.

“Are you all right?” Amara shouted down at them.

Ellis grunted, his face red and the veins bulging in his neck.

“Throw us another line!” Nyssa called.

A second rope uncoiled beside her, and Nyssa grabbed on.

Soon they flopped onto the deck ofThe Mercutio. They lay side by side, with Amara and Renard hovering over them.

Ellis drew in two long, loud breaths then burst out laughing. “I hope I never have to do anything like that again.”

Nyssa snorted, then giggled. She collapsed, exhausted, against his chest. His arms surrounded her.

“Nyss, did you just blow up an airship for me?”

“I guess I sort of did,” she said.

“You know most girls just buy their boyfriends monogrammed handkerchiefs or cufflinks.” He winked.

“I’ll remember that next time.” She picked herself up and offered him her hand.

“I’m all right.” He turned a dial on his hip brace, and his chair reformed.

“Well, at least we’re all safe.” Renard gazed mournfully over the side. Burning debris still floated on top of the crystal blue water. “I’ll hate to tell my family that the Dragon’s Heart is now lost