by A. W. Exley
She slid back down the ladder and found her last throwing blade in the throat of the downed guard. Pulling it free, she gave the star a quick wipe and then replaced it in the last slot on the belt slung around her hips. She would have to spend some time in the evening ensuring they were all spotlessly clean and oiled, before putting them away again.
She looked up to see the KRAC medical officer inspecting Jared’s arm. Christian detached himself from a conversation with Lord Lithgow and approached.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, his gaze sweeping over her.
She shook her head. “No.”
He cast around the room. “This place is empty, Lord Lithgow says they packed up everything a few days ago.”
“It’s why Gregor didn’t protest too hard about us coming out here, he was leaving anyway. They would have been long gone before we ever returned to Edinburgh.”
He made a noise of agreement. “With the two Lithgows and the device. Did you learn anything before the cadet put a knife in his back?”
Another shake of her head. Her gaze flicked to his wrist and the thick leather gauntlet he wore, concealing his guild mark. A tiny voice deep inside told her to keep the conversation about the Consortium and Victoria to herself, at least until she knew the larger picture.
He gave a huff of air and crossed back to his men just as the medic finished with Jared’s arm.
With only a brief nod to the man, he closed the distance to Allie in a few easy strides. Before she could say anything, he swept her into his arms and kissed her with a fierce hunger, fuelled by the remaining adrenaline from the fight. She melted into him, matching his need and tinged with relief he wasn’t seriously hurt. His lips were hard as he crushed her mouth and his tongue sought access between her teeth. Briefly, she thought she tasted the crispness of apple, before she drowned in a whirlpool of blissful sensation as he deepened their kiss.
Jared’s body was the eye of the storm, being both the cause of her disorientation and sheltering her from its effects. The pressure of him against her and his arms tight around her, held her upright as the room spun and the tide of pleasure reeled through her body.
True to his promise, she lost the ability to stand upright, her knees shaking at the pure heat zinging through her limbs.
Duncan smiled and watched Zeb help his father out from under the workbench. He opened his arms and made a kissing gesture. Zeb picked up a loose screw from the bench and threw it at Duncan’s head.
“What?” Duncan rubbed the side of his head and stuck out his bottom lip. “I thought we all kissed now.”
“How bad is the arm?” Allie managed to ask when Jared released her for air.
Jared shrugged off the injury. “They’ll stitch it when we’re back on the airship, but this will hold while we finish up here.”
It was Allie’s turn to scowl. “Then you better get going, I’ll go with Duncan and retrieve the horses.”
Jared leaned in to kiss her again but Allie put a hand up to stop him. “I’m serious, get going before I make you bleed somewhere else.”
“You really are the most infuriating lass I have ever met,” he muttered.
“It’s called being independent,” she said.
“Then I guess I had better get used to it.” He gave a long-suffering sigh.
Allie took pity on him. With her fingers curled around the lapels of his vest, she pulled his head back to her. She took the lead as their lips met again and she threw herself into a whirlpool of desire. Kissing Hakim had never liquefied her bones like this. For the first time she wanted to feel a boy completely against every inch of her skin.
It was Jared who broke it off. They teetered on the precipice of needing more, but aware of their surrounds and watchful eyes.
“God, Allie,” he whispered, unable to say more, his eyes swirling storm clouds of gathering desire.
“I assume that will hold you until later?” she responded, her breath coming in shallow gasps as she tried to regain control over her body. “And it’s a long trip back to Edinburgh, whatever will we do with all that time on our hands?” she added with a grin.
Jared gave her a longing look before releasing her, to follow the medic outside.
“What about me?” Duncan wailed as Allie walked past him on her way out.
“Men!” she exclaimed. Swinging around to him and standing on tiptoe, she pulled his head down and managed to place a chaste kiss on his lips.
Duncan broke out into a broad grin. “I knew you couldn’t resist me for long.” But a troubling thought crossed his mind. “Wait, you just kissed Jared. Does that mean I just kissed him too?” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Yuck!”
Allie picked up her discarded satchel and looped the strap over her shoulders. Lifting the flap, she smiled to find Weasel curled in the bottom. He lifted his head and his blood splattered tail gave a thump.
“Good boy,” she whispered, running a finger down his spine.
The creature chirped, and his eyes whirled shades of red.
Allie and Duncan walked up the stairs, back toward the hallway and main entrance.
“So did the Lithgows have Zeb, or grow him in a laboratory?” Allie joked as they walked, commenting on the near perfect resemblance of Zeb to his father and earning a snort of laughter from Duncan.
In the ballroom, Zeb and his father engaged in a heated discussion.
“You built one?” Zeb’s eyes widened in horror.
“Only a small one, for demonstration purposes you know,” his father said. “I’ve been shut up here for three weeks, I had to do something to occupy my time. I started work on a marvellous mechanical chess set, where the pieces battled each other. The count got quite excited about my little knights and wanted to know how I articulated the arms. You know they were building automaton limbs here? He said they were for amputees, never knew underworld types did charity work.”
“Limbs?” Zeb frowned.
