“Lola was never a mistake.”
Amy waved a hand. “Technicalities. Now, I’ve formulated a plan where you, Miss Diebin, and Lola will go to the school for a week or so. That should give you time to realize that it is perfect for your daughter. In the meantime, the crew will fly me home to England.”
“So you and Sabine are conspiring against me, is that it?”
“Don’t be silly. I asked where we were headed, and when she told me I knew it was all meant to be. You get a school for Lola, that pirate woman can do whatever it is she’s heading there to do, and I can return home where I belong.”
“She won’t let you leave,” Cliff predicted.
“Nonsense. And when you’ve finished, you can come home free to do your duty.”
“My duty is to take care of my daughter, and abandoning her at some bizarre castle school is not the way to do that.”
Lola grabbed hold of his jacket. “But we’re going to visit, right, Daddy? We’re going to go inside the castle and look for secret passages and dungeons and things?”
Cliff looked past her, at the distant mountains ahead, growing ever larger as the ship neared its destination. He couldn’t wait to arrive, and dreaded it at the same time. Nearly two days, now, he’d been on this ship, and he was beginning to go stir-crazy from lack of anything to do. Amy had taken over Sabine’s personal cabin, and he’d spent the last two nights on a narrow bunk above a snoring Frenchman.
Sabine refused to suggest a different plan for retrieving the next clue, and his own lack of knowledge about the place left him with no other options to suggest. They’d barely spoken since their argument, communicating instead with irritated glances.
Worst of all, he was beginning to suspect that Sabine was right to think Lola would be at least as safe inside the castle as on the ship. Certainly no kidnappers would be barging in the way they’d done at the party in Brighton.
And he had to find some way in. The whole purpose of this treasure hunt was to get that battery for Lola. He wasn’t going to give up on it.
“Daddy?”
“Sure, babe, we’ll visit. Why don’t you practice your curtsy again for the duchess? I need to talk to Miss Diebin for a moment.”
Sabine stood at the helm, flying the ship, a pair of goggles protecting her eyes and her hair once again pulled back into a practical braid.
“A word with you, Captain?”
“Are you going to be civil now, Duke? Or did you simply wish to argue again?”
“I want to know about the men who tried to kidnap us. Do you know who they are and what they want? Will they be coming after us again? I can’t make rational decisions without knowing everything. I don’t expect you to confess all your deepest, darkest secrets, but I’m asking you to work with me. I told you Lola’s safety takes priority, but I can’t be sure I’m doing the right thing when I’m completely in the dark.”
She stared at him a long moment, her expression unreadable behind the goggles. “Let me get one of the crew to take over and then we’ll talk down below.”
Cliff nodded. “Good. Thanks.”
A short time later, they stood together in Sabine’s cabin, the door closed. Sabine clasped her hands behind her back.
“You know that I have a coded document detailing the location of the Heart of Ra.”
“Yes.”
“I stole it.”
Of course she had. She was a pirate, after all.
“From my sworn enemy,” she continued. “A man who wants me dead. The infamous pirate Redbeard.”
Cold fear washed over Cliff. He’d heard the name Redbeard, and it had always been in connection with ruthlessness and brutality.
“And now he’s after me too,” Cliff guessed.
Sabine didn’t need to answer.
“So you are the notorious Duke of Hartleigh.”
The spry, gray-haired woman whisked into the room and took a seat at the head of the large, rectangular table, motioning for everyone to sit. Candles flickered overhead, the play of light and shadow across the stark castle room making Cliff wonder if he had somehow stepped back in time.
He helped Lola into a too-big chair and then took a seat beside her. “I don’t think I’m ‘notorious,’ but I am the duke, through some outlandish accident of birth.”
The woman chuckled. “As blunt as the papers say. Though I must admit, the emphasis on your Americanness had me expecting you to look more like a cowboy.”
“I grew up in the city. The closest I’ve ever come to riding a horse is watching them pull the milk truck through my neighborhood as a boy. And even those were replaced by carriage dragons by the time I was a teenager.”
“Ah, of course. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Klara von Arx, headmistress here at the Institute.” She looked toward Sabine, who had taken the seat directly across from Cliff. “And you must be the legendary lady pirate La Capitaine.”
Sabine smiled, but the expression was tight and no dimples appeared in her cheeks. “Like the duke, my reputation is apparently exaggerated.”
“Oh, I doubt that. Now, tell me about this energetic young lady who brings you here.”
Cliff nudged Lola. “Go ahead and introduce yourself, Lo.”
Lola clambered down from her seat and made her ridiculous curtsy. “I am Lady Lola Kinsley from Chicago. My daddy is a duke and now we have a big house in England and maybe we can’t go home. I want to be a pirate when I grow up like Miss La Capitaine. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She curtsied again and scrambled back into her chair. “Oh, and I’m seven years old and my birthday is March fourth, so I’ll be eight soon.”
“A good age to begin your schooling,” the headmistress said, her chin bobbing slightly. “Since your father has brought you here, I assume he has done his research, but would you like me to tell you about our school and the things our students learn here?”
