Captain Gravenor’s Airship Equinox (Steampunk Smugglers) (13 page)

One ducked his head to enter the short doorway. Philadelphia
clutched Brecon around the arm now, shivering slightly. Now that the sun was
coming up, he could see faint blue shadows under her eyes, and streaks of dirt
on her chin and one cheek.

“How are your feet?”

“I’d rather they were on the deck of an airship, leaving
here,” she whispered.

“We’d be safer to take a train. I tried to leave here by
airship once and it didn’t go very well.”

Her eyes widened and she glanced at his hidden hand. He had
told her the story but she had apparently forgotten.

“I’ve never been to Cardiff,” she said. “I hadn’t put the
pieces together.” She glanced over her shoulder toward the river. The outskirts
of the large Blockader yard was just coming into view to the east of them.

“Where will we go?”

“We need to get the fare from my family or friends and
escape One. If he wants an airship, fine. It should be easy to get away from
him around my family’s shipyard. I know the streets and the people. Then, when
we can, take a train to Hastings and join the Owlers.”

“Will they accept us?”

“Yes. They owe me a debt. They’ll want to know what has
happened to the Red Kites. Someday, when we’ve earned enough money, we can
decide to go to France or Italy, if that is still what you want.”

One was taking longer than Brecon had expected. He looked
though the bakery window and saw him standing at the counter. The clerk was
nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he had gone into the back to fetch One’s order. Or
money. Could he hope that the man was getting bread for them too?

“Philadelphia?” someone said.

She gasped. Brecon turned quickly, the movement exposing his
brass hand. But that was the least of his problems now.

“Ethan?” Philadelphia said.

~
*~

CHAPTER EIGHT

Philadelphia’s cousin, Ethan Everard, stood two feet away,
dressed resplendently in his black BAE uniform with quilted red and blue cuffs
and hem. He held a captain’s hat in one hand. Apparently a promotion had been
granted to him since they had last spoken at Rand’s funeral. Revulsion would
have churned her stomach if anything had been in it. She held tightly to
Brecon’s hand, gathering strength from him.

“What brings you to Cardiff?” Ethan inquired, frowning at
her. “I thought you were moldering away at Cousin Susan’s with your sister.”

“I married,” Philadelphia said, lifting her chin. “I have a
new life now.”

Beside her, Brecon shifted. She knew she shouldn’t have said
it, but perhaps Ethan would wish her happy and go away. If only it were true,
both the marriage and what she had said, but so far she just kept exchanging
one prison for another. The only freedom she felt was the exchange of ideas
with this intelligent, funny, and handsome man. Sometimes, she even thought he
genuinely cared for her.

She should have known the worm would not make her life so
easy, however. Her cousin moved closer, staring first at her disheveled
appearance, then at Brecon. His eyes narrowed.

“You look as if you were in a carriage accident, dear
cousin. Your husband should take better care of you.”

“We had some trouble on the road,” she agreed, shifting from
one foot to the other. More used to trouble than she was, Brecon stood
unmoving, but she could tell from the set of his shoulders that he was in pain.
It had been such a long night, and his throat injury had turned his pleasant
voice into a rasp.

“Your husband is familiar to me,” Ethan said, looking down
his long nose. “One of the Gravenors, correct? The BAE commissioned the
Equinox
refitting from your family last March.”

Brecon nodded politely. Philadelphia knew he’d know nothing
about it, since he’d been recuperating from the amputation by then.

“Speak up, man. Cat got your tongue?”

Brecon stuck out his right hand, which thankfully was
relatively clean. “Pleased to meet you, Cousin Ethan.”

Ethan shook his hand, frowning. “You do not sound like a
healthy specimen.”

“He has a cold,” she interjected. The bruises around his
throat were covered by his collar.

“Why are you wearing a leather apron?” Ethan demanded.

She stared down at herself. “I thought to protect my dress
from the train, what was left of it. I tore it.”

“Where did you take the train from? Where are you living
now?”

“Just a pleasure jaunt,” Brecon croaked. “To celebrate. Back
to my family home now.”

