River Running

by Eden Reign

  “So these Savana rumors about Jackson Coal bringing a child back to Coalhaven after the war are untrue?” Daniel spat, unsoothed. “Or is it your own little bastard you’ve decided to raise? I hope upon the Sacred Wells its mother was a fullmage.”

  Jackson swallowed bile. He should have paid that proud mundane matron at the orphanage to hold her tongue; she was venal, and money would have swayed her. His only hope was to brazen it out and lie like Grey’s life depended upon it—as it did.

  Carefully modulating his voice, he said, “Master Lake, you should know better than to believe everything the Savana biddies say.” He forced a chuckle. “Though the transformations of a tale can be astounding. I went to a Savana orphanage to help a friend from the Akwa, Andrew Bloom, who was in need of a governess for his daughter. He wanted a second opinion on the girl, and I obliged. And now the gossip has endowed me with a bastard? Merciful Rivers, what next? A secret mistress?”

  Daniel’s sharp gaze had fastened to Jackson’s face, and Jackson had no idea if the man believed him or not. He slapped Daniel on the back, laughing. “Ease your suspicions, Master Lake. They are no doubt a product of your grief. Come down to the house and have a luncheon, and we can end this day on pleasant terms.” Suppressing his revulsion, Jackson gripped Daniel’s upper arm. “If the war taught us anything,” he lied through his teeth, “it’s that the past cannot be allowed to interfere with the future. Let it lie, Daniel, and give your son an honorable memorial. Only you and I will ever know of that document.” Jackson pointed to the marriage certificate still crumpled in Daniel’s hand, tapped the Indigo Wells, and lit the yellowed paper on fire.

  Chapter 12

  Manda

  Manda rolled the sleeves of her worn dimity work dress above her elbows, smoothing the cuffs so they didn’t protrude. A hole in the seam of her peplum reminded her that she would have to ask Rose for needle and thread to mend it.

  “Miss Rivers!” Grey called from where he splashed in the rolling surf on Briary Beach, south of Coalhaven proper. It was deserted, too far from the city to be used by Savana citizens, with brambles amidst the clumpy sand. Master Coal had assured her that here Grey could swim, safe from the plantation inspectors or any other observers. “Miss Rivers, I’m all wet! Look at me!”

  Manda squinted into the mid-morning light. She faced east, and the sun lit the sea as though fire pooled in every current.

  Grey, unaware of the moment’s beauty, ran through the surf, kicking the spray higher than his head and spreading his arms to catch the spritzes on face and chest.

  Manda shaded her eyes, walking closer to the waves, settling at last into a patch of sand void of brambles to watch him play. She had stripped him down to his drawers and waistcoat, and he reveled in his free play. She glanced at Master Coal’s timepiece threaded through her basque, resolutely pushing away thoughts of the man who had loaned it to her as she traced her finger around its gilded edge. The watch had a small crack in the glass face, running over the Eternal Tree symbol that represented the nine. It would be noon before long. The inspectors had likely taken a break from their tour of the plantation by this time and would be heading back to the main house to eat the luncheon of slow-roasted ham, cheese biscuits, and soup Rose had been up since before sunrise preparing.

  Manda had offered to help, as Mr. Stone had oddly taken his day off despite the bustle, but at Rose’s look of alarm, she had hastily rescinded her offer. Somehow the story of the burnt hash had leaked, and Manda’s presence in the kitchen stirred the small staff to evasive action.

  Manda sighed, dabbing her sweaty neck. The water would feel sublime on such a hot day.

  Grey sprinted from the sea, diving onto his stomach before her, coating the whole front of his drawers and waistcoat with wet sand. “The water feels so good, Miss Rivers. Like it’s alive. Does water feel like that to you?” He blinked up at her, his curls a wet mop of brown tendrils around his eyes.

  “That’s a good way to think of it.” Manda laughed, ruffling his hair.

  “Won’t you come in with me and show me how to swim,” he pleaded. “Please?”

  Manda hesitated, glancing up and down the empty beach. What could it hurt? No one would see them, and she could cool off. And as Grey had said, water was life.

  “Go back in, Grey. I’ll come in, too, for a little while.”

