Steam Guardians 01 - A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious (26 page)

Grainger ground his teeth. His nostrils flared; he looked like he was losing control.

“Do it now,” he told her in a low growl.

Panic threatened to grip her, but she fended it off. Sophia shook her head, but Bion pulled her against his body to keep her still. The sound of the crystal rose above the water, drawing her to the edge of the lava, where the river rushed around it.

“Yes…yes…crystals need water to grow…” Grainger mumbled.

Janette waded into the water. The current pulled at her skirts, but she bent down and dug into the black sand beneath the surface. Pieces of lava stone bit into her fingers as she pulled up handfuls of mud until she felt the tingle of power traveling through her body.

“Yes!” Grainger shouted with glee. “Bring it to me!”

“It’s stuck,” Janette insisted. “I can’t free it.”

He glared at Sophia. “Give her your gloves, Bion, and do so slowly.”

“They won’t have the strength to harvest it,” Bion argued.

“They’d better.” Grainger refused to budge. “Give her your gloves now, or she can take them after I shoot you.”

Bion’s expression tightened. A muscle along the side of his jaw twitched. “I believe I’m going to enjoy killing you.”

“Not while I have the gun.” Grainger snickered. “Give her the gloves.”

“I believe I am going to enjoy watching the pair of you fight over that damned crystal,” Sophia remarked as she took the gloves Bion held out for her.

“I agree,” Janette added. She was beginning to shake, the water stealing every last bit of warmth from her legs. It felt like the blood running back up to her heart was cold too.

“Shut your mouths. Women never know when to be silent.”

Sophia rolled her eyes when she reached Janette. She limped and stood at an odd angle to favor her injured leg once she was next to her friend. They reached beneath the water, Sophia feeling about until she had her hands on the crystal. Sophia jerked but didn’t let it go. They pulled, combining their strength until it came free. They both lost their footing and sprawled into the middle of the rushing water.

“Hold it right there!”

Janette jerked her head around, sure she was hallucinating because she heard Darius’s voice loud and clear in spite of the rush of the water and the crystal humming inside her head. She quickly righted herself. She had it in her hands—it was an inch wide and four inches long.

“Don’t move, Grainger. Not an inch, or I’ll put a bullet between your eyes.”

It was Darius.

She turned her head and found him standing on the other side of the river. He was waist-deep in the water with a pistol leveled at Grainger.

“I’ll kill her,” Grainger threatened, the muzzle of his rifle aimed at Sophia.

Bion launched himself at Grainger while everyone was looking at Sophia. The gun went off, but the bullet only hit the water as Bion tackled Grainger to the ground.

The current was much stronger than Janette had realized; it was pulling at her. She struggled to stay on her feet while holding the crystal.

“Janette…give me your hand…” Sophia lunged toward her, grabbing her hands and pulling the crystal closer to the water.

The moment the crystal hit the water, there was a sizzle and an explosion. Whatever had been in her hands vaporized like it was scalding-hot and the water had cooled it. The white steam rose into Sophia’s face, while the force of it sent Janette back into the strongest part of the river. The current swept her off her feet, tumbling her like a stick. It sucked her down, filling her mouth and nose, encasing her in a swirling white environment. She couldn’t tell which way was up or down. She felt the water suck her down, pulling her body away from the light. Her lungs began to burn, and she fought, but to no avail. Darkness began to crush her in its grasp, but she fought against it, struggling to escape the hold of the current. Where her mind was willing, her body couldn’t maintain the battle without air. Her muscles refused to obey her as her mind began to succumb to the darkness.

Darius had come for her. Maybe to kill her, but at least she’d seen him one final time.

***

“We must go after them.” Sophia’s voice was a mere croak, her throat feeling as raw as her sunburned face. “Before they drown.”

Tears streamed down her face in spite of her resolve to maintain some dignity. It certainly wasn’t easy. Men surrounded her—Lykos and others who seemed to be working with the Illuminists. Sophia sat on a rock and tried to recover from whatever had happened to her. She rubbed her eyes, trying to restore her vision.

