Falcon said, "This will be sufficient then, for your needs?"
"It's perfect. You have made my dream come true." With that, she impulsively threw her arms around him in a fierce hug.
For a moment he froze—his arms dangling as if he didn't know what to do with such a display of affection. Then, as if he'd never done so in his entire life or at least not in a long time, he embraced her in return. "I'm glad I have pleased you. As I told you earlier, nothing has to change. You can pursue your dreams and I can pursue mine."
His dreams? His musky scent and the supple firmness of his back distracted her. As his meaning penetrated her awed state of mind, her euphoric bubble deflated. He was simply buying her off. He didn't want her. He only wanted the dye. Of course, he had been quite honest about it all along.
Tears of disillusionment stung her nose, but she sniffed them back and pushed away from him, lifting her head high. "Yes, you are very generous, my lord. Life is quite grand, don't you agree?"
"So you will be happy now to stay in the country?"
She ran a hand over one of the hat stands. "Oh, perhaps for a while. Now, now, don't scowl so. I know you do not want me as your companion, and I would never force myself upon you, believe me. Besides, life is just too full of opportunities. Not enough time to pine away, wishing I had an attentive husband. I'm not so missish, my lord."
His scowl deepened.
"The point is, I believe I will thrive wherever I go. Thank you for being so thoughtful. Not every woman has a husband who will indulge her every whim. Come, let's join the others for the wedding breakfast. I'm starved, aren't you?" Smiling with as much brilliance as she could, she twirled the shop key on her finger and walked outside with a forced jaunt to her step, hoping he didn't see her darkened spirit.
He handed her up into the carriage, his mouth drawn in a straight line, his expression stormy.
"Tell me, when are you leaving?" Nicola asked.
"What? You are already anxious to be rid of me?"
"Don't act so hurt, my lord. After all, it is you who wants to leave. I'm merely attempting to schedule my days around you until your departure."
"I'm not hurt, and you don't have to schedule anything around me."
"Oh, but I believe I do. You see, I'm a very busy woman. Independent, as you put it. I have to take care of my business as well as your requirements, too."
"What requirements?"
"The bedding, of course." She tapped her chin then looked off into the distance in order to gather her thoughts, determined to convince her conceited new husband that she would not wither on the vine without him.
She held up a finger. "I must talk to the hosiers about ordering new cloth for my hats. Then I need to make a turban for Mrs. Wiggs by Friday. Lady Kensington wants new gypsy hats for her three girls by next week. Papa needs assistance at the dye house so that you can start marketing the Clockwork Blue." She counted off each item. "Between all this, I must produce a child for you. Now, just how many do you want and when do you want the first one?"
He widened his eyes, clearly stunned. "You mean to tell me that you are attempting to schedule our intimacies as if scheduling the dying of cloth?"
She threw him a determined smile. He was being ridiculous about this marriage, and she wanted to call his hand. "Of course. I'm a woman of business. Time is important to me, so I must schedule my life according to its restrictions." She glanced out the window and realized they had almost arrived at Windmere. "Oh, I forgot to mention the tea at Mrs. Campbell's next week. If I'm going to be successful, I need to be in attendance at every social engagement I can. To show off my latest designs." She glanced at him and her heart skipped a beat.
His silver eyes held a coolness to them. He contemplated her as if he studied a new loom. "You are one of a kind. I commend you on your savvy business skills."
"Why thank you, my lord."
"I see only one weakness in your plan, because you are new to the business of making children."
Her cheeks burned. "Ah, yes, that is true."
"Did you know that many newlyweds are not seen for a week? They must make love frequently during the month in order to conceive."
Her face heated to an almost painful degree. "A month?"
"Mmmm. Do you know why?"
"Other than to get acquainted?"
"There is that; however, they don't just converse."
She pulled the finger of one of her gloves. "I'm not completely ignorant of the mating process. After all, I live in the country."
"Ah. Well, I promise to have more finesse than your average barnyard animal." He rubbed his chin, contemplating her. "You must be at my beck and call. We'll need to copulate at least twice daily in the course of a month before we can produce that first babe."
Her senses reeled at the prospect.
"Also, I suppose you won't be shocked when I remove all your clothes."
"You …?" She had the sensation of flying high in the sky and was no longer sitting firmly on the seat.
"And, Nicola?"
"Y-yes?" she choked out.
"You can remove all of mine."
Chapter 12
Allegro sat in his preordained place on the dais at Anthem, the beautiful pink cloud at which all questing pixies gave their periodic reports, the same place they had been notified of this mission. A hot-air balloon could be seen traveling the rainbow path leading up to the platform. Glissando. What had he really been doing in London? Glissando had bruises. Someone had been beaten. Glissando claimed to have fallen out of the hot-air balloon, but he didn't believe it. In a few minutes, Glissando would arrive. Allegro glanced toward the glittering capital of Symphony situated on a huge bank of ice particles and arches of color that made up the pixie country of Jubilant.