  Delight lit the boy’s face. He leapt to his feet, sprinting back to the surf. Manda retreated to the thorny undergrowth and the trees abutting the beach. She stepped out of her skirts, slipping off her bodice and laying Master Coal’s watch carefully on top of it. She unbuttoned her boots and kicked them off next to the picnic basket, and then peeled off her stockings, squishing the sand between her toes, avoiding the brambles that poked through the sand. She laughed aloud, before sprinting to the water’s edge in only her chemise and bloomers.

  She splashed into the water, diving beneath a wave and coming up on the other side next to Grey, who jumped up and down, squealing delightedly.

  “I never seen a woman swim!” he yelled above the roar of the surf.

  “I’ve never seen,” Manda corrected him. “I don’t imagine it looks so different from a man swimming. Did you think I’d sink like lead? Or perhaps that I’d look like … a penguin?” she teased.

  His eyes widened at that. “Never, Miss Rivers! I wouldn’t think that. You’re more like a mermaid.”

  Manda laughed. “I’m teasing you, Grey. I swam many times when I lived in Savana. There was a small beach not far from the southern port. I’d sneak out sometimes with friends. Not,” she added hastily, “that you should ever sneak out by yourself.”

  “Show me,” he begged. “I’ve only learned to doggy paddle. Teach me how to really swim.”

  “In a minute. First, you look a little too dry.” She shoved a wave of water in his direction, dousing him. He sputtered, his giggles rising in pitch as he splashed water back at her.

  The noon hour passed quickly after that. Manda taught Grey how to swim with long strokes in the water, turning his head to the side to breathe. Then she taught him how to turn on his back and float, reaching over his head to push the water past him. He was a water halfmage; he picked up the skill with amazing precision and speed.

  A growling stomach told Manda it was far past time for lunch, but when she glanced toward the shore, she was shocked to find the seedling-covered hills of Coalhaven rising before them. The current had pulled them far upshore. At the top of the rise, she could just see the roof of the plantation house itself. Movement rustled to her left, behind the trees that lined sections of the shore. Someone was walking among the rows.

  “Grey!” She circled his tiny waist in the water. “To the shore, now.” The flash of movement may have only been a cropper, but she wasn’t willing to take any risks. She deliberated whether it would be safer to construct an airtight shield of water and hide them below the ocean’s surface using her magic, but she feared the tight confines and limited air supply. She could not say how long they might need to hide. “Go, Grey,” she urged.

  “Why?” Grey asked. “What’s happening?”

  “Just do as I say.”

  Keeping their heads low in the water, they swam from the open beach to the calmer inlet, splashing onto the shore and scampering toward a dense cypress grove.

  The grove was far too close to the person who moved beyond the trees, but it was the only available hiding place. Why was I so foolish? Manda had promised Master Coal so faithfully that no harm would come to Grey under her care.

  The person moved closer to the trees, and Manda discovered with horror that there were two—two men who’d entered the wood grove from Master Coal’s indigo fields, making their way toward the beach.

  She shrank behind a thick trunk near cypress knees that stretched into the calm inlet water. Curling Grey into her arms, she pressed his head against her chest.

  She peered around the cypress trunk.

  The two men stalked onto the beach, pausing
and glancing back at the plantation through the trees. One man lit a cigar, inhaling its smoke while he waited for the other one to empty the sand from his boot, cursing at the stream that flowed from the leather footwear.

  Manda strained to hear them. “—Master Lake we couldn’t find any child.”

  Manda’s heart stopped before racing on.

  “He had to do his inspection and deal with Coal the whole time. He couldn’t be expected to help us search, now, could he?”

  “No, but to go stalking through bushes and undergrowth around the sharecroppers’ cabins and trying to pick the gate locks into the outbuildings without magic—look at the size of that bite. That’s from an infernal wolf spider that got me while I was working on that last door.”

  “Master Lake don’t pay us to spy for him in comfort and ease, Brent.”