“She must have had a root ball,” Bion remarked near enough for her to hear him. Sophia looked up, but her vision was blurry, and all she saw were unrecognizable shapes.

“It was a bunch of tiny crystals, hundreds of them,” she informed him. “But they turned to steam when Janette got them too close to the water.”

She heard Bion mutter something under his breath and slapped her knees with frustration. The wet fabric of her dress and petticoat sloshed, but she didn’t dare stand, because she didn’t know which way to go.

“Stop whispering—at least so long as we are discussing my eyes. Even if what happened is part of your secret Order, it happened to my eyes. You can’t take them with you.” She stood but stumbled as her blurred vision disoriented her. Bion wrapped an arm around her waist. It was horribly improper, but she would have fallen without his assistance. She bit her lip.

“What we need to do is cover them before the sunlight damages them.”

“What we need to do is go after Janette—she isn’t the best swimmer, I can tell you.”

“We’ll see to Darius and Janette. You need attention.”

Bion picked her up. Swung her right up into his arms as if she were a child. A harsh gasp got past her lips in response.

“You cannot be so forward with me.”

“For the moment, it cannot be helped.” Bion deposited her back on the rock she’d been sitting on. He covered her eyes with one large hand, sweeping it downward to close her eyes.

“Why aren’t you in chains or dying like Grainger?” She was being rude but couldn’t seem to control the urge to snap at him.

He ripped another strip from her dress, making her sigh. “Your dress is beyond repair, Sophia.”

“I know.” But she didn’t care for how defeated she sounded. “You didn’t answer my question.” At least returning to her demanding questioning was better than sounding like a lost little girl.

“Keep your eyes closed. You’ll have to endure being blind until we can get you some glasses.” She heard him dunk the fabric in the water a few times before squeezing it.

“So answer my question.”

He began to wind the fabric around her head. It was a long strip, and soon, every bit of daylight was blocked out.

“Why can’t I know? It seems only fair to know if I should thank you or curse you.”

He tucked the edge of the strip in. “I doubt you’d know many curses.”

“I know a few,” she groused, the wound on her leg beginning to throb. Fear was trying to strangle her. “Please tell me what happened to my eyes. I’m a tailor…you see. My father needs me.”

“You won’t be blind,” he offered softly.

“Don’t coddle me.” She stood again, needing to prove she wasn’t weak, but her leg crumpled. Pain bit into her so hard she couldn’t breathe. She ended up cradled against Bion’s chest again. It should have horrified her. She should have been offended or angry with just how familiar he was being.

Instead, she felt comforted as her mind shut down and she sank into oblivion.

“She lasted longer than most,” Lykos remarked.

“She’s a bloody big problem now,” Cyrus muttered, “but I suppose she’ll find it rather fortunate, considering she’s best friends with the Pure Spirit. They can continue their friendship now.”

“That’s assuming Janette and Darius are still alive.”

Lykos looked down the river. There was no sign of Janette or Darius, and he knew the water wound its way through the jungle all the way to the coast. Two hundred feet into the foliage, the river split.

As if they didn’t have enough complications as it was.

“This case is cursed,” he announced, not really talking to anyone in particular. “We still haven’t recovered our Pure Spirit, and now we have a Navigator who isn’t a member of the Order.”

“She might not be a member of the Order but we’re going to have to explain what’s happened to her.” Bion peered down at Sophia. Bitterness welled up inside him as well as anger. She was a mess and an innocent.

“You recovered her alive. It’s more than some have been granted,” Lykos muttered nearby.

“I’m no more happy with that than you would be. But the light is fading, which means we’re going to have to leave the search until tomorrow.”

Understanding dawned in Lykos’s eyes. Bion turned and began carrying Sophia to where a carriage waited. He expected better from himself. Lykos was the sort of man who recognized the trait because he held himself to higher standards too.

It was not good enough. He’d fallen short of his mission.

She was still alive. Somehow, some way—and part of her resented it because there was pain in living.