“Yes, please.”
Lola listened wide-eyed as Headmistress von Arx detailed the curriculum. Bits and pieces of the conversation stuck in Cliff’s mind. All students learned English, French, and German. They could choose a variety of artistic and athletic pursuits. The faculty was half men and half women to foster a comfort with and expectation of intellectual discourse with both sexes.
The particulars mattered less to him than the overall impression. Would Lola be safe here? Would Lola be happy here? His various options warred in his brain, none seeming to hold an edge over any other. He tried to weigh the relevant details, one at a time.
An enemy of Sabine’s who calls himself Redbeard is chasing us.
He would kidnap me for information. He would surely take Lola hostage to get me to confess all I know.
This castle seems secure from what I have seen of it.
If no one knows she’s here, she’d be even safer.
I wouldn’t be able to help her refuel her biomechanics, and I would have to leave her a huge supply of luxene.
If she’s with me, I will know she’s safe.
Sabine knows Redbeard and how he operates. Staying close to her is better than trying to go anywhere alone.
She’s the one who stole the coded document from him in the first place.
Maybe I should just give up on getting the Heart of Ra and run off to San Francisco like I’d intended. Disappear. Change our names. Let Sabine and Redbeard fight it out.
No. He couldn’t do that. From what Sabine had told him, it seemed that Redbeard would stoop to any low to take the Heart for his own personal weapon. If Cliff could play a part in preventing such a thing from happening, he had to do so.
As much as he understood the previous duke’s reasons for hiding the device, he disagreed with the decision. Someone could stumble upon it by accident. Someone else could invent the same sort of thing. Better to share the invention with the world. How many other people like Lola could benefit from the technology? And knowing that it was out there would allow people to be aware of potential weapons and take measures to prevent their creation
or protect against them. If Redbeard alone could make such a weapon, no one would be able to react until it was too late.
All throughout dinner, the same arguments played in his head, getting him nowhere. He had to find the Heart of Ra and protect Lola, but no best strategy presented itself. His anxiety rose alongside Lola’s excitement, and by the time they set off for a tour of the school he was ready to run through the castle, just to shake himself out of the stupor. Anything to end the cycle of self-doubt.
“Are you okay?” Sabine’s arm brushed his and he jumped. “You look pale. And nervous.” Her eyebrows twitched. “I don’t think the castle is haunted.”
Cliff managed only a half-hearted laugh.
“I attempt humor for you and it still doesn’t help?” She sighed. “I’m regretting telling you about Redbeard. You’ve been quiet and unhappy ever since.”
“No, I’m glad you told me. I’d rather know. I’m just feeling like I did back when Lola was a baby. As if I have no idea at all how to take care of her.”
He forced himself to scan the walls of the classroom they had entered. A suit of armor stood in one corner, with an antique sword mounted on the wall nearby. This was the third room with such a display. He leaned close to Sabine.
“Maybe we can locate that Helmet of Einar during this tour,” he whispered. “Then we can head off to the next clue at once and get to the treasure as soon as possible.”
“A nice thought, but I wouldn’t count on that. I don’t expect to see more than a fraction of the school.”
Two rooms later, the tour ended.
“When do we get to see the secret passages and dungeons?” Lola asked.
“We do not have either of those things here at the school,” the headmistress replied.
Lola’s face fell. “Oh.”
“But I hope you like what you have seen so far.”
“I like that it’s old and creepy.”
The headmistress looked at Cliff, who answered with a shrug.
“The next step in the process will be for Lola to sit for the examinations,” Headmistress von Aux explained. “We need to assess her current knowledge, the pace at which she learns new things, her physical fitness, and her ability to interact with both adults and children. In order to achieve the clearest results, we space the examinations out over three days. This gives her time to rest between each evaluation, and for us to observe her comfort with the school environment.”
“Okay. Is there a guest room of some sort where we can stay during this process?” Maybe they hadn’t found the helmet yet, but if they could sneak around at night, there was a good chance they could still find it before morning.
“Lola will stay in a student dormitory with other girls near her age. Parents must lodge outside the castle walls. There is an inn down in the village that will accommodate you.”
“But…” All his hopes of finding the next clue quickly or even of deferring his decision crumbled.
Sabine touched his arm. “Sorry, Duke,” she murmured. “I’d pick another way if I could.”
She’d been right all along. Without Lola’s help, they’d never find the artifact.
“She’s never been away from me overnight,” Cliff explained, feeling for the first time a truly over-protective father.
“This is the first time away from home for many of our girls,” the headmistress replied. “Rest assured, very few are upset by the separation.”
Probably because most of the girls were from families where the parents hardly knew their children. They were more likely to miss their governesses.
“And you are allowed to return during visiting hours in the afternoon to see how the examinations are progressing,” the headmistress continued. “Of course, should any problem arise, we would contact you at once.”
“Ah.” Cliff’s fingers clenched involuntarily. Was he really going to do this? Was there no other choice? “We’ll, uh, have to discuss it for a moment as a family so I know she knows exactly what’s going on and where I’ll be, but otherwise, yes, she can stay the three days.”