  The other man replaced his boot and yanked off his second one. “Well, it don’t mean I have to like it, and we didn’t find a trace of no young’un. Couldn’t even look in the house; the little darkling cook patrolled that place like she was guarding Arcana’s own treasury. Master Lake said the other one, the housemaid, might answer our questions if we asked real nice, but we saw nothing of her. Cleansing Fires, if this sand isn’t a curse straight from Lady Death’s Vale…”

  “You’d better learn to like it for the next few hours. Master Lake is going to meet us at Briary Beach before we board my ship to take us back to Chalton, so you may as well roll in it now. It isn’t going away anytime soon.”

  Manda’s breath caught in her throat. She felt sick. She’d left her clothes and the picnic basket on that beach in plain sight. Master Coal had said that strip of shore was rarely used because of its abundance of thistles, but likely Master Lake had chosen it as his rendezvous point with his secret spies because of its disuse.

  “Let the Good Waters convince those men that my clothing and the basket have nothing to do with Coalhaven,” Manda muttered beneath her breath. Then she shuddered, recollecting Jack—Master Coal’s—timepiece. If they found that ...

  She buried her face in Grey’s hair, holding him tighter. He didn’t move; he was as terrified as she.

  Manda and Grey trudged slowly up the hill toward the plantation house, stepping over row after row of indigo plants. Her muscles ached from their afternoon of enforced stillness, and her stomach twisted with hunger. Breakfast had been long ago. The sky had darkened to a purple, pearlescent dusk. Master Coal would be wondering where they were.

  A figure overtook them on the path that lined the indigo, and he stopped, doffing his hat.

  “Good evening,” Mr. Stone greeted them. “I was just returning from my free day in Savana. Is the inspection finished yet?” He peered toward the house, his honey-dark face stoic, but uncharacteristically tense.

  “Surely it must be,” Manda replied, following his gaze as she tried to shift behind Grey. Her face was aflame. What must Mr. Stone think of her brief attire?

  “How was your time off, Mr. Stone?” asked Grey.

  “Not as productive as I had wished, but no matter. How was your day at the beach?”

  Grey’s eyes lit up. “Miss Rivers taught me to swim, Mr. Stone. Really swim, not just doggy paddle!”

  “Did she now?” Mr. Stone leaned over, a wide smile parting his lips. “I was thinking I might like to detour to the pond, where I saw a rare fire-bellied salamander the other evening—they like these dusk hours, you know; it’s when they glow. Would you like to join me, Master Grey?” Mr. Stone kept his gaze carefully trained away from Manda’s body. He added, “You could spy out the house, Miss Rivers—from a safe distance, of course—and make sure all the inspectors have indeed departed, before fetching us?”

  “Oh please, Miss Rivers, can I walk to the pond with Mr. Stone? I’ve always wanted to see a fire-bellied salamander glowing!”

  Manda nodded, grateful for Mr. Stone’s assistance and caution. Her neck ached, her back ached, her sides ached, her whole body was sore, and worst of all—she still had no dress. Her cheeks burned as Mr. Stone turned away with the boy. With his impeccable manners, he hadn’t even cast a glance at her chemise and bloomers, the noble man.

  Stone and Grey disappeared along the side path toward the pond. Manda continued on to the green lawn at the top of the rise.

  A step sounded behind her, and she whirled, terrified lest the spies had returned, had seen her climbing the hill, had seen Grey.

  Master Coal stood before her, his face livid. “What in the name of the Sacred Wells happened?” He raked his glance over her, and Manda’s face crackled with fiery heat. “Daniel Lake left hours ago, and you and Grey don’t show up until nearly—where is the boy?” he demanded.

  “He’s fine. He’s walking to the pond with Mr. Stone to search for salamanders,” Manda answered miserably.

  “And why under the heavens has it taken you this long to—where are your blasted clothes?” Anger mixed with panic in his voice as he gestured wildly toward the sea behind him.

  “I went swimming,” she said helplessly.

  “I can see that.”

  “I couldn’t retrieve my dress or,” she swallowed, “your watch.”

  His jaw locked and he stepped closer, the white v-scar beneath his eye standing out. He had removed his coat, slinging it over one shoulder. His sleeves were rolled up above his elbows, every muscle clearly delineated along his forearms. He stared at her for a long moment before he pulled his coat from his shoulder, shaking it out, holding it up. “Take it,” he said. “You look chilled.”