“Philadelphia is of good family,” Ethan said, grasping his
lapel with one hand. “I hope you plan to provide her an establishment of her
own.”

She sighed. “There will be time for all of that.”

“Hmm. I suppose you have no money of your own.”

She bit her lip, hurting herself to hold back the urge to
hurt him. What a worm he was. Why, he’d stolen her ideas. Despicable as his
uses were for them, she wouldn’t want financial restitution, but he hadn’t even
offered. He was a low-down, dirty thief, worse than any free trader.

“You know, Gravenor, the
Equinox
is back in the yard
for the first time this summer. We’ve been down in the south fighting the
pirates. I expect you’d like to come aboard and take a look?”

Brecon opened his mouth, and she knew he was going to say
no, but she glanced into the bakery window and saw that the clerk had finally
returned and was handing One a bag. They could get away from him so that he
couldn’t use Brecon as leverage against his family.

“We’d love to,” Philadelphia said, taking her husband’s arm
again and squeezing a warning. “Let’s go.”

“I haven’t had breakfast yet,” Ethan said, tapping a
manicured finger on his teeth. “Why not? You can feed me later.”

“Are you the captain of the
Equinox
?” she inquired,
setting a quick pace next to Ethan as they reversed his journey and went to the
yard.

Brecon glanced over his shoulder as they walked, but didn’t
offer any reaction. She had to assume One was still inside the bakery, not
tracking them with heater in hand. Still, she felt like a target was pasted on her
back.

“Just today. I appreciate the symmetry of being commissioned
captain of the
Equinox
on the equinox. Neat, is it not?”

“It is September twenty-second already?” Brecon rasped.

“Indeed. Equal day, equal night. I felt today was special,
and now I know why. Not just my promotion, but little Delphie married. Such a
pleasant surprise.”

She was sure he’d consider her marriage anything, as it put
another man between him and the inventions she might create. He’d supposed her
safely rusticating. In reality, she hadn’t even had a lab at her cousin’s house
and wouldn’t have worked even if she’d been able to, with the level of despair
she’d been feeling. Really, she’d had no reason since she attempted to fling
herself from a cliff to feel any better, given her imprisonment, but somehow,
Brecon had changed everything for her. Love had changed her outlook.

She loved the man who was almost her husband. How had she
not realized that until this moment? Now, how could she save her husband from
Ethan? Getting away from One may simply have stepped them into a bigger
problem.

So far, Brecon had kept his brass hand hidden, but he
couldn’t do that forever. Luckily, since Ethan knew she was an inventress, she
ought to be able to explain it away. She’d take the time aboard the airship to
learn anything she could about how the man immobilizing devices worked. It would
be knowledge to take to the Owlers.

She smiled sweetly at Ethan. “I do so look forward to
discovering how exactly you are using my little inventions, dear cousin. Rand
was forever promising you would give me a tour, though of course our tragedies
prevented you from doing so.”

Ethan stared hard at her. He knew she was not an idiot. She
needed to stop simpering. The distraction of not looking back was making her
act quite strangely.

At the gatehouse in front of the BAE yard, a guard saluted
Ethan and unlocked the gate. Ethan ushered them in.

“First, I think, a cup of coffee is in order.” He pointed to
the left. “That building over there acts as our pub, though the bakery we met
in front of is far superior.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Are women allowed inside?”

“For you, Mrs., er, Gravenor, anything is allowed. Come.” He
walked them across a paved area and into the small building.

A number of men in officers’ uniforms sat at tables, eating
eggs, rashers and buns, or cradling mugs of hot coffee or tea. She wondered
which of them had given the order to fire the cannon that took off Brecon’s
hand. But she couldn’t think like that. Her distaste might show on her face.

Ethan took them to the counter. “I think a full breakfast is
in order. It will take a bit more time, but we must celebrate your wedding.” He
made the order and led them to a table near the front door.

She had to wonder what Brecon was thinking. He had avoided
this city, his family, and the BAE since February fourteenth, for fear he was a
wanted man. Now, he was treated as family by a BAE captain, even though they
were desperately filthy. Nothing felt right, except his presence by her side.

Ethan held up a hand and waved to another officer. “Just a
moment,” he said to Philadelphia. “I must say hello.”