The water still roared with a deafening sound. Now that she’d listened to it for so long, it was becoming soothing.

“Wake up, Janette.” Darius slapped her cheek gently. “We can’t stay here.”

She reached up to rub her eyes. They felt full of grit, and her tongue was coated with the same. But memory rushed through her, clearing her mind, and she sat up. Her head collided with Darius’s, sending another jolt of pain through her.

“How did you...” She looked around, confused. “How did we get here?”

Darius’s clothing was filthy. His once-fine lawn shirt was full of dark volcanic sand that made it look charcoal gray. His hat was long gone, and his hair was drying in soft curls.

“I followed you with some notion of rescuing you, but the river got the best of my intentions,” he remarked as he hooked his hand under her arm and lifted her to her feet.

His grip was solid and real, sending a rush of relief through her. “How did you find me?”

He turned his dark gaze toward her, the intensity of it sending a ripple of sensation down her spine.

“You left the note behind.” His eyes narrowed. “What you should have done was brought it to me.”

“I was not willing to risk Sophia’s life or her toes.”

“It was foolish of you, Janette. It nearly drove me mad to think of you out with that monster with no way to protect yourself.”

“I’m not so helpless, you know.” But she was glad to see him, and her voice was full of relief.

He was frowning, but in his eyes was a flicker of relief as well. His stony expression crumbled as he grinned. “I know you aren’t. In fact, your ability to undermine my self-discipline is quite remarkable.”

He managed to deliver his comment in a dry tone, worthy of any high-society drawing room. Coupled with the tattered clothing and filth, it struck her as so funny that she laughed out loud.

He reached out and grasped her arms. She wasn’t sure if he stepped toward her or pulled her into his embrace, but his lips claimed hers. His kiss released all the tension that had been balled up inside her for the last day. The sweetest relief flooded her as his mouth claimed hers in a hard kiss.

He kept her still with one solid arm across her back, while capturing the back of her head in his other hand. His lips took hers, slipping along the delicate surfaces and pressing her to open her mouth for a deeper taste. The moment she surrendered, his tongue thrust deep, sending a spike of need through her that was white-hot. She curled her hands into the lapels of his vest, pulling him closer even though there wasn’t any space left between them. Need was building inside her again, and she welcomed it because it burned away the uncertainty that tormented her.

“Damn it, Janette.” He put her away from him while muttering a few more phrases no gentleman would utter. “Swear you will never face something like this alone again.”

He cared. She heard it in his voice, and there was no disguising the need in his eyes. Heat touched her cheeks, and she realized it was guilt, but at the same time she was happy because he truly cared. She cupped his cheek, smoothing her hand along his jaw, and felt him shiver. He drew in a deep breath before placing a kiss into her palm and turning to scan the surrounding jungle.

“Let’s get moving before I forget what it is I’m supposed to be doing in favor of what I’d like to finish with you. We have a limited amount of daylight left to find shelter. The jungle is rather unsavory after dark.”

He reached for her bicep, but she stepped forward before he closed his grasp.

“I believe I can do without any more unsavory experiences for a bit.” She yanked her water-soaked skirt out of the way of her feet.

The jungle grew thick the moment she made it beyond the edge of the riverbed. Darius moved past her, cutting a trail.

“We won’t make it out of this jungle before nightfall.” He braced his arm against a thick branch to hold it out of the way for her.

She stopped, staring at the wall of vegetation in front of her. “Where are we going?”

“To the village. Follow the trail.”

She stared at the huge green leaves. There were at least twenty different shades of green, and all of the foliage was larger than any plants she’d ever seen. A warm hand captured hers and tugged her gently behind him.

“This way.”

What Darius perceived as a trail was nothing more than scattered bare patches of earth. Left to herself, she would have been completely lost. Yet he seemed at ease, threading his way through the labyrinth while tugging her behind him. She stared at his wide shoulders, slightly stunned by his skill. The man was still wearing a pair of trousers and a vest any Londoner would have considered civilized, yet he was making his way through a primitive landscape with ease.