Even from this distance, he could see the rainbow bands of highways that connected Symphony to the other cities. Soon now, because everything was going so smoothly with the mission, he would become mayor of Overture—his hometown and the city of his heart.
Glissando halted his balloon, threw a glittering rope around a nearby column of clouds and ambled up the hill of mist to sit next to him. "I wouldn't get too comfortable if I were you, Allegro. You didn't do too well down there."
He frowned, wondering why lazy Glissando was suddenly being so high and almighty. "What are you talking about? They're married, aren't they?"
Glissando huffed. "Yeah, but you know that's not all it takes."
"What's the matter with you? You're the one who said to get them together, no matter what it took."
"What's the matter with me," Glissando continued, "is you."
"What about me?"
"I warned you not to take advantage of my forced absence by hurrying along this marriage."
"I don't think anyone will complain. Did you get a bad batch of wine?"
"Quit trying to sidetrack me. You're wrong about the complaints. Someone is testy about the way you executed the circumstances that led to this marriage," Glissando said with his eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
"Me! You were in too much of a rush, and I'll wager the Maestro won't like it. You should have waited until I was released. Then we could have discussed it and done it my way."
"I know your way. You would have saved Ramsey, but then the gel wouldn't have tied the knot with the Black Falcon. She's too independent. Believe me, this way is much better."
Glissando scowled. "You failed Article I6, which clearly states the heiress and her chosen must be in love before marriage."
Allegro shook his head before Glissando even finished.
"However, the addendum to Article I6 allows us to be judicial if the pair demonstrates unusual resistance."
"That's your problem. You weren't judicial."
Indignation burned Allegro. "Of course I was."
"Was not."
"Was so."
"Was not."
"Callers, that's enough," a deep voice boomed.
Allegro swallowed his pro
test, embarrassed. How could he allow Glissando to get him all upset? To badger him down to Glissando's level?
Maestro's white head emerged from the clouds, followed by his body, difficult to distinguish because he resembled a vapor himself. The black tails of his tuxedo shimmered and moved as he flew toward the dais, then seated himself on the sparkling throne. Every time Allegro had seen him he'd been dressed the same, his garments like black clouds that had taken on shape. Were they a permanent part of the pixie, or did he wear such somber clothing by choice?
Allegro fidgeted, suddenly wondering if what he had done with Nicola's marriage was ethical. Had he acted rashly?
"You are not so sure of yourself, Allegro," Maestro said kindly, obviously reading his mind.
"Well, I hate to admit it, but mayhap I acted in haste." Allegro shot a dark glance at Glissando before firmly adding, "But that's not to say the sparks of love weren't there."
"It was too soon. You should have listened to me," Glissando said. "I know since I'm more experience than you about this sort of mission."
"You shouldn't have gotten in trouble, then," Allegro retorted. "Once you crossed the line you have no say in the mission."
"Do, too!"
"Do not!"
"Enough arguing," Maestro inserted, his tone firm. "I know your differences. Allegro, you don't believe in love, so you wanted to get the couple together, no matter the consequences."
"I'm sorry, Maestro. I really messed up."
"All is not lost, Allegro. As a matter of fact, when I was a century old, about your age in fact, I made a great mistake with Queen Elizabeth."
Allegro stiffened with surprise. "You did?"
Maestro nodded. "Yes. I should have allowed her and Robert's lust for each other to get the better of them so that they could be married. But I followed Article 4 and decided they weren't properly in love. Now I will always wonder what would have happened."
Glissando sat forward in his chair. "We could time travel and fix their separation, Maestro."
Maestro shook his head, his craggy face full of regret. "Your heart is in the right place, Glissando, but alas, once a pixie has intervened, no other pixie can revisit the contracted mission, no matter the outcome."
"Too bad." Glissando released a sigh that matched Allegro's feelings over the tale.
"Glissando, you know you made a mistake with Nicola's grandmother years ago and wanted to correct the infraction by making this mission right by Nicola. But you were reckless in London. You got your priorities mixed up."
Maestro waved his hand. "But Glissando is right, Allegro. You cannot leave this job unfinished."
Glissando nodded in a condescending manner.
Allegro bowed to Maestro. "Yes, Your Majesty, I realize that."
"Good. But I must warn you."
"About what?" Allegro asked.
"I fear that you will be tempted to break more rules."
"More?" Allegro was shocked. "I-I didn't know that I had broken any."
Maestro stared at him a moment, then turned to Glissando. "Will you excuse us a moment?"