Brecon frowned as Ethan walked away. A teapot and three cups
were deposited at their table. She poured, noting Brecon was careful to keep
his hand in his jacket.

“Plenty of sugar and milk, please,” he said.

She nodded, knowing if anything bad happened this might be
the only sustenance they received from the ordered meal. He lifted his cup to
his lips.

“That is practically a meal in a cup,” he remarked.

“What do you think of this?” she asked in a low voice.

“I think I don’t like it one bit.”

They had finished their first cups and were drinking their
second when Ethan’s companion got up from his table and left. Ethan returned to
their table and accepted a cup of tea.

“Where did you meet?” he asked.

She was spinning a tale of a dinner party near their
cousin’s house when their meals arrived. A sigh of sheer pleasure escaped her
lips at the sight of all the food. She hadn’t had a proper meal in weeks. To
think, her wedding breakfast was at a BAE yard.

Brecon had inhaled two sausages and was digging into his
eggs when Ethan’s friend returned, trailed by two BAE constables. She tucked
two slices of toast into her apron, wishing she’d had time to eat more than a
few bites of porridge.

“What have you done, Ethan?” she asked.

An expression of self-satisfied mockery corrupted her
cousin’s face. “Do you think I don’t know about your husband, cousin?”

“What do you mean? He is a shipbuilder.”

“He’s a pirate,” Ethan said. “No, his family has never been
caught aiding the bloody free traders, but your dear husband was a known associate
of the Fennas. At the very least he will need to be questioned.”

Brecon stared very hard at Ethan as she rose. Ethan grasped
her arm. “No, my dear, have a seat. You did not know. How could you, with your
quiet lifestyle? I am sure he misrepresented himself to you. I do hope he will
be hanged very soon so that you may be released from your marital prison. I
will, of course, be happy to offer you a home. I’m in need of a housekeeper.
New establishment, you know, what with my promotion.”

She wanted to snarl. Ethan had always felt inferior to the
Hardcastles. After all, he was. A bastard child, and a strange one at that. His
mother had acted as housekeeper to her parents for a time. But she’d throw
herself off yet another cliff before she lowered herself to keeping house for
him.

She kicked her chair back from the table just as Brecon bent
over, toward another table, and came upright holding the heater that had been
holstered at a junior officer’s belt. Ethan’s friend cried out a warning and
pointed the constables toward them.

Brecon pulled his brass hand from his jacket and slapped
Ethan across the face. Her cousin’s head whipped sideways and he fell over
backward, taking his chair with him. She ran away from the front door. Behind
her, Brecon grabbed and slammed the large tea tray a server carried against the
wall, sloshing hot tea and broken crockery all over the floor. He and
Philadelphia flew behind the counter and into the kitchen behind.

“There has to be another door!” she cried.

He grabbed her hand and kept her moving down the aisle. “I
can smell garbage already. It must be back here.”

Horrified cooks yelled at them as they dashed by, knocking
over trays and pushing men aside. Thankfully, the door was clearly visible and
open. They ran through and were in the alley.

“Should we leave the yard?” she asked.

“We might not be able to get past the guard. Plus, who knows
where One is by now?”

“How are we going to escape, then?”

He pointed the muzzle of the heater up. “An airship.”

She borrowed his favorite saint. “Saint David, help us rise
out of here!”

He tucked the heater into his jacket and pulled her down the
alley, muttering to himself. “I can’t hide a woman. We don’t have BAE uniforms.
We just need to find the first ladder and climb it, worry about the rest
later.”

Luckily, the
Equinox
was impossible to miss. It was
tied down in a large field, the balloon fully inflated.

“There is no way just the two of us can fly it.”

“No, it’s a twenty-four man airship, minimum,” he agreed,
pulling her into a run across the field, relatively empty at this early hour.

“What is your plan?”

“I’m sure the enslaved crew members will be happy to escape
along with us, once you disable the Man Immobilizer.”

“Saint David,” she said faintly. How could she do that when
she’d never even seen one? She started to draw diagrams in her mind. But the
invention wasn’t hers, so she could only guess. Where would it be?