She smothered a dry chuckle, but he heard it and turned to investigate what she found so amusing.

“You surprise me, Darius, and yet maybe I’m being thickheaded not to admit it’s your ungentlemanly side that draws me to you.”

For a moment, he allowed her to see his boyish nature again. A slightly mocking grin, which gave her a brief glimpse at his teeth, and playfulness lit his dark eyes.

“We seem to be counterparts to each other, Janette, for it’s your spirit I can’t seem to ignore.”

“You needn’t sound like that is such a burden.” Her tone was wounded, allowing him to hear how much her emotions were entangled in their relationship. “Being lovers shouldn’t be so much for you to worry over.”

She tried to walk past him, but he twisted her hand slightly, locking her elbow so that she was held close to his body. His black eyes were hard, glittering with emotion as thick and choking as those she felt. For one moment, it felt like they were soul mates, like they were counterparts and not whole without each other.

“It was a burden to think of you in the hands of a Helikeian, and it had nothing to do with the fact that they are my enemy, only that I know what they are capable of doing to anyone they want to control. Death is not what your friend had to fear, and it put me through hell to think of you in that situation.”

“I…” She shut her mouth, her emotions surging up and making it impossible to think or decipher how she felt.

“You what, Janette?”

“I don’t know…” She pulled on her hand, but he maintained his grip and cupped her chin to keep their gazes locked. “I don’t know how to feel about you, Darius. It’s like you’re two different men—one who threatens to kill me, while the other rescues me. You warn me to stay away and then show up in my room to soothe my bruises before grumbling about how much of a burden I am. I don’t know who you are.”

“In that case, Janette, I’ll make sure you understand me before we leave this jungle.”

His face became a mask of determination, and she saw something in his eyes that sent her belly fluttering—something that looked like a promise.

And Darius always kept his promises.

***

“I didn’t expect to have the privilege of your company again so soon, Dr. Nerval.”

Captain Kyros stood in the lobby of his airship while passengers boarded. He didn’t miss the new pin on the doctor’s lapel. The javelin in the grip of a snake drew only a few curious glances from the surrounding population, but his Compatriots knew what it symbolized. The fact that he could not wear his blue sash in the open did not stop him from gaining recognition of his new award.

“You will not enter my name into the passenger log.”

The captain nodded as the doctor passed by with his personal servants behind him. A plump woman trailed the butler and undergrooms. She was busy twisting the tassels of her shawl and snapping her fingers at a younger girl.

The captain turned his back. For those wearing the pin of the Sapphire Phalanx, there were no questions. Dr. Nerval was set above others now, and if he wanted his name absented from the passenger log, it would be so. Kyros saw to it personally—savoring the moment, because such times were rare when he could enjoy being Helikeian. Someday his service as an agent among the Illuminist enemy might well be rewarded with the Sapphire Phalanx. Such an honor was a lifetime’s work, and it would glorify his name into the generations of the future.

***

“Madam…the Master did not tell us to expect you.”

Mary Aston swept into the house she’d called home for twenty-five years. She could hear the cook pulling the cords in the kitchen to alert the upstairs staff to her presence.

“Howard doesn’t know I’ve returned.” Neither had he given her permission, but her husband was about to come face-to-face with the woman she’d been forced to bury so many years ago. By God, she was an Illuminist, and her husband would answer for sending their daughter to an insane asylum.

“I intend to speak with my husband directly.” She pulled off her gloves and dumped them on the tray the downstairs maid had managed to fetch in spite of the late hour.

Giles appeared, a single loose button on his vest the only indication that she’d arrived after her husband had retired for the evening and his butler had taken his leave. There were hurried steps on the wooden floorboards as her maid came down the main staircase instead of taking the back stairs, which would have taken longer.

“Welcome home, madam. I’ve set the girls to preparing your chambers.”

“Thank you, Alice, but I will see my husband first.”

“The master has retired for the evening,” Giles informed her.

Mary looked the man in the eye and smiled knowingly. “I owe you an apology, Giles.”