“Yes, crates of the things. They had a production line making them while I tinkered with the miniature propulsion unit.”
“All clear,” a soldier reported. “There’s nothing here, let’s all go.”
“This should be destroyed. What if it falls into the wrong hands?” Zeb looked at the small engine that doubled as a lethal weapon. His father very nearly finished it, but didn’t have the final wiring schematic to make the rocket work. To think the guilds came so close to having the weapon. All for want of the correct wiring and one tiny missing part.
Inspiration slammed into his brain. “It would be a shame to waste such an obvious opportunity for experimentation.” He turned to his father, who followed his son’s line of thought.
He waved to the soldier. “There’s nothing left? So you don’t mind if we conduct an experiment?”
The soldier shrugged. “The lieutenant is satisfied there’s nothing here of interest, so knock yourselves out.”
Lord Lithgow rubbed his hands together, his eyes shining bright. “It’s a remote location and it would solve the issue of destroying the propulsion unit. It would be fascinating to see whether our hypotheses about impact damage have been correct.”
Zeb opened his pouch and extracted a handful of cogs, looking for the exact size and arrangement he needed. “We only need to make a few final adjustments―”
Allie and Duncan headed out the front door, when a commotion stopped them in their tracks. Zeb and his father came hurtling past, the last of the Conri soldiers in the castle hot on their heels, the entire group running like mad for the main exit.
“RUN!” Zeb screamed at them as he sprinted across the slate floor and over the threshold to the outside. Allie and Duncan exchanged startled looks before increasing their pace. Allie was a quick learner. If Zeb was running, everyone should be running. They sprinted out the main door and down the steps.
They leapt down the stairs when an enormous and ear shattering boom rent the air around them. The castle shook as though a giant slammed a fist into the side of
it. Brick, dust, and plaster rained down on them as they raced across the green lawn.
“What the hell?” Duncan yelled, his ears ringing from the explosion. Zeb and his father thumped each other on the back in congratulations.
Allie, realising they detonated the rocket, thought they overlooked a rather important detail. She turned to Zeb. “What about his airship―”
There came a whump! and a wall of heat and sound knocked them all off their feet, lifted them in the air, and then tossed them several feet. An enormous fireball hurtled up into the sky. The explosion through the side of the castle ignited the hidden airship’s bladder, causing the eruption. Flaming debris rained on the castle, igniting the entire structure, turning it into a giant bonfire.
“―behind the castle,” Allie finished, glaring at Zeb. Luckily, the KRAC airship was tethered some distance from the castle and out of reach of the fiery projectiles. She’d hate to lose their ride home.
Father and son looked crestfallen. “The airship explosion will distort our data,” Zeb said holding out his hands to the inferno as though he could stop the myriad of smaller explosions as leftover munitions deep in the castle ignited.
Allie laid her head back on the grass, watching the dust clouds spread, orange, red, and black skipping across the sky.
It’s certainly been some week.
Once the dust settled and the fires burned themselves out, the two Lithgows explored the crater they created, like gleeful children at their first circus.
As the sun lowered on the horizon, the time came to head back to Edinburgh. The horses were nervy from the explosion and intense fire as they walked up the airship gangplank, but they managed to get all of them on board and into the stalls.
Dusk claimed the surrounding land when Allie went up to the observation deck watching the forest pass beneath the airship’s belly.
Jared emerged, his arm stitched and bandaged with a clean dressing. He came up behind and slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her back against his chest.
She gave a sigh as he kissed his way up her shoulder and neck, sending ripples of pleasure running like tiny ants with electric shoes scurrying over each skin cell.
“What will happen now?” he murmured against her skin.
“What do you mean?” She forced herself to pay attention to his words, instead of letting his actions distract her.
His lips nibbled at her ear. “When Le Foy learns what you have done.”
She leaned her head against his shoulder; it was time to tell him the truth. “He’ll return me to Newgate, as promised,” she whispered.
“You assisted KRAC, I’m sure they could have you pardoned. What were you in for, stealing bread?” He went back to nuzzling her neck.
“No, murder. When Le Foy found me I was about to be hanged, now he will put me back on the gallows.”
Silence. His arms tightened around her.
“I didn’t do it. Fredericks botched a burglary and since I was caught with him, a judge sentenced me to share his fate.”
He rested his cheek on top of her head. “I’ll not let him have you. And General Galloway has offered to help protect you.”
“I wish it were that simple.” She wanted to cry. “I have defied the overlord, you don’t apologise and carry on. The guild will demand I be punished.”
He was silent for a few moments longer, before speaking. “Have you defied him? Didn’t you say Le Foy’s instructions may have concealed another meaning? What exactly did he tell you to do?”
She closed her eyes and replayed the scene in the study, watched by her mother’s portrait. “He said to keep my ears open, that new alliances are being made and that when I had finished with the Reapers to send him a message.”
“Did he use those words, when you had finished with them? Why didn’t he say when business was concluded, or after you had delivered Zeb?”
“That’s what I thought was odd.” Her father’s words came back to taunt her; send me a message when you have finished with the Reapers. What did he mean by finished? Could he have intended her to destroy their base?