"Certainly," Glissando said. He walked toward the far cloud that served as an alcove. Allegro sensed his gaze on him, but he was too numbed with worry. He couldn't tear his gaze from Maestro, his mind frantically searching for the situation in which he could have gone astray. Then he remembered the ball.
Once Glissando was out of earshot, Maestro raised his brows. "You know what you did, and you're surprised that I'm going to reprimand you for it."
"Frankly, I am surprised. When I caused the wind which caused Nicola's skirts to billow, I didn't allow myself to be seen. And Glissando did a similar questionable action with the toy balloon."
"Yes, this is true. But Glissando is continually in trouble. I have to pick and choose the worst of his sins. While you... you are my stalwart. I know you are very conscientious of the law, painstakingly so." Maestro shook his magnificent white head, noble as any lion's mane. "I never expected you to walk on the side of shadow."
Allegro wrung his hands, his anxiety mounting. "Pardon me for asking, Your Highness, but I've got to know. Did my actions cause harm? Was a ripple in the Band of Peace detected?"
"No, but nevertheless I fear your lapse will lead you to greater disaster."
"What do you mean?"
Maestro pinned him with his atmospheric eyes. "There is no middle ground for you, Allegro. As one of the humans' rhymes says, 'When you are good, you are very, very good. But when you are bad, you are horrid.'"
"Horrid?"
"In other words, when you stray, you are capable of wreaking the absolute worst sort of damage."
Allegro couldn't even imagine a circumstance in which he would be tempted to such folly. To break a law would definitely jeopardize his goal of becoming mayor. Even a failed mission would be a better choice than to break a law and cause a crack in the spell that held the monsters at bay in the Underworld.
"You think you're impervious to law-breaking, but heed me well, Allegro. You will be tempted." Maestro searched his face for a few more moments. "That is all I can say to you. Now, the rest of my warning includes Glissando as well."
At Maestro's authoritative wave, Glissando joined them. "Glissando and Allegro, obey me. From this moment onward, you must abide strictly by our laws. No more flying along the band of dark clouds."
Glissando cleared his throat in a self-important manner that made Allegro bristle. "Pardon me, Your Eminence, but are you referring to the one where we mustn't reveal magic to a human?"
Maestro stared at Glissando for a few moments, his eyes narrowing. He tapped his chin, and Allegro wondered once again if Maestro had the ability to predict. No one truly understood the extent of his powers.
"There is that one," Maestro finally said. "And you know what happens when it's broken."
Allegro didn't want Glissando to get all the attention. "A pixie will lose his or her pixie dust for two months and live with the butterflies for that duration."
"The first time, yes," Maestro concurred with a majestic nod of his head. "While losing your powers for two months is not pleasant, to be sure, most likely a pixie will survive. But for the second offense, you will be banished from Jubilant for a duration of one year."
Glissando's throat worked and, for a moment, fear flashed over his features, making Allegro feel truly sorry for him. "This is true. I understand, Maestro."
Maestro tapped his chin. "However, the one infraction that worries me the most is the one that will endanger Jubilant, and all of Lumière as we know it today. The law that will break the Band of Peace and allow the Underworlders to escape." Allegro drew his hand away from his Clockwork Blue boutonniere, not liking the vein of Maestro's thoughts.
Glissando leaned forward on the table. "To which law are you referring, Maestro?"
"Remember Article 2, Section I?"
"Of course," Glissando said.
Allegro nodded.
"Which is?" Maestro prompted. "Both of you. Say it."
" 'A pixie cannot ever expose himself to a human who is not a Chosen One,' " they said, " 'especially not have discourse with one.' "
"Good." Maestro smiled in satisfaction. "Now, I feel you've both been tempted with breaking that law, so don't forget it."
"We won't forget, Maestro," Allegro said. He gave Glissando a meaningful glance.
"If you don't adhere to the law, you'll be expelled from our society immediately—and before you can return, you'll have to right the damage you caused by your infraction. Do both of you understand?"
Allegro bowed. "I hear and obey."
Glissando gulped, his eyes wide. "Yes, Maestro."
"Farewell—and good luck." Maestro snapped his fingers.
Allegro and Glissando watched as the cloud seemed to suck him in. Then, with a glittering pop, Maestro was gone.
" 'I hear and obey,' " Glissando repeated, mimicking his partner's tone.
A pitiful attempt, in Allegro's opinion. "Too bad yo
u can't keep your good manners when Maestro is gone. I've decided that you act so disrespectful and contrary because you're jealous."
"Jealous? Of what?"
"Of my beautiful high tones."
Glissando rolled his eyes. "Please."
Clockwork Blue (The Lumière Chronicles) Page 16