“You do, madam?”

“Yes. For you see, I am not the simpering fool I have always portrayed in your presence. Go up those stairs and tell your master to turn his lover out of his bed, or stand aside as I do. Either way, I am going to speak with my husband.”

The tray with her gloves on it clattered to the floor. Alice covered her mouth as Giles tried to think of something proper to say to her.

“Never mind,” Mary muttered. She yanked a handful of her skirt out of the way and mounted the stairs.

“Madam…you mustn’t!” the butler called after her, but his shock had paralyzed him too long to stop her. Mary was already on the upper floor when the man gave chase.

“I disagree,” she muttered before reaching the large double doors of her husband’s rooms. She threw them open and marched through the dressing room to the second set of doors that led to the bedroom.

She hadn’t seen it in years.

“My goodness, Howard, whatever are you doing?”

Her husband had a pretty little maid in his bed all right. The look of pleasure on his face made Mary’s temper sizzle.

“Out,” she ordered the girl.

“What…? What are you doing?” Howard sputtered.

The maid let out a shriek and scampered off the huge bed. The girl gathered up her clothing, and her bare feet slapped against the polished wood floor as she fled. Leaving Mary’s husband to deal with her.

“What are you doing,
madam
?”

Mary moved forward, her steps slow and confident. “Interrupting your liaison, dear husband.”

Howard grabbed the neatly turned-down bedding to shield his pride.

“I will not stand for this…this disruption, Mary.”

She’d reached the ornately carved footrail of the bed and wrapped her bare hands around it and leaned toward her husband.

“Mary! You will cease this…forwardness immediately.”

“Yes, of course, Howard, that was always our agreement, wasn’t it? But I must tell you…” She tapped her lower lip with the tip of her finger suggestively and had the satisfaction of watching her husband swallow. “It was dreadfully disappointing. I never climaxed in this room. Maybe you should have let me ride you.”

“Madam!”

Mary frowned at his outrage, aiming the full strength of her temper at her husband for the very first time in their marriage.

“You’re a selfish man, Howard, and your high-society friends are selfish to pump their wives until they feel the bite of climax, while lecturing their female companions on the merits of abstaining from pleasures of the flesh. You get to spend, but I must act as though I have never felt passion or desire.”

“Mary! You are my wife.”

“Yes, I have been your wife, but you made a promise to me, Howard, one you broke when you sent our daughter to that clinic.” Mary turned the full force of her fury onto her husband. “I agreed to every one of your stipulations, and I have upheld my promise, but you broke your word to me. You swore an oath to me that you would never treat me or any female children I gave you like chattel.”

“Janette needed treatment…”

“For what? For not behaving like a mindless fool?” Mary took a few steps back toward her husband, unable to resist the urge to shout at him. “You arrogant toadstool! How dare you have my daughter locked up for being intelligent? We had a bargain, and you have broken it. So I will no longer obey you.”

“Really, Mary.” Her husband was on his feet now. “And this display of gutter behavior is your way of getting even with me?”

“No. Leaving you is.” Mary regained her composure. “I am returning to face the charges against me.”

“You cannot. I forbid it.”

Mary reached for the door handle. “You have lost my allegiance.”

“Janette is fine and safe!”

Mary turned on her husband. “She is halfway around the world! Being fought over by ruthless men. I am a fool to have gone to the country while you sent her to that Helikeian devil! How could you send your own child to a stranger?”

Mary didn’t receive an answer. Howard sucked in his breath, as though in pain. Her hand was on the doorknob, but his lips moved, and no sound emerged. He kept trying to say something while reaching for his chest. A solid foot of a rapier protruded from his chest; in the darkened room, a man had moved up behind him without their noticing.

“You won’t be facing those charges, my dear Zenais.”

Photios pushed Howard off his rapier. Mary’s husband fell to the floor with a dull sound, rolling over and lifting one hand to reach toward her. But a trickle of blood ran across his bare skin, telling her his lung was filling with blood from a puncture wound.