“There were no survivors, you have certainly finished them as instructed and learned of a new alliance.”
The small glimmer of light returned to the black recesses of Allie’s mind. Any further thoughts were cut off as Jared kissed her. He was gentle but insistent, until she felt her bones turn to molten metal and she could no longer stand without him holding onto her.
The moon was high in the sky by the time they returned to the house in Edinburgh. The three friends were relieved to hand their horses over to the grooms and not have to worry about unsaddling and feeding their weary mounts.
On entering the house they were greeted by a worried looking Lady Lithgow and Eloise. Both looked anxious that Zeb was not amongst them.
“They’re all right.” Jared reassured them. “Zeb and Lord Lithgow are with KRAC, they have plenty to relay about what they saw and they’ll be here in the morning.”
The relief flooded into their faces. “I don’t know how to thank you all,” Lady Lithgow exclaimed, one hand over her heart, the other held tightly by Eloise.
There was a crease of worry from Eloise who saw Jared’s bandaged arm. “You’re hurt?”
“It’s only a scratch.” He shrugged. “It won’t take long to heal. Now if you don’t mind, it’s been a long couple of days and we’re all rather tired. We’ll tell all in the morning and answer all your questions once we’ve had some sleep.”
They climbed the double staircase to their rooms, Jared and Allie with fingers intertwined. They paused at the top of the stairs, the girls’ rooms off to the right, while Jared and Duncan were housed down to the left. Duncan started down the left hand corridor, while Jared paused.
“Goodnight,” he murmured to Allie. Placing a hand on the side of her face, he brushed a gentle kiss over her lips before releasing her.
“Goodnight,” she replied as she turned to head to her room.
Eloise caught up to her, sliding her arm into that of her friend. “Don’t think you’re going to sleep until you’ve told me everything,” she whispered with a gleam in her eyes. “And I mean everything!”
Friday, 30th September.
awn crept over the horizon and Allie was still awake. She finally gave Eloise sufficient detail, of the romantic kind, for her to be satisfied. She wandered off to her room with a dreamy look in her eyes.
Bet she dreams of kissing Zeb.
Allie seated herself at the little writing desk under the window, Weasel curled around the base of the lamp and shut his eyes. Only the slow rotation of his ears showed he stayed alert. Opening a drawer, she withdrew the chatelaine she secreted before they left. She unclipped the glass vial containing the mechanical dragonfly Le Foy gave her in London.
It had been a relief to confide in Jared, to tell someone else of the burden she carried. She still held back that Le Foy was her father, not ready to lay herself completely bare. It was enough she trusted Jared with her life by telling him how she escaped the gallows.
He came up with the idea for the message. Le Foy instructed her to contact him when she had finished with the Reapers. She had certainly done that―finished them. A small sliver of her clung to the hope they interpreted his words correctly.
Jared advised her to be economical with the truth. Gregor was dead, the castle destroyed. No Reapers survived to bear witness to her actions or betrayal if they were wrong about Le Foy’s true intent.
She stared at the brief message she wrote on the tiny strip of paper, hoping it would save the Lithgows.
And her.
Weapon unstable. Explosion destroyed everything. Reapers finished.
She rolled the strip up tightly, unhinged the end segment of the insect’s dark bronze body and hid the message within. Closing the hidden chamber, she stroked her fingers along its delicate length. It vibrated briefly in her hand, and then unfurled its opalescent wings. The tiny antenna on its head swung around
, before fixing on south, the direction of London.
Allie leaned over and opened the window. “Off you go,” she whispered to the miniscule messenger, lifting her hand over the sill. It shook itself, flapped its wings and zipped away. A blur of iridescent colour, winging its way to another outstretched hand. Allie silently prayed that Le Foy believed her message and she guessed at his hidden motives. Her life depended on it.
The exhaustion told on her body, and she pulled back the coverlet on the bed and climbed between her sheets. Sleep claimed her and brought blissful nothingness to her mind.
It was nearly lunchtime when Allie rose, the entire house late due to the previous evening’s events. She headed along to Jared’s room. Duncan appeared in his cousin’s doorway. “How’s his arm?” she enquired.
“Eloise had a poke, and reckoned if she stitched him up, it wouldn’t leave a mark. He told her to go away. He’s looking forward to his first scar. You can go in, if you want.” Duncan gave her his usual grin and swung the door open, and then closed it behind her.
Jared sat up in bed, his right arm bandaged, his naked and well-muscled torso a light brown against the pure white sheets. Allie wondered how he managed to get a slight tan given the notoriously fickle Scottish summers. She had the mental image of him and Duncan cavorting half-naked in the heather like a couple of wolf pups. Then she pushed the idea firmly out of her head.
“Good morning.” He had a worried look on his face as Allie paced up and down. “Did you send the message?”
“Yes,” she began, then stopped; she wasn’t sure how to proceed. There was so much to discuss. She didn’t know how Le Foy would respond. There was the issue of how they could be together, without even contemplating Madeline. She worried what the Consortium plotted against Princess Victoria and was determined to see the future queen survive to prove herself.