  Manda gratefully slid her arms into the sleeves, folding the coat close over her chemise, clutching the lapels.

  Jackson rubbed a hand over the shadow of a beard. “Why couldn’t you retrieve the pocket watch?” he asked. His voice was quiet, dangerous.

  “Master Lake brought spies today. I assume you know about them?”

  He frowned. “What spies? Daniel Lake was here along with Master Blazen and two others from the Indigo Wells Purchase Bureau, but that was it.”

  “These two men were looking specifically for ‘a child.’ I overheard them talking about how they couldn’t find him, and that they had to meet Master Lake on the beach, close to where I left my dress, our basket, and your timepiece, sir.”

  Master Coal cursed beneath his breath. “Leave it to Daniel to send spies based on rumors,” he muttered. “I hope I have quelled his interest in any child here at Coalhaven, but ...” He turned his back, gazing out to sea. “The dress and the basket are nothing; they would be hard to trace. But the timepiece was my father’s—and, I fear, recognizable to many who knew him. Especially Daniel Lake. But no matter.” His tone belied his nonchalance. Something about Daniel Lake seeing the watch bothered him. Surely it could not connect him with Grey? Master Coal ran his hand through his hair. “What took you so long to come back?”

  “I was afraid, sir. I thought perhaps the spies would come back, so we stayed where we were hidden until it seemed completely safe.”

  The dusk deepened around them. Brilliant stars winked in the firmament like diamond pinpricks through indigo velvet. Manda shivered as the sea breeze crested the hill. This was her fault. She had been careless, and she and Grey had nearly paid a dear price for it. They might still. Guilt pressed on Manda, smothering her. “What do we do?”

  A muscle jumped in Master Coal’s jaw before he turned to her, his attention carefully on her face.

  “I’ll go to Briary Beach and see if I can find the timepiece. Perhaps they didn’t see it, and this will all blow over without harm.”

  “I can go with you, sir. I remember exactly where—”

  “No.” The curt refusal flayed her already raw sensibilities.

  Tears stung Manda’s eyes, and she blinked them back, determined not to cry. “It’s my fault, sir, surely—”

  “No.” His voice, gentle this time, flustered her. He had been angry; she knew she deserved it. But his fingers touched her hand, curling around it, his dark eyes intent on h
ers. Manda forgot how to speak.

  “It was an accident, Man—that is, Miss Rivers. Please, don’t—” He didn’t go on, but his dark gaze stayed on hers, and his hand warmed her cold one.

  Manda inhaled a shaky breath, her gaze tracing the contours of his scarred face. She wanted to say something, but any words that presented themselves sounded inane. She discarded the idea, waiting, for what, she didn’t know. An involuntary shiver racked her body.

  Master Coal dropped her hand. “Return to the house and get dressed, Miss Rivers. You’ll catch a chill. Have Abigail bring you up some hot tea to warm you once you’ve changed.”

  Embarrassment flooded through Manda like a tide. She glanced at the ground, hoping it would open up and swallow her and remove her from Jackson’s dark gaze. “I—I have no other clothes, sir. The dress on the beach was my only one.”

  Long silence filtered between them. After what seemed an eternity, Manda risked a look at his face. His expression was still and settled, but his jaw was tight. “Ask Abigail to show you where my mother’s trunks are stored, then,” he said at last. “There may be some dresses that fit you, though they haven’t been touched in years. I’ll send to Savana tomorrow for material for you so you can make up a few new dresses.” He stepped back. “I must go. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

  He strode away, and Manda watched him go, feeling strangely bereft.

  Chapter 13

  Jackson

  Jackson sat once again in his study, avoiding his bed. Long stretches of insomnia were taking their toll. His face had a haunted aspect, and the shadows beneath his eyes had become a permanent feature. Since his confrontation with Daniel Lake and its aftermath, he’d been unable to succumb to even a nap—much less a full night’s rest. He would lie abed staring at the ceiling, imagining he could hear the steady tick tick of his father’s missing timepiece. If he closed his eyes, visions of battle and blood seared the backs of his eyelids.