“Of course. You can take what time you need in the room where we dined, and when you are ready, we will see about your luggage and your rooms.”
“Thank you.” He trudged along to the dining room, his hands shaking.
“If I stay here for three days, does that mean I have to stay here forever?” Lola asked suspiciously.
“Come on in here and I’ll explain everything,” Cliff promised. “You’re going to get to do some important big-girl things these next few days.”
His fate was sealed. He’d just involved his daughter in a pirate’s treasure hunt.
Goddammit. I’m a horrible parent.
19
Tonight was the night. Yesterday, after leaving Lola at the castle, Sabine and Cliff had practiced creeping through the halls of the village inn and along the quiet streets. The duke had done well at moving silently, despite his tendency to drift while walking. What he lacked in natural grace, he made up for with a dogged determination. Sabine respected that.
A clock in the distance chimed midnight. Perfect. They’d paid another visit to the castle this afternoon and received a detailed update from Lola. Time to move ahead with the plan.
Sabine slipped into the small bedroom Cliff had taken at the inn, closing the door softly behind her. The room was identical to her own, save for the trunk with his things. A simple bed, a washstand in the corner, and a lone window with a view of the empty streets outside.
She held out a small, rounded piece of leather dangling from a narrow cord. “Put this on.”
“An eyepatch?” He turned it over in his hands. “Are you trying to turn me into a pirate?”
Sabine tapped her foot impatiently. “Must you question everything I say? And keep your voice down. No one is supposed to know I’m in your room.”
Cliff made a short, sniffing noise. “The entire village thinks we’re lovers, and half of them think you’re Lola’s mother. They probably assume you’re in my room.”
“Fine. Feel free to make all the sex noises you’d like.”
The eyepatch slipped from his grasp and he fumbled and flailed, managing to do nothing but ram his elbow into the wall.
“Ow.” He bent to retrieve the eyepatch.
“Hopefully everyone will think that was the bed banging against the wall.”
Cliff grimaced. “Will you stop with the sex talk? I really don’t think this is the time.”
Sabine leaned against the door, placing her free hand on the hip that now jutted out. “Embarrassed, Duke?”
“No. But… We’re just friends. All that—inside the whale thing—was a mistake. Correct? We were a little frenzied from the dark, and the touching.”
Sabine’s entire body heated from the memory of that kiss. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been kissed like that. Maybe never. She’d been so out of her head that night. Had circumstances allowed, she would have laid herself bare for him without a thought to the consequences. What a disaster that would have been. No more kissing.
“Let’s go. Time for a more rewarding nighttime activity. Keep the eyepatch over your left eye until I tell you to switch it.”
She expected the castle to have areas of greater and lesser darkness. Having one dark-adjusted eye and one light-adjusted eye would make their search faster and safer. Particularly with someone as accident prone as Cliff.
Sabine opened the door, closing it and locking it as silently as possible behind them. The snow squeaked beneath their boots as they walked the narrow, winding road leading up to the castle. Hartleigh shivered, clutching the lapels of his coat together to block the wind. Once again his suit was inappropriate for their outing, but he didn’t seem to own any other sort of clothing. Sabine had chosen trousers, a simple shirt, and her warmest jacket. The cold still cut through her clothing, but she refused to acknowledge it.
“Here.” She stopped Cliff with a hand to his arm, pulling away quickly to
avoid any further mentions of kissing. She pointed up the rocky slope at the wall above. “That’s the easiest point of entry. If we climb here, we should be able to get over the outer wall.”
The wind had swept the jagged rocks bare of snow, making their climb an easy one. Hartleigh had no difficulty keeping up, and with Sabine’s advice to only move one limb at a time he didn’t even stumble.
“Ready for a boost?” Cliff asked when they reached the base of the wall.
Sabine gave a nod, and he picked her up, lifting her high enough to scramble up on top of the wall. She unwound the rope she’d tied around her waist, dangled one end down to him, and dropped into the castle to find a place to secure the other end.
A growl behind her made her jump. A fanged mechanical beast the size of a large dog prowled toward her, its crystalline eyes glinting in the moonlight.
Sabine sprang into action before the creature could attack, leaping up onto its back and lashing the rope to a hind leg. Her own grip plus the weight of the dragon would be enough to support Cliff as he climbed. She gave the signal tug on the rope and slipped from the guard dragon’s back.
The mechanical animal lunged, still growling, only to tip over when the rear leg didn’t move as expected. It lay on the ground, thrashing, trying to right itself and failing. Not especially smart, these dragons. More to intimidate than anything, she guessed.
Cliff dropped down from atop the wall, staggering backward when he spied the guard dragon.
“What in hell is that thing?” he hissed.
Sabine untied the rope and the creature at last picked itself up.
“Wolf, maybe? The head is dog-like, but the body a bit too round, and its feet are ridiculously wide and flat, but that may be for walking on the snow.”
He backed slowly away from it. “It’s hideous and it’s snapping at me.”
“They’re only for show. Follow me. Lola’s door was this direction.”
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