“Don’t tease, chérie.”
“Don’t you want to know how well I remember said lessons?”
“More than you could possibly imagine. But I’m not exactly capable of a full assessment at the moment.”
Rue chuckled and relaxed down next to him. She did want to do more. But he was right: he was still recovering, and apparently, they would have the rest of their lives to pursue this particular line of study.
He was drifting off. The lines of pain pulling on his face eased. The happiness remained.
“You’ll sleep here?” He pulled her as close as he could with his good arm.
Rue felt a spike of giddy joy. So he did want to sleep next to her. “All night?”
“I promise not to snore if you promise not to turn into a wolf, or a lioness, or a mongoose, or any other odd supernatural thing next to me.”
“Agreed,” said Rue.
Author’s Note
Place and street names in this book (when not entirely fictitious) are based on those listed in Amelia B. Edward’s A Thousand Miles Up the Nile (published in 1877) and written on maps of Africa from the 1890s. Spelling is authentic to the time period, e.g. Assûan, Wady Halfeh, Abu Hammed, and Khartoom.
Acknowledgements
This one is for my fans, with particular love to all who have taken time to reach out and connect with me over the years. You know who you are. You who started fan groups and helped moderate them; who wrote reviews and asked for interviews; who created costumes, artwork, and delicious baked goods – Skye, Ty, Ris, Katie, Stephen, Nicole, Dick, Jami, Clinton, Veronica, Angelica, Hannah, Claire, Christine, Amanda, Bethany, Miss K and the St Louis Parasol Girls, and so many more! Your support means everything. I feel like I have enjoyed life’s greatest gifts: to be blessed with many friends.
You see, I have always written, but without you (yes, you with the eyeballs reading this now) I’m only a writer, not an author. When a reader takes time to reach out to me the circle completes and I know I’m not sending words out into an empty void.
Thank you.
BY GAIL CARRIGER
The Parasol Protectorate
Soulless
Changeless
Blameless
Heartless
Timeless
The Custard Protocol
Prudence
Imprudence
The Parasol Protectorate Manga
Soulless: The Manga, Vol. 1
Soulless: The Manga, Vol. 2
Soulless: The Manga, Vol. 3
The Finishing School
Etiquette and Espionage
Curtsies and Conspiracies
Waistcoats and Weaponry
Manners and Muting
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Contents
Cover
Titlepage
Welcome
Chapter One: In Which Queen Victoria Is Not Amused
Chapter Two: In Which Percy Proves Difficult and No One Is Surprised
Chapter Three: In Which German Poetry Is Entirely Irrelevant
Chapter Four: In Which the Maccon Family Is Quite Imprudent
Chapter Five: In Which Rue Breaks Things
Chapter Six: In Which Our Heroine Defeats a Picnic Hamper
Chapter Seven: In Which a Voyage Is Afloat
Chapter Eight: In Which There May, or May Not, Be French Lessons
Chapter Nine: In Which Freckles Go on the Rampage
Chapter Ten: Egypt
Chapter Eleven: In Which Percy’s Unbearable Smugness Is Revealed
Chapter Twelve: Up the Nile Without a Puff
Chapter Thirteen: In Which Rue Learns About Antiquity
Chapter Fourteen: Drifters Like Cats
Chapter Fifteen: Coal and Consequences
Chapter Sixteen: In Which Percy’s Cognac Proves Useful
Chapter Seventeen: The Lost Pride of the Desert Wind
Chapter Eighteen: Killing Cousins
Chapter Nineteen: Affairs and Affaires in Order
Author’s Note
Acknowledgements
By Gail Carriger
Orbit Newsletter
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Tofa Borregard
Cover design by Lauren Panepinto
Type design by Chad Roberts
Cover illustration by Don Sipley/Michael Roberts
Cover copyright © 2016 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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Simultaneously published in Great Britain and in the U.S. by Orbit in 2016
First Edition: July 2016
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016936829
ISBNs: 978-0-316-21221-2 (hardcover), 978-0-316-54644-7 (Barnes and Noble signed edition), 978-0-316-21219-9 (ebook)
E3-20160610-JV